research 03 The Knight, the Dragon and the Battle. · combination white-on-bleu, such as Tintin is...

Research03: The Knight, the Dragon and the Battle, PART 1. Inez Michiels 05/2009

research 03The Knight, the Dragon and the Battle.An analysis of the comic strips of Hergé, The Adventures of Tintin.Part 1: The Knight.

Inez Michiels

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research & consultancyin universal communication

Aarschotplaats 162018 Antwerpen - Belgium

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white-on-bluecode 110.000

INTRODUCTIONThis text is the first part of a profound study on the famousmyth of the knight and his fight against the dragon. Theadventures of Tintin were thoroughly analysed on attentivecolour combinations, colour tints and word consonances.These results were compared to the distinguishing qualitiesof the main characters that appear in these stories of Hergé.In previous studies we already examined the colourcombination black-on-bleu, the corresponding colour tintdark gray and word consonance AAO which strikingly occurwith the character Haddock.

At the end of this study range it will be proved that Hergé inall his stories always told the same universal myth of theknight, the dragon and the fight between these two legendarycharacters. Thereby a link is laid each time with publicityand art in which the same myth is used as a means totransmitting a certain message.

In this first part we treat the character Tintin, in part 2 Tintin'senemies come to the turn. Part 3 examines the fight betweenthese two antagonists.

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

01. THE COLOURS OF TINTIN

02. TINTIN's CHARACTERBRILLIANT CLEAR MINDREPORTERHONEST AND PUREANGELPAIN-KILLERSWORDCOMBATANT OF DEMONS

03. CONCLUSION

04. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The symbols in this text are taken from the bookSymbolen Constructies (Constructions of Symbols)Inez MichielsACCO publisher Leuven-Belgium, 2006ISBN 90 334 5919 1 NUR 656See www.genecode.be

Research03: The Knight, the Dragon and the Battle, PART 1. Inez Michiels 05/2009 2



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HERO


01. THE COLOURS OF TINTINThere are two important versions: white-on-bleuand bright yellow. In the first case Tintin wearsa white shirt and a blue pullover, in other caseshe appears in a yellow shirt. To a lesser degreeTintin wears adapted attire, sometimes an armyuniform, or special clothing to climb mountains.

In this first part the emphasis lies on the colourcombination white-on-bleu, such as Tintin isrepresented on the back cover of the albums(Img.a). There is however a link between thiscolour combination and the colour tint brightyellow, such as Tintin is e.g. represented in TheShooting Star. We keep the explanation for thislink for part 3 of this study.

02. TINTIN's CHARACTERSharp minded spiritTintin seem always fresh and awake. His secretis to get up early, doing morning exercises andtaking afterwards a fresh bath. Always readyand alert to start new adventures. We never seeTintin lazy in bed. Read the opening of TheBroken Ear.

Brilliant clear mindWith his brilliant mind Tintin unravels the mostwrapped riddles. See The Secret of the Unicorn.

Pure, never drinks alcoholTintin never drinks alcohol, only water. Also he never usesany other drug. Only in one story he becomes tipsy againsthis will, when he must hide with captain Haddock in a shotdown wine cellar in The Crab with the Golden Claws.

Noble, chivalrousIn several stories Tintin is not afraid to protect the weakerin society against the iniquity of the brutes as in The Prisonersof the Sun when he protects the boy Zorrino.

Sacrifices himselfUncountable times Tintin will sacrifice himself to save thelife of someone else. Like among other things in the precarioussituation in Tintin in Tibet, when he does not want that hisfriend Haddock will die as some.

Merciful, not rancorousAn accomplice from The Broken Ear had the task to killTintin. The attack failed but Tintin sees that evil is not in thisman. The accomplice has acted out of money need, for thisreason Tintin has mercy on him. This manner helps him later,the accomplice is from now on indefinitely grateful.

IncorruptibleTintin seems to dislike money as if that belongs also to itsenemies. In several stories one tries to corrupt him. It arethe rare moments that we see Tintin really angry, like in TheBlue Lotus or in The Broken Ear.

HonestTintin is honest and righteous. Never he will break his wordof honour, or do something behind the back of someone.Tintin swears e.g. that he will never reveal the existence ofthe Sun Temple.

Fearless rescuerTintin is the rescuer. In each story he saves people andanimals of a terrible death. Nothing deters him thereby, likein The Blue Lotus the wild flowing river which has floodeddoes not scare him of to save Tsjang. Or such as when hesaves Zorrino from the stranglehold of a terrible snake in thetale of The Prisoners of the Sun.

Img.a




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BRILLIANT LUSTRE

Img.1

Img.2


Pain-killerTintin has the strength to fight pain and fever such as hefights his enemies. In The Cigars of the Pharaoh he healsan elephant.

Pure heartWe learn who Tintin really is by listening to what others haveto say about him: he is called "Pure heart" by a Tibetan llamain Tintin in Tibet and he praises him for his courage andobstinacy.

Noble soulAlso his host in The Blue Lotus praises him for his courageand noble soul and compares him with pure crystal.

AngelLets also listen to what his enemies think about him. In TheBlue Lotus in Mitsuhirato's most terrible nightmares Tintinappears as an angel who triumphs over him.

KnightFinally Tintin is knighted in the order of the Golden Pelicanby the grateful king of Syldavië in King Ottokar's Sceptre.

Next we will compare the character of Tintin with white-on-blue symbols from publicity and art.

BRILLIANT CLEAR MINDTintin's brilliant spirit enables him to unmask the enemy. InThe Blue Lotus he is compared to pure crystal. Brilliants anddiamonds are generally represented in white-on-blue like inthis program folder of the Antwerp World diamond Centre.Img.1.

This colour combination is the best for portrayinga radiating lustre. Nothing shines as bright aswhite-on-blue.

Another property of diamonds is the fineness,the precision. Diamonds in the industry are usedfor the precision work. For instance the web siteof Anglo Swiss resources Inc.

REPORTER




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LIGHTHOUSE

WINDOW

Img.3

Img.4

Img.5

Img.6


Tintin is a professional reporter. One expects from a goodreporter a clear analysis, so that the reader can get a clearpicture of the situation. Such as the radiating bulb implies inthis publicity for the Dutch magazine Knack. Img.2.

Tintin is the radiating light that reveals shady business andbrings it into light.

Clear perception is the beginning of the analysis.The woman on the poster of the international film festival ofGent 1992 (Img.3) is represented as a lighthouse, metaphorfor perception and looking ahead. From her eyes radiatesbright light. Nothing will escape her observation.

Of a reporter is expected thathe reflects the exact truth in itsreport of the facts. Such astaking a photograph an exactreproduction is of reality. Thesharpness of the photograph inthis publicity of Fujifilm isexpressed with a white lustreagainst a blue background.Img.4

In Tintin in Tibet Tintin uses the flash of a cameraas a weapon against the terrible snow man.

Like with a photograph perception is delimitedin a framework. In the publicity of Panasonic(Img.5) the world is observed through a window.The window is a metaphor for sharp and exactperception which makes us able to plan and toforesee.

After the sharpobservation the actualpress coveragefollows. One writeswhat one hasobserved, as it is, puretruth. That is also whatthe pressphotographer does.White-on-blue istherefore the rightchoice for the WorldPress Photo 1994leaflet, province ofAntwerp-Belgium.(Img.6)




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ARROW

IMMACULATE

VIRGIN

Img.7 Img.8 Img.9

Img.10


It is striking how many newspapers and news magazinesadvertise in white-on-blue. With these colours they want youto believe that their press coverage is objective, that this isthe reason for which you are therefore prepared and betterinformed on what the future will bring. Such as is meant withthe slogan "read Het Volk before misfortunes happen" in thispublicity for the Belgian newspaper Het Volk. (Img.7)

The arrow as a symbol for newspapers andnews magazines is another metaphor to saythe same. The arrow can be compared withthe lighthouse. The lighthouse is visible froma distant and works as a guide for the shipson sea. The reporter designates the news.He gives an explanation. Publicity for theBelgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.(Img.8)

HONEST AND PURETintin is honest and pure. He only drinks water in hisadventures and never uses drugs. In publicity or packingwhere purity must be expressed strikingly appears the colourcombination white-on-blue. E.g. when the purity of drinkingwater must be emphasized or with washing detergents. Ada white radiation and the picture persuades. Like in thepublicity for Dixan mega pearls (Img.9), the radiation mustportray the 40% more washing power.

The saint virgin from the bible is immaculate.She is symbol of purity. We see her generallyrepresented in white-on-blue. In Antwerp, withas patroness the virgin Maria, you can find herstatue on a lot of street corners in this colourcombination. Here in the painting the Ascensionof Maria of the Spanish painter CABEZALERO,1670. (Img.10)

She is able to take off to the sky from her gravewhereby she exceeds the laws of the earthlymatter and the gravitation. She is supernaturallike Tintin's honesty, purity and nobility almostseem superhuman.




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LIGHTWEIGHT and VOLATILITY

EARTH

FLOAT

ANGEL

Img.11

Img.12


Contemporary virgins use the same colours andsymbols in the home page of the holy nuns ofthe priory O.L.Vr van Bethanië (Img.11). Thefloating situation is indicated with the white birdwhich floats above the blue earth.

In the illustration we can recognize some aspectsof white and of blue. White is the colour oflightweight such as that of a feather. Of volatilitysuch as a cloud. The blue earth stands formaterial, hardness and concrete such as graniteor blue stone. By placing white above blue arelease arises. The laws of gravitation havebeen raised and we take off in an unreal worldwithout sorrow, pain or suffering. The bird is theembodiment of the desire of people to set freeof the heavy ground and to live as angels in theclouds.

ANGELTintin is in the nightmares of Mitsuhirato an angel. He is aguardian angel for much of its friends. The American RebeccaColeman paints a guardian angel in white-on-blue (Img.12).

An angel is a supernatural,intellectual being, which is retrievedin different religions. In Christianity,Islam, Jewry and Zoroastrism, theyperform as guards of people, usuallyas messengers of god (or the gods),and have superhuman capacitiesand properties.

PAIN-KILLERTintin brings relief in the suffering of his friends by releasingthem of their enemies such as a pain-killer fights the pain orthe fever. The publicity of Panadol pain-killers (Img.13) usesthe symbol of the radiating light to portray the purifying andrelieving strength connected to this medication. It is almostthe same picture such as we saw formerly in the publicity of




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SWORD

Img.13

Img.14

Img.15

Img.16

Img.17


mega-clean pearls of Dixan (Img.9). By using the radiationthe product gets a functioning attributed which seemssupernatural.

SWORDThe weapon against pain is the sword like in the logo ofpain-killer Dispril (Img.14). The sword is symbol of purity forexample in the tale of Tristan and Isolde. A sword is laidbetween them in bed as a guarantee of their chastity.

Swords have a supernatural strength in mythological taleswhich enables the noble user to win its equitable fight. Thecraft industry of sword blacksmith had a sacral character.

Jeanne d'Arc used a special sword in her divine battle that,according to her, was revealed to her by divine signs andmade ready for use. (Img.18)

COMBATANT OF DEMONSTintin in its white-on-blue appearance is as the sword: he ishimself a supernatural cleaning strength which is able tocombat the wicked successfully. In the Occident the archangelMichaël kills with his sword a dragon and saves that way the

virgin. An altarpiece of Piero della Francescafrom 1460 (Img.15).

In the old Chinese tradition one also knew demonexorcising swords. In Shintoïstic mythology thereis a sword that was pulled out from an eightheaded snake by a warrior in order to kill it.Image 16 shows an Indonesian representationof the Chinese god Er Lang who fights thedemons.

The folder publishedby the police force ofAntwerp-Belgiummade by the artistNicole van Goethem(Img.17) presents thepolice sword as anExcalibur. Theradiation that comesout of the swordshows that it does notconcern a commonweapon, but that it




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Img.18


has super strength that only by noble knightscan be used.

The sword is also the attribute to knight someone.A knight was initially in the middle ages anarmoured field soldier who had received theaccolade. The name was later associated withnobility and social status.

A knight had to stick to a strict code of conduct.These existed from the chivalrous values, amongwhich: mercy, humility, honour, sacrifice,righteousness. Properties that we noticed withTintin. In some of the adventures Hergé connectsTintin to knighthood. We saw that he is effectivelyknighted in King Ottokar's Sceptre.

The saint Jeanne d'Arc is represented in theposter from the war period in the US (Img.18)with her super sword in white-on-blue as anexample for the women in America which servesthe good cause by buying war bonds.

CONCLUSIONTintin is brilliant and has a clear mind, always in search forthe truth and for justice. Thus he fulfils also his role as areporter.

Pure as a washing detergent, honest as a radiant crystal heis for his friends a guardian angel. In his white-on-blueappearance he acts as a knight or Excalibur. He fights hisenemies with the same almost superhuman courage andnobility. He is a modern version of the archangel Michaëlwho fights the devil.

04 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS1. Program folder of the Antwerp World diamond Centre

1993.2. Knack clarifies. Illustrated magazine Knack.

Advertisement.3. Poster of the international film festival Gent of 1992.4. Photograph film Fuji. Advertisement.5. Brilliantly digital, cameras Panasonic. Advertisement.6. Exhibition folder World Press Photo 1994, province

Antwerp.7. Het Volk, Belgian newspaper. Advertisement.8. Het Laatste Nieuws, Belgian newspaper. Advertisement.9. Dixan Mega pearls. Detergent. Advertisement.10. Painting the Ascension of Maria of the Spanish painter

CABEZALERO from 1670.11. Homepage of the holy nuns of the priory O.L.Vr van

Bethanië.12. Greeting card, Rebecca Coleman.13. Panadol, pain-killer. Advertisement. Laboratories

WINTHROP.14. Dispril, pain-killer. Packing. Reckit & Colman.15. Altarpiece with archangel Michaël of Piero della Francesca

from 1460.16. Indonesian representation of the Chinese god Er Lang.17. Folder police force of Antwerp-Belgium by Nicole van

Goethem.18. Joan of Arc Saved France. WSS United States Treasury

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