The Blue Lotus

By Hergé
Read: September 2009
Rating:

This was the very first Tintin book I ever got my hands on. So there’s nostalgic attachment to it.

Published in 1936, the squabbling countries make speeches to… The League of Nations! Funnily enough, there’s not mention of communism, at all. But I suppose that wasn’t so much on the public radar until after WWII.

Controversies

All the guides and reviews and analyses online say that this is the book where Herge made a change–he was contacted by a Chinese boy and was able to get firsthand information about the place Tintin was visiting. The book is clearly sympathetic to the Chinese, even going so far as to have Tintin point out the things that “Lots of Europeans still believe… that all Chinese are cunning and cruel and wear pigtails … and eating rotten eggs and swallows nests…” etc. Tintin does this to earn the trust of a Chinese boy, who fears ‘wicked white devils.’ They end up laughing together. If that wasn’t a direct appeal to overturn stereotypes, I don’t know what is.

Regrettably, sympathy for the Chinese turns into maligning their occupiers, the Japanese. Herge depicts nearly every Japanese character with the stereotypes of the day–big (make that giant), buck teeth, harsh, angry expressions… Mr. Mitsuhirato, the primary villain, is a detestable figure with a snout-like nose. The Japanese villains also dress like Westerners. Mitsuhirato is a sort of diplomat, so it makes sense for him to (though the quality is clearly shoddy–one punch and his collar comes undone… twice!), but his lackey is dressed like every other goon in Tintinland. Newsboy cap and a turtleneck sweater! He must have stuck out, especially as page 45 shows a mass of Chinese civilians in traditional Chinese clothing.

Tropes

CHLOROFORM!!! There was a time, when I was a child, that I strongly believed chloroform was the standard way of knocking people out. Apparently, it’s highly toxic and dangerous. My mother gave me very strange looks when I mentioned it.

Creative swearing… Mitsuhirato constantly says things like, “Seven suffering samurai!” In fact, all Tintin characters from foreign locales say similarly strange things.