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Jonny Hogg/Reuters
A statue of the comic strip character Tintin by Brussels-born author Georges Remi, better known as Herge, is displayed at the workshop of Congolese artist Auguy Kakese in Kinshasa on Sept. 18.
KINSHASA, Congo — Any Tintin fan would feel at home in this small wooden shed in a back street of Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa, where the shelves are crammed with brightly painted statues from the famous Belgian cartoon character's adventures.
Friendly faces are everywhere — the tufted-haired Tintin, the bearded Captain Haddock and the bumbling policemen Thomson & Thompson — all lovingly carved from wood and carefully painted in bold colors.
But with Kinshasa preparing to receive a flood of visitors for an international summit of French-speaking countries next month, some are questioning whether Congo should turn its back on the boy journalist, whose fictional adventures in the then-Belgian colony depicts Africans as dull-witted and childish.
Tintin's relationship with Congo dates back to 1930 when his creator Georges Remi — better-known by his pen name Herge — first wrote "Tintin in the Congo," in which the intrepid reporter and his little white dog Snowy tackle wild animals, hunters, diamond smugglers and warlike local chieftains.
Tintin statues, which can sell for anything from $15 to $1500, are part of Congo's roaring trade in the comic's memorabilia, business that could receive a boost next month as delegates from 56 countries across the French-speaking world gather in Kinshasa for a summit.
Brutal colonial past
Tourists can find stalls and street vendors across the riverside capital selling the figures, and can even buy personalized paintings of the book's front cover, with their names expertly added by the artist.
But it is Herge's heavily stereotyped depiction of Africans as fat-lipped, childlike savages that makes Tintin a controversial cultural figure for a country trying to turn its back on a brutal colonial past followed by decades of dictatorship and conflict, according to professor Joseph Ibongo Gilungule, the director of Congo's national museum.
Jonny Hogg/Reuters
Shelves crammed with figurines from Belgian comic strips Tintin and Le Chat are displayed at the workshop of Congolese artist Auguy Kakese in Kinshasa on Sept. 18.
"Tintin is an image created by Westerners, and it proves the ignorance of these people, a lack of understanding for our values," Ibongo told Reuters.
Ibongo wants more people to celebrate the rich cultures of the country's estimated 250 ethnic groups.
His museum is a celebration of the masks, headdresses and clothing that have played an integral part in Congo's traditional values, but few of the country's 70 million inhabitants come to visit the museum.
Ibongo is not against preserving relics of Congo's colonial past. He is trying to find money to rehabilitate the statue of controversial British colonial explorer Henry Morton Stanley, which lies forlornly toppled behind a shed at the museum.
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Nonetheless, with so many people due to visit the country for the International Organisation of La Francophonie summit in October, he believes Congo should find a better poster boy than Tintin.
"There are other strong images which speak positively of this country, its peoples ... It would be more respectful to Congo and the whole of Africa if we spoke of images that value the Congo, and not Tintin," Ibongo added.
Tintin has world premiere in Belgian hometown
Earlier this year a Congolese man studying in Belgium tried and failed to have the book banned on the grounds of racism. Some stores in Britain have banished it to the top shelves, where only adults can see it.
Even Tintin's creator Herge later re-wrote parts of the story, toning down the more extreme stereotypes which sprang from Belgium's colonization of Congo, which was brutal even by the standards of the day.
'It's humor'
Auguy Kakese, an artisan who specializes in Tintin statuettes, acknowledges that it was Europeans who first suggested he carve the figures and most of his clients remain westerners. But he sees no harm in it.
"It's humor, it's not racist... for those who say it's racist I say that in the comic strip, you never see images which show him trying to kill the Congolese," Kakese said in his workshop, which employs 10 people and produces thousands of Tintin statues.
Although most of the statues Kakese sells are of the comic's European characters, he does not shy away from depicting the Africans as well, despite them seeming uncomfortably stereotyped for modern tastes.
"We were a Belgian colony, if we work with Tintin now it's to say that the Belgians are still our brothers," he added.
5 things you need to know about Tintin
A recent showing in Kinshasa of the Steven Spielberg-directed Tintin movie attracted a small but varied audience, everyone from Congolese to Koreans.
Although the audience were aware of the cartoon's sometimes complex relations with Congo, none saw it as a huge problem.
"I really don't think it is racist, it was just the whites wanting to interpret what they saw in Congo at the time," Congolese Tito Biteketa said.
Christiana Finotti, an Italian expatriate, said she had bought a Tintin picture for her friend but acknowledged that not all her Congolese colleagues were comfortable with the association.
"Tintin in the Congo is still a little difficult, due to the style of Belgian colonialism, and due to the history... I think there's been a reconciliation, but the reconciliation hasn't been easy," she said.
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Leave a Comment:
Oh, for heaven's sake, Tintin was written in a different time. Tarzan stories and movies are racist too, but so what? Get over it. Just put them in their historical context and simply enjoy the stories.
What's all the fuss about? Those figurines don't remotely resemble Rin Tin Tin.
Sure, much that was written in that time period was racist. Let's not ban it, but let's not give it to children either. I think the stores mentioned in the article that keep these types of books on the upper shelves have it right. There are many more modern stories that are more appropriate for raising kids to live in the modern world. When they get to college they can learn more about the various stupidities of their forebearers.
There are also plenty of other Tintin books besides this one about the Congo that would be ok, if you like that sort of thing.
Well I've actually read TinTin in the Congo and yes it's very racist. It's the first thing I brought up to friend after reading it. TinTin in America is only a bit better but after that they aren't really that bad. The TinTin that is known and loved really starts at The Cigars of the Pharoh although the better animation started at TinTin in America. I read most of the TinTin books when I was a kid at the library and I can tell you TinTin in the Congo wasn't one of the books they had in stock.
"simply enjoy the stories"
Boring arse stories.............
What the hell is a TinTin? For God's sake read some real novels from Tolstoy or Bronte. Tin Tin lol
Ah yes because a 10 year old would much rather read Tolstoy or Bronte instead of TinTin.
"Tintin is an image created by Westerners, and it proves the ignorance of these people,...". Sounds like a bit of racism to me. Let's just put the history of the world on the top shelf because it's racist or better yet burn it all!
I don't hear anyone crying about the big jew mel blancs movie blazing saddles or does he get a pass ?
Mel Brooks did Blazing Saddles and others. Mel Blanc did cartoons. Mel Brooks doesn't need a pass because Jews, in general, know what satire is and have the ability to laugh at themselves. Look at some of the old Dean Martin roasts. Those things were racist as hell by today's standards, but all involved were having a great time and joked not only about the others on the dais, but themselves as well. The big difference is, they did not go out of their way to become offended at anything.
That's all, folks. What a maroon.
There's a big difference between humor and ignorance. Blazing Saddles is an example of humor, while your post, on the other hand....
flbikerchick,
Agreed.
"It's not the things you don't know that make you ignorant. It's the things you do know that just ain't so." ---Mark Twain (paraphrased)
Yeah, that would be Mel BROOKS, Mr. Wizard
It also helps that Mel Brooks is himself Jewish (born Melvin Kaminsky). It is like blacks calling each other the n-word. Everybody else gets their face smashed in.
Mel Brooks was poking fun at racism through parody and last time I checked there are some classic Loony Tunes that are no longer in circulation because of racist elements. One I can think of off the top of my head is a Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd cartoon where Bugs is sentenced to a firing squad and is asked by Elmer if he has a final request and Bugs says I wish... I wish... I wish I was in Dixie Away! Away! and Elmer and the other mounties change into black face and start singing with him. Haven't seen that one since I was a kid. Also the bootleg DVD of Song of the South( a Disney film that won't see the light of day, yet we can have a Splash Mountain ride based on it)comes with a easter egg cartoon of Snow White and de Seben Dwarves and it is highly racist.
I looked it up and the Bugs Bunny cartoon is called Fresh Hare and is on YouTube uncut. If you watch it and find the end racist I guarantee that you'd find TinTin in the Congo racist
Mel Blanc was a racist that bastard. How the hell is white Foghorn Leghorn bigger than the darker chicken hawk? And why is all Mexicans little mice. That's just racists.
There is black on black genocide going on in Congo and they worry whether Tintin is racist? WTF is wrong with these people?
Seriously! It is what it is...
You DARE to apply logic?!!?? You, sir, must be a racist! ;-)
Showing Africans as flat-lipped childlike savages is racist also a sign of the times the stories were written in. The question now is do/did we learn from our stupidity or are we destined never to grow past it ?
The answer is, resoundingly, "Yes."
Oh I suppose National Geographic is racist for publishing photos of Africans?
Nope...................Just look at the twilight sega and harry potter books. Racist arse books.
This is the the way Liberals keep themselves relevant.
By writing this garbage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I was a kid I found the Amos and Andy show really funny. Watching an episode today the humor is submerged under a cringing at the historical context of the racist period in which it was produced. Historical? Yes. Would it be acceptable to air it today? Absolutely not.
How would you feel about a white person showing up at a costume party dressed as Al Jolson in blackface?
Ask Ted Danson.
....so a white man in black face or vice versa should be verboten or against the law?......that's pretty silly.....
nope, just shunned for being insensitive @!$%#.
Is black face ever ok? <p>
The short answer is yes it racist. It was racist when it first emerged it was just accepted behaviour then
What is 'THAT'?? An explanation, or an attempt at making some 'Addendum' to the Already Ridiculous 'Politically Correct Pedagogy' .
If you are an 'Intellectual', I FIRMLY BELIEVE, that when you are 'Planting Rice' (In the Mainland China) you may have quite a number of years to do some serious, 'Meditation & Reflection'
Hint: Try measure-up for a Comfortable 'Water-Boot' for long periods of standing in the 'Brackish Water'.
And, 'rightthewrong', you'll have 'Oodles of time' to reflect on what you may 'Construe now' as my 'Racist Remark'.
Those 'Brackish Water' assignments, do lend themselves to 'Lot's of QUIET Reflection'.
Here, someone with more sense than all the Left:
"I really don't think it is racist, it was just the whites wanting to interpret what they saw in Congo at the time," Congolese Tito Biteketa said.
I think it is up to the Congolese if they want to accept it or not. As to the U.S., sorry folks our grandparents were very racist including mine. Not just directed at Black people but all races and any ethnic group they considered "foreign". The treatment of Native Americans was horrible and anyone trying to put up those pioneers as heroes is stupid. When my father asked his grandfather if he had every killed anyone his answer "No nobody, I did though kill a few Indians and Mexicans". Mel Brooks effort was to make us look at ourselves. To think that racism is a thing of the past is extremely naive. It is still very evident and still pokes it head out.
Stories like that should only be kept in a museum as an example of the world's terrible past, not read to told to children.
muslims are racists as well as Illegal Immigrants. I would kick every single muslim out of the USA and then do the same in EU. Cut off all aid to muslims and not allow mosques in the USA. These muslims think were stupid because we are too nice and they need to be dealt with a hard hand.
Muslims are Americans too and have the same right to live here as you or me.
Except we need to stop importing them.The west and east are very different.Most people like their OWN values and don't want our superior yes superior western values.They do want to undermine ours
If they live here then their values are western values. The only western value is inclusiveness. We are not different from the rest of the world because the US is the world. We have people from all societies and cultures move here.
You are so wrong.Their values are NOT western values.It is time to STOP adding more people
Uh...there are really no such concept as "western values" as Americans come from everywhere and our society brings all of their cultures together in one melting pot so yes, their values are our values. How is that difficult to understand???
And stop adding people? Then we should stop adding people from all societies, not simply those that some people dislike.
Soon it will be against the law all over the world to TELL THE TRUTH !!!!
I suppose the hairdresser dolls from 'tales of the city' are out too[get it?].As far as the story goes,the stereotypes are pretty truthful.If we hadn't dragged africans outta there,they'd still be living in huts,and us in paradise
Most books about exploration and adventure that were written before 1939 were all based on the ignorance of the Anglo writers who had never been to Africa. The Congo should get over themselves and 'man up' to the 21st century.