White boy´s burden

“The Adventures of Tintin” is a world famous Belgian comic, created by Georges Remi (Hergé). “Tintin in the Congo” is considered to be the second volume in the series, and was originally published in 1930-31. A color version was published in 1946. The “canonical” edition seems to be a later revision from 1975. In sharp contrast to later Hergé stories, the plot is wafer thin, and most of the story revolves around various comical or absurd situations involving the brave reporter Tintin and his even braver fox terrier Milou (Snowy in the English translation). The villains are American gangsters working for Al Capone (!) who are smuggling diamonds from the Congo.

The territory referred to as “the Congo” is the Belgian Congo, better known to my generation as Congo-Kinshasa or Zaire and today called the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Thus, Tintin visits an African territory which was at the time a colony of Hergé's native Belgium. Before 1908, Belgian Congo had been the personal colony (!) of the Belgian king Leopold II and the scene of one of the worst genocides in Africa, as Leopold's henchmen unleashed a wave of terror to extract as much profit as possible from the king's colonial subjects. As many as 10 million people are believed to have perished in the hellish “Congo Free State” before international pressure forced the Belgian government to institute a more normal form of colonial rule over the territory.

Which brings me to the main part of my review…

“Tintin in the Congo” is easily the most controversial, criticized and condemned Tintin story. The reason is, of course, its hopelessly racist depiction of Black Africans, only minimally altered in later editions. It's positive view of big game hunting has also been heavily criticized. The conflation of racism and big game hunting strikes me as worthy of criticism in itself! Is the killing of antelope really compatible with King Leopold's hecatomb? I find it amazing that so many reviewers deny or minimize the racism in this story. Imagine the same story with anti-Semitic stereotypes! It would *never* be published or publicly defended, except by (surprise) anti-Semites.

We can discuss what (if anything) should be done about “Tintin in the Congo”. I'm pretty skeptical myself to culture warriors who spend more time campaigning against racist comics than, say, supporting the actual Congolese. That being said, however, Tintin aficionados should at least be brave enough to point out that their little hero comes across as a somewhat burdensome White man in this early story...