Anti-Soviet propaganda in comics: The adventures of Tintin in the USSR

Abstract

© 2020 Aquilo. All rights reserved. The article examines the historical context and the anti-Soviet content of the Georges Remi (Hergé) comics “Tintin in the Land of Soviets.” The author considers the circumstances of the creation of the first album about the adventures of Tintin, the specifics of the political situation in Belgium during the interwar period, the peculiarities of Catholic anti-communism and the influence on G. Remy of his entourage, the question of the hero's prototypes. The analysis also includes the character and behavior of Tintin, his image as a reporter, the spatial and temporal characteristics of his adventures in Soviet Russia, and the values he professes. Using the example of analyzing the contents of a comics about the adventures of Tintin in the “Land of the Soviets”, stereotypes of the perception of the USSR, Soviet reality from ordinary Europeans (for example, caviar, vodka, bear, agents, dictatorship of one party, hunger, poverty, etc.) are revealed. The author notes the shift of temporal characteristics in the comic about the first adventures of Tintin, the predominance of pronounced anti-Soviet engagement, which led to a distortion of the real picture of Soviet reality.