A Look at ‘The Blue Lotus’ Through Language, Imagery, and Historical Setting (2021)

Frederick B. Kilmer Research Award

The beloved comic series The Adventures of Tintin has been translated into many languages and repeatedly adapted for film and television. Children across the world have grown up accompanying the young Belgian reporter and his dog as they escape dangers and run into exciting adventures. Yet the series is rife with racist imagery and language. This paper finds that even “The Adventures of Tintin: The Blue Lotus,” a story set during the Japanese occupation of China that is often cited as the moment when its author, Hergé, changed his outlook toward non-Europeans, remains embedded in racist discourse. Racial stereotypes, prejudice, and intentional bias exist across French, English, and Japanese language versions of the story. For example, comic illustrations portray Japanese characters as animalistic, buffoons, and manipulators. Although different translations can alter points of view, common images sustain the series’ cultural misrepresentations. In later television adaptations, voice characterizations also convey racial motifs.