Tin Tin

[kenna]

Mum's net virgin here
I just had an arguement with my girlfriend about Tin Tin
I was watching 'Tin Tin in America' with my 2,4 and 5 year old kids.
They all seem to be enjoying it but she thought it was very unsuitable.

Sorry did not finnish
Is Tin Tin in America unsuitable for 2,4 and 5 year olds?

why does she feel it unsuitable?

I don't really know Tin Tin so can't judge

I have no problem with Tin Tin - DS loved it from about age of 5. It's not terribly PC in many ways (lots of guns blazing and punch ups) but that is one of the reasons why I like it - proper boy's own adventure stuff. Tell your Mum that Steven Speilberg is a massive fan and is turning two of the books into a major film. Your kids will be so ahead of the crowd when it comes out...,

Sorry, didn't read that right - I mean tell your girlfriend (don't know where I got your Mum from...)

I can kind of understand where girlfriend is coming from. My son (at the time 2.5 yrs) loved Tin Tin and I got it from the library not knowing how much guns and shooting there was in it. Of course DS LOVED it, but I felt uneasy and in the end stopped letting him watch it. But he does read the books, and will let him watch it again when he's 6 or something. saying that my DP didn't understand what the fuss was about, it must be a mum thing.
I have relaxed much more about the gun thing though, DS is just into them he just is, doesn't mean he's going to grow up and shoot people!!

I am reading the books in order with DS (6) and can remember well Tintin in America.

I find an awful lot cartoons & programmes marketed at under 5s are way more violent and unsuitable. Think of the all the bashing each other that Itchy & Scratchy or Tom & Jerry do, or Elmer Fudd, his shotgun & that Rascally Wabbit? Or the Coyote trying to blow up the Road Runner -etc.

I wouldn't mind my 3yo seeing cartoons of Tintin. I think you & friend will have to agree to disagree.

oh, sorry, just realised, if you're watching a film that might be different from reading the comics (oops). But it is mostly just daft stuff, really. Lots of suspense and danger, I guess, some little kids would find that overwhelming in an animated format.

I'm not that keen on the gun thing.
Tin tin seems to be unarmed but tricks the bad guys into giving up thiers.
I thought it was a Belgim/french kids classic.

We were watching it on you tube. It's an animated cartoon. I'm not sure when it dates from but i think the books are from the 1930's?

There's quite a lot of danger and peril in the stories, and in cartoon form the smallest ones might not be able to separate fiction from reality and be troubled by it especially if they are sensitive. ds used to have bad dreams quite easily at that age, so if she's saying it's unsuitable I'd assume she's saying so from understanding her children's personalities so I'm with her I'm afraid. YABU

Thanks for your comments
She said 'it was all violence and intrigue with no humour or fun'.

Fair enough comment Kitbit. I'll avoid it in the future.
I don't think is any worse than doctor Who or Sara Jane adventures but maybe there is a difference I'm missing.

My boys (7, 6, & 4) love Tintin - both the books and animated series. Violence is all pretty cartoony and doesn't seem very threatening and I'm pretty sensitive to that kind of thing. Keep going I say!

We are reading Tintin with DS age6 but haven't seen TV version. He likes them & no nightmares follow. No guns (I think) in the one about sunken treasure.

Something to tell your girlfriend:

Tintin books are notoriously problematic, mainly for the racism of Tintin in Africa (so awful it is no longer in print in English). The writer of the books bitterly regretted how he had presented people, particularly in his very early Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, without doing any research. Later on he would very carefully research all of his books before drawing them. In the Tintin museum there is a photo of the Dalai Lama reading Tintin in Tibet and the writer even got a special award for showing what Tibet is like so well. So although he started out doing careless work which is sometimes problematic, the writer ended up doing some very fine and beautiful drawings of other lands.

I loved Tintin books as a child, and DD has some books and a set of the films, although we haven't watched all the films. Her favourite is the Castafiore Emerald - dreadful sexist depiction of La Castafiore! but we just love the pantomimishness of it. Her hilarious Bior costume jewelry!

There are lots of racism issues with tintin, particularly as at one point Herge/Georges Remi drew cartoons for pro-nazi propaganda. this is wiki but all referenced

Obviously, kids will have zero clue, but it makes me uncomfortable with tintin now.

There is no "Tintin in Africa" book, is there? There's "Tintin in the Congo" (had it from the library recently). I don't like how Tintin drew the Africans in there (same applies to the black pirate in Asterix, btw), but otherwise the Africans are no more daft and silly than everyone else is in all of the other books (except Tintin himself).

Tintin has a great chat with his new mate Chang? in the Blue Lotus about Racial & ethnic prejudice & misunderstandings... although that said, his depiction of the Japanese bad guys in The Blue Lotus is pretty harsh & stereotypical.

I can understand people wanting to avoid Tintin, but I find these things good springboards for chatting with DC about how things should and shouldn't be, how widespread racism used to be, the origins of racism, etc. Which drawings just can't be fair depictions. All at a child-friendly level.

I am reading Tintin in the Land of the Soviets to DS sometime this week.

Why has no one mentioned the CAptain's alcoholism & swearing being depicted with such light humour?

Ragged you are right, it is "Tintin in the Congo". Also, if you can engage with your DC about the issues that is great.

I like the Tintin books partly because they show how a person can start out with some ill-informed ideas and change and make themself work harder and think more carefully about how they present other people. I am a bit cautious about letting DD read "The Blue Lotus" because we are a bit Asian and I want to make sure she doesn't feel odd about her ethnic identity, however I will let her when she is older and we can talk about it.

The Blue Lotus also touches A LOT on the geopolitical issues of the far east in the 1930s, Japan's designs on China, basically. As well as drug smuggling.

My mum brought DS Tintin in the Congo for Christmas, not realising how rascist and colonial it is....it is very of its time. Needless to say we left that one at grandma's house!