Do you think comics are a children's or adult genre/media?
I believe they are for both children and adult. In the reading ’Introduction: Tintin, an imaginary hero in real life’, It is said “From children, first learning to read to aged Tintinophiles. Each finds its own level of understanding and appreciation”. (Michael Farr, 1991).
I believe this quote to be true, a child at the age of six can enjoy a comic’s drawings and the follow-along storyline with amazement and excitement, as a fifty year old can enjoy the subtle or not so subtle jabs at political history during the time of print. An example of this is in ‘Tintin and the blue lotus’ with a Japanese invasion. This is from a true occurrence in history where the Japanese invaded China in September 1931 after an explosion at a railway, which is then mimicked in Tintin and the blue lotus (released in 1936), as the ‘evil Japanese man’ blows up the railway and then Japanese soldiers invade China.
As a child I enjoyed looking at comic books for the story being depicted in the drawings, and it was interesting reading Tintin now at the age of twenty and understanding some of the jokes or seeing how political and even racist some of the stories were. A child can enjoy the adventure, as an adult can enjoy the giddy excitement that makes them feel like a child again, but also the extra enjoyment of understanding the underlying meaning of some of the old comic books.
Farr, Michael. (1991). Introduction Tintin: an imaginary hero in real life. Pg 5-6. London.
I like how you mentioned re reading Tintin and now being able to note the racism and jokes that were, as a child, meaningless text. I feel quite the same and gives me a whole new perspective on Tintin, although it isn't a bad one.
ReplyDeleteIts true- children have no filter for concerns and issues of society or how the world was portrayed at that time. If that was me at 6 ill be too busy figuring out how the comic would look like if it was a real movie.
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