Talk:Tintin (character)/Archive 2

Untitled
What follows is the entire "Tintin (character)" article as of 20 December 2013 before I replaced it with a rewritten article. I have had a close look at the old article below and believe we should keep only this text (listed by the existing article sections): Prhartcom (talk) 00:03, 20 December 2013 (UTC)
 * Introduction, first half: Yes (KEEP text, already incorporated)
 * Introduction, second half: None (unreferenced, topics already incorporated)
 * Background, Para. 1: None (unreferenced, topics already incorporated)
 * Background, Para. 2: None (mostly unreferenced, drop existing reference, topics already incorporated except for Tintin's nationality which will be dropped)
 * Character, Para 1: Yes (KEEP the referenced BBC quote and KEEP referenced Scott McCloud quote; both references check out OK)
 * Character, Para 2: None (unreferenced, topics already incorporated)
 * Character, Para 3: None (unreferenced, topic of his age already incorporated, topic of his birth year cameo will be dropped even though it is referenced)
 * Character, Para 4: None (unreferenced, topic of his family will be dropped, which is regrettable, but no reference material that I know of mentions it)
 * Character, Para 5: None (unreferenced, topic of his past will be dropped, which is regrettable, but no reference material that I know of mentions it)
 * Character, Para 6: None (mostly unreferenced, topic of his name already incorporated, Paul LaFarge quote will be dropped even though it is referenced ... perhaps it should be kept?)
 * Character, Para 7: None (unreferenced)
 * Character, Para 8: None (unreferenced, topic of his attitude already incorporated)
 * Character, Para 9: None (unreferenced, topic of his politics will be dropped, which is regrettable, but no reference material that I know of mentions it)
 * Character, Para 10: None (unreferenced, topic of his change will be dropped even though reference material that I possess does mention it ... perhaps it should be kept?)
 * Character, Para 10, second half: None (referenced Numa Sadoul quote on the topic of his change ... perhaps it should be kept?)
 * Inspiration, Para 1: None (unreferenced, topics already incorporated, the provided reference does not support topic and will be dropped)
 * Inspiration, Para 2: Yes (KEEP the referenced Pale Huld text, both references check out OK, KEEP the Pale Huld photo as licencing OK)
 * Inspiration, Para 3: None (referenced, topics and reference already incorporated)
 * Inspiration, Para 4: None (supposedly referenced, but one link is dead and the other cannot be retrieved, topic of reporter Robert Sexé will be dropped including long nota bene, it is not notable, and no reference material that I know of mentions it)
 * Inspiration, Para 5: None (referenced, topic of "Tintin is no longer me" will be dropped even though it is a referenced Hergé quote; first reference checks out OK (URL was moved) but second reference cannot be found so will be dropped ... perhaps it should be kept?)
 * Inspiration, Para 6: None (supposedly referenced, but reference cannot be found so will be dropped, topic of Léon Degrelle already incorporated)
 * Tintin actors and publicity stunts, Para 1: Yes (KEEP the referenced publicity stunts text, checking out references now)
 * Tintin actors and publicity stunts, Para 2: Yes (KEEP the referenced stage actor text, checking out references now)
 * Tintin actors and publicity stunts, Para 3: Yes (KEEP the referenced voice actor text, checking out references now)
 * Tintin 75th anniversary silver coin: None (referenced, will be dropped even though it is referenced ... perhaps it should be kept?)
 * Reception: None (referenced, topics already incorporated)

Nowiki article
=Tintin (character)=

Tintin is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Tintin is the protagonist, the eponymous hero of the series. He is a reporter and adventurer who travels around the world with his dog Snowy. The character was created in 1929 and introduced in Le Petit Vingtième ("The Little Twentieth") a weekly youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle ("The Twentieth Century"). He appears as a slender young man 14–17 years old and has a round head with red hair, which front part is spiked up. He often wears plus fours, shirt and sweater. He is imaginative with good powers of deduction, knows languages and is able to fly aeroplanes. Further, he is able to defend himself and can survive falls with only small injuries. Tintin apparently has no family but the friends he makes through his exploits become his adopted family.

The origin of the name Tintin and the inspiration for the character remain a mystery since Hergé was vague about it; when pressed for an answer he would say that Tintin was himself. Tintin is called by his original name in most language versions with the Dutch Kuifje being an exception.

Background
Tintin debuted in Le Petit Vingtième on 10 January 1929. He was largely based on an earlier character created by Hergé, a chubby boy-scout named Totor (Tintin, however, is slender). The comics starring Totor, Les aventures de Totor, chef de patrouille des Hannetons (The Adventures of Totor, Leader of the Cockchafer Patrol), appeared in the magazine Le Boy-Scout Belge between 1926 and 1929.

In the later comic book series, Tintin is a young reporter who is drawn to dangerous international intrigues in which his quick thinking, bravery and chronic good luck save the day. While the first adventures feature Tintin sent off to investigate an assignment, he rarely actually turns in a story. Later stories drop the pretense of journalism altogether and just let him embark on an adventure. Although the strip was Belgian, Hergé was inconsistent or vague about assigning Tintin a nationality, depicting him instead as broadly European. In some of the early books, like Tintin in the Congo or The Black Island, a Belgian identity is fairly explicit. In The Secret of the Unicorn, the reader can unmistakably recognise the streets of Brussels at the beginning of the story. In the television series, Tintin states that he and Snowy are from Brussels in the episode of The Crab with the Golden Claws. Brussels is also explicitly mentioned as Tintin's home address in Tintin in the Land of the Soviets. In later adventures, as with other aspects of his character's history and family, Tintin's nationality is usually not directly stated, although some of the street scenes in The Red Sea Sharks have been identified as happening in Brussels.

Character
Readers and critics have described Tintin as a well-rounded yet open-ended character, noting that his rather neutral personality—sometimes labelled as bland—permits a balanced reflection of the evil, folly and foolhardiness which surrounds him. His boy-scout ideals, which represent Hergé's own, are never compromised by the character, and his status allows the reader to assume his position within the story, rather than merely following the adventures of a strong protagonist. Tintin's iconic representation enhances this aspect, with Scott McCloud noting that it "allows readers to mask themselves in a character and safely enter a sensually stimulating world."

Tintin is an intelligent and imaginative character with good powers of deduction. However, while in deep thought, he tends to be absent-minded and fails to notice things around him. He seems to know multiple foreign languages and reads extensively on a variety of subjects. He is skilled at driving automobiles (including a tank), riding horses or motorcycles, and flying aeroplanes and helicopters. Despite his generally delicate and unassuming appearance, Tintin is quite athletic and possesses great physical strength, often getting into fights where he is able to knock out enemies much larger than himself with a single blow. Although he is small as opposed to the other characters, he is an excellent swimmer, has been shown to be a skilled mountaineer, has been shown to do yoga, and can survive falls that would normally cause serious injuries.

Tintin's age is never accurately revealed within the comics. Other characters treat him as a worldly young adult, as shown by the absence of concerns like parents or school, as well as by his wide solo travels all over the globe. He's old enough to enter a pub and drink a beer (The Black Island) and old enough to live alone with his dog in his own apartment. However, he is still referred to as a "young boy", and a "puppy" in The Crab with the Golden Claws. A 1979 television interview with Hergé settled the matter, when Hergé stated that when he first thought about Tintin, the character was 14 or 15 years old, and by the time of the interview stated: "but now, let's say that he is 17." In one shot in the television series episode The Secret of the Unicorn, Tintin's passport states his birth year as 1929 (the year of his print debut).

Tintin has no family members: any mention of a mother, father or siblings is noticeably absent. He makes no mention of his family throughout the series. Nowhere is it implied that he is an orphan; it could be argued that he meets his family between adventures. Tintin's lack of relatives is irrelevant to his adventuring; it is the adopted family of friends he makes through his exploits that make up his family unit.

Unlike other characters such as Captain Haddock or Professor Calculus, Tintin has no discernible past prior to the beginning of the series. Whereas Haddock can recall a particularly fierce storm at sea or Calculus can boast of his athletic past, Tintin's roots prior to Land of the Soviets are never discussed (although in 'The Black Island,' he mentions always loving puzzles). His companions encounter old friends like Captain Chester or Hercule Tarragon, yet Tintin only meets friends or enemies whom he met in previous adventures.

Even the name "Tintin" remains a mystery. Whether it is a first name or a surname is unknown. It is a known hypocoristic form of Augustin. A possibility is that it is not actually the reporter's real name, but rather a pseudonym that the character uses to protect his identity while writing columns for his newspaper, Le Petit Vingtième. At the time when the stories first came out, journalists' usage of pseudonyms was commonplace. The possibility that it may not be his real name is also hinted in Cigars of the Pharaoh when Tintin is accused of poisoning one of a notable sheik's servants. Having been captured and brought to his tent, the enraged sheik demands Tintin's name. Tintin's characteristically placid answer is: "My name? It won't mean a thing to you... but at home they call me Tintin." A simpler theory for his name is the fact that Franco-Belgian comics at the time generally had heroes with eccentric, memorable single names that could pass off as first names or surnames. Many people tend to think of "Tintin" as a surname, but it is likely that Hergé meant to keep it a mystery. Hergé was a great admirer of Benjamin Rabier and may have derived the name (and hairstyle) from Rabier's Tintin lutin (1897). There also have been theories that Tintin is a nickname for Martin or Augustin. One last theory holds that the name "Tintin" signifies nothing, pointing to the character's cryptic nature. As Paul LaFarge writes, "Tintin was a word before it was a name; it means 'nothing,' and the phrase faire tintin loosely means 'to go without.' Hergé's boy reporter does not bear the name by accident."

In The Crab with the Golden Claws, when a Japanese man is about to drop a letter in Tintin's letterbox (and gets kidnapped just then), one can notice the name of Hergé, on the adjacent letterbox, suggesting that the writer himself was Tintin's neighbour.

Throughout much of the series, Tintin's attitude is characterised by inquisitive tendencies and a noble, forgiving nature. While his idealism earns him the admiration of many people he meets, it also places him in danger on occasion and serves as a foil to the more sceptical demeanour of other characters such as Captain Haddock. And unlike nearly every other character he meets, Tintin can be relied upon to remain calm and cool-headed, even in the worst of circumstances. Only on very rare occasions, such as after Haddock's drunken antics threatened his friends' lives (Explorers on the Moon), does Tintin actually lose his temper.

Tintin's political views are generally ambiguous in many of the books and specific expression of his opinions are rare. While in earlier books such as Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Tintin in the Congo Tintin is characterised as a proud Belgian Catholic, later books avoid specific mention of his views (see Ideology of Tintin). His opinions appear to change over time, though in many situations he can be classified as a pacifist, reflecting a dislike of war. At the beginning of Tintin and the Picaros, he is seen wearing a motorcycle helmet with a peace symbol on it.

Towards the end of the series, Tintin's character changes to a degree. In later stories, Tintin no longer actively seeks out adventure but is rather forced into a situation by events beyond his control (such as being kidnapped or motivated to rescue a friend). This is especially evident in Flight 714 and Tintin and the Picaros, where Tintin's loss of enthusiasm for adventure is apparent, and his youthful idealism appears to have been replaced by a somewhat more cynical outlook. There has been much debate among readers and critics about this shift in characterisation, as these final adventures have received varying and sometimes negative responses. Critics argue that these books represent either a late period of eccentricity, or puzzling disappointments, while others claim that Tintin's shift represents a more complex depiction of his character. Hergé commented upon this change, noting that in the late phases of his career, "Tintin has lost control, he is not on top of events anymore, he is subjected to them." However, in the unfinished album Tintin and Alph-Art, Tintin regained much of his old adventurous personality, actively investigating suspicious events and murder threats.

Inspiration
The earlier version of Tintin was apparently inspired, at least in part, by Hergé's younger brother, Paul Remi, a career soldier. Tired of being referred to as "Major Tintin" by his colleagues, Paul later shaved his hair and adopted a more Erich von Stroheim look. Hergé subsequently used Paul's appearance as a model for the villainous Colonel Sponsz in The Calculus Affair. Tintin and Sponsz, although physically very different, have actually quite similar hair spikes.

Hergé may have also been inspired by a Danish boy scout and later actor Palle Huld, who was 15 years old when he, sponsored by a newspaper, travelled around the world and wrote A Boy Scout Around the World. In the book he describes his tour to the Soviet Union, America, China, and Africa, and about the adventures he experienced. It was translated into eleven languages and it was certainly read by Hergé. In addition, newspapers all over the world covered the travel demonstrating the interest of such a story. The similarities between Tintin and Palle Huld are striking, not only in their clothing and posture, innocent charisma, open smile, optimism, forward spirit, and red hair, but also in their more elusive similarities: the boy reporter traveling around the world without family or background, lonely, asexual, and strikingly impersonal. Yet another similarity is the reception of Palle Huld on his return to Copenhagen in April 1928, which was copied at the end of the first Tintin story by letting a boy actor play Tintin returning from Soviet at the train station; both attracted a great crowd.

However, the inspiration for Tintin may also have come from a fellow student of Hergé's from St. Boniface named Charles, who had adopted a style of plus fours and argyle socks which caused him to be the subject of no little ridicule. Harry Thompson notes the inspiration may be tinged slightly, suggesting that if "Hergé had been one of the laughers, an element of guilt was involved."

The first three adventures of Tintin visit places visited by photographer-reporter, recorded in the Belgian press from the mid to late 1920s. Sexé was born in 1890 in La Roche-sur-Yon in Vendée in Western France. Janpol Schulz wrote a biography of Robert Sexé titled "Sexé au pays des Soviets" (Sexé in the Land of the Soviets) to mimic the name of the first Tintin Adventure. This was published in 1996. Robert Sexé has been noted to have a similar appearance to Tintin, and the Hergé Foundation in Belgium has admitted that it is not too hard to imagine how Hergé could have been influenced by the exploits of Sexé.

Hergé himself has noted that Tintin existed as his personal expression, and although he recorded in 1947 that he knew "Tintin is no longer me, that, if he is to go on living, it will be by a sort of artificial respiration that I will have to practice constantly and which exhausts me, and will exhaust me more and more", he was also fond of stating "Tintin, c'est moi!" ("Tintin, that's me!").

Shortly before his death, former Belgian Nazi collaborator Léon Degrelle created controversy by stating that the Tintin character was originally based on himself. Degrelle had indeed known Hergé during his early career as a journalist, but this allegation is generally considered a fabrication of the notorious self-booster Degrelle.

Tintin actors and publicity stunts
Young people have often played the part of Tintin in real-life events staged by the publishers as well as in plays and movies. The first time "Tintin" appeared "live" was in a publicity stunt held towards the end of the publication of the first adventure, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets in Le Petit Vingtième as mentioned above. It was announced that "Tintin" would be at the Gare du Nord station in Brussels on 8 May 1930. Fifteen-year-old boy scout Lucien Pepermans was chosen by his scout leader to play the part. Pepermans dressed as a muzhik and he and Hergé travelled to the station by train. They were expecting only a handful of readers but instead found themselves mobbed by a whole horde of fans. On 9 July 1931, another scout, 14-year-old Henri Dendoncker, dressed in African safari gear and played the part for Tintin's return from the Congo. He and a fox terrier, representing Snowy, were accompanied by Hergé, ten Congolese and other boys dressed as Quick & Flupke. René Boey played the part to mark the return of Tintin from America on 13 November 1932. The last such publicity stunt was done in October 1935 with Charles Stie "returning" from Shanghai and The Blue Lotus.

Actress Jane Rubens was the first to play Tintin on stage in April 1941. The plays, written by Jacques Van Melkebeke, included Tintin in India – the Mystery of the Blue Diamond and . She was later replaced by 11-year-old Roland Ravez, who also lent his voice to recordings of the Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus. Another voice actor was Maurice Sarfati. Jean-Pierre Talbot played Tintin in two live-action movie adaptations: Tintin and the Golden Fleece in 1961 and Tintin and the Blue Oranges in 1964. English actor Russell Tovey played the role at the London Barbican Theatre during the 2005–6 season of a Young Vic adaptation of Tintin in Tibet.

Canadian actor Colin O'Meara voiced Tintin on an animated adaptation of the stories, which originally aired on HBO and subsequently Nickelodeon. Tintin is performed by Jamie Bell in the 2011 performance-capture film which merges plots from several books. He is voiced by Adam Howden in the video game based on the film.

Tintin 75th anniversary silver coin
Tintin and his dog Snowy were the topic of a silver collectors' coin, the 10 euro 75 years of Tintin Anniversary commemorative coin. A portrait of Tintin and Snowy can be seen in the obverse side of the coin.

Reception
Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, commented that Tintin was one of his favourite characters due to "his blankness" and "lack of depth" as it makes him "an empty page on which adventures can be drawn".