I anledning af 80-året for tegneseriehelten Tintins debut (på en rejse til Sovjet) og hele tre snarlige Hollywood-versioner af den lille journalists eventyr, forsøger altid interessante The Economist at besvare, hvorfor Tintin er så populær i Europa og totalt ukendt i USA. Det hele starter med en ret opsigtsvækkende fransk lov:
IT IS one of Europe’s more startling laws. In 1949 France banned children’s books and comic strips from presenting cowardice in a “favourable” light, on pain of up to a year in prison for errant publishers. It was equally forbidden to make laziness or lying seem attractive. The law created an oversight committee to watch for positive depictions of these ills, along with crime, theft, hatred, debauchery and acts “liable to undermine morality” among the young.
Loven var vedtaget for at forhindre import af amerikanske tegneserier, der ansås for umoralske og voldelige, og var et led i den kontinentale kulturelle oprustning i efterkrigstiden – kulturel protektionisme af den gamle skuffe. Der var mange sår, der skulle heles – eller skjules – og Tintins løsningsmodeller og helte-type markerede sig som en særligt europæisk tilgang til uorden, kriminalitet og despotisme – de små forandringers fremskridt. Tintin er EU, Bruxelles og tusinde små paragraffer, der skaber en stor syntetisk ligevægt og balance mellem synd og dyder – de amerikanske tegneseriehelte knuser derimod synden fuldstændigt, gerne med ikke-statsautoriseret vold.
Tintin opererer altid indenfor loven og altid i det små med respekt for adel og den stående samfundsorden. Hans heltetype er ikke oprøreren eller revolutionæren, den ensomme ulv, der skaber sine egne regler. Han er snusfornuftig indtil det renskurede og bruger stort set aldrig vold, undtagen i modereret selvforsvar. Han står for de små ændringer og lader loven om de store. Ganske vist kæmper han mod despoter, men forestiller sig ikke, at han kan ændre samfundet i de store træk. Ligesom Hergé selv – der ret kontroversielt tegnede videre for avisen Le Soir, der var venligt stemt overfor de tyske besættelsesmyndigheder. Hergé påkaldte sig – som så mange andre europæere – neutralitet, men gav den slags virkelig mening, mens krigen rasede? The Economist har denne kommentar:
There is a link between Hergé, this disappointing man, and his creation Tintin, who fights against despots so bravely. It lies in the rationalisation of impotence: a very European preoccupation.
The key to Tintin is that he has the mindset of “someone born in a small country”, says Charles Dierick, in-house historian at the Hergé Studios. He is “the clever little guy who outsmarts big bullies”. And as a little guy, even a clever one, Tintin’s bravery works within limits: he rescues friends, and foils plots. But when he finds himself in Japanese-controlled Shanghai, in “The Blue Lotus”, he can do nothing to end the broader problem of foreign occupation.
(…)
Interviewed late in life, Hergé acknowledged the links between his wartime experiences and his moral outlook. The second world war lies behind a great deal in Tintin, just as it lies deep beneath the political instincts of many on the European continent. It matters a lot that the Anglo-Saxon world has a different memory of that same war: it is a tragic event, but not a cause for shame, nor a reminder of impotence.
Tintin has never fallen foul of the 1949 French law on children’s literature. He is not a coward, and the albums do not make that vice appear in a favourable light. But he is a pragmatist, albeit a principled one. Perhaps Anglo-Saxon audiences want something more from their fictional heroes: they want them imbued with the power to change events, and inflict total defeat on the wicked. Tintin cannot offer something so unrealistic. In that, he is a very European hero.
En tanke om “Den europæiske helt”