Weeks 1&2- Comics and Graphic Novels (Kirsty)

How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin’s appeal to adults?

After reading the Farr (1991) extract we can definitely see how Tintin became so appealing to audiences. Seeing boy who travels the world solving mysteries and having adventures is something not a lot of young kids could look past if given the opportunity. Herge provided this in the action, and comedy of his comics. But on another level he also provided something for adults who could look past the surface of the story to find something more. He was a fanatic about every element of the story and the “extraordinarily accurate detail of [each], the result of painstaking research… was a key ingredient of the successful formulae”. An adult would appreciate these finer aspects more so than a child would. Farr states that Tintin also “has a rock solid foundation in reality, enabling him to transcend fashion, age and nationality”. Adults would be able to understand the realistic personal and political themes and also relate to them, even today.

As a child I loved Tintin. I loved the comic books my parents would by me and of all Tintin was by far my favourite. But I found as I grew older it lost its appeal to me, which may seem strange but it is true nonetheless. In the article Farr describes the appeal of Tintin to both children and adults saying “The child will be gripped by the excitement of Tintin, the comedy, even the farce. The adult will additionally find political satire ad parody, pun and prescience”. And here lies the reason why I believe it lost its appeal for me. I think that because I now see the political and social undertones, the puns, the parody the excitement that I once got from the story as a child is lost and I now as an adult find it almost boring. But then again I frequently describe myself as a child and sometimes as an escape tend to look for things in terms of reading and viewing, where I don’t have to always think so hard about what I am look at. I prefer the story and characters to the underlying themes most of the time. But in saying that it is hard to find a text that is labelled for a child to be soley for a child. There is always something that could appeal to an adult. The adult is theone who gives or allows a child to be exposed to texts so I guess there has to be something that attracts them too, which is what we see with Tintin. Farr says that ”the appeal is moreover self-generating, for in due course the parents become adults and then parents themselves, allowing the Tintin  tradition to be carried on”.

Farr, Michael. (1991). Introduction. In Tintin: the complete companion (pp.8-9). London: John    Murray.