the state of me; also, Tintin

[kindkit]

There are some difficult emotional things going on in my life right now. I'll still be around and talking about fandom, because fandom is a happiness and a comfort for me. But I may be a bit flaky for a while. Your patience is appreciated if I, for example, fail to answer your comment promptly (or at all). I don't plan on that, because I want to

Comments

[halotolerant]

*hugs*
I will gladly witter about this fandom for quite a while, given any excuse (thank you for an excuse!) and if it contributes to a happy space I'm pleased, and don't worry about the replying thing ♥

SO YES MOON BOOKS \o/
this is the only time, at least in the stories I've read so far, when we see Tintin and Haddock genuinely angry at each otherAbsolutely. In my head canon, this follows on from the idea that Haddock has taken the whisky aboard as a (bad idea) means of coping with how he's starting to feel about Tintin - he's got so close to him on the base, now they're off on a massively dangerous trip in a space with zero privacy and he hasn't voiced his feelings. I think maybe at this point, he's not sure he's worthy of Tintin or something - I think maybe after Tintin's insane rescue mission and rant, he can see that for whatever reason, Tintin loves him, warts and all - as indeed you've said. In a similar way, I think Tintin cracks because Haddock has come so close to leaving him forever, and he's realised that that would be

[kindkit]

the idea that Haddock has taken the whisky aboard as a (bad idea) means of coping with how he's starting to feel about Tintin

Yeah. I think Haddock would probably have taken the whisky aboard anyway, but the difficult emotional situation he's in with Tintin (according to my head canon, which is not unrelated to yours) provides an extra level of self-justification. He's unhappy, frustrated, probably a bit ashamed of himself for being in love with a deeply innocent teenage boy, and at the same time worried that his love isn't and never will be returned in the same way. It could drive a sterner man than Haddock to drink!

Tintin cracks because Haddock has come so close to leaving him foreverAnd that, in my head, is Tintin's first hint that his feelings for Haddock are more complicated and intense than any friendship he's had before. The hint becomes an anvil later when Haddock almost dies

[halotolerant]

deeply innocent teenage boyI agree absolutely that Tintin is sexually innocent, and emotionally quite - I don't want to say immature, but inexperienced, maybe? I think before meeting Haddock Tintin thought people were either good and heroic and therefore one liked them, or black-hat evil and one thwarted them. I think Haddock shows him that some people manage a mixture of good and less-good actions, and battle personal demons as well as Great Big External Issues. At the same time, though, he's in some ways tremendously precocious, and I reckon matured in some ways faster than the rest of him could keep up with. There's no one place in text I can point to to support this, but my head canon is that Tintin is oblivious to sexual undertones when Haddock first meets him, and, yeah, I bet Haddock would feel bad about changing that, but Haddock can also protect him from predators he doesn't even recognise on his radar

[kindkit]

Tintin's very precociously self-sufficient, but in a way that I think may have arrested his emotional development. As you say, he's got some childlike reactions and thought patterns. It's as though at a very young age he decided to be a knight in shining armor, and he's clung to that past the point where most people lose it because their own personal lives become more complex and attention-demanding. There might be a level of unconscious self-defense happening--I find the backstory you created, with Tintin's mother telling him that if he cries she doesn't want him around, to be a compelling explanation for why he's made himself into the stoic hero. And until Haddock, no one's ever stuck around long enough that Tintin couldn't keep being the hero for them, if that makes sense. No one until Haddock has ever made things complicated.

my head canon is that Tintin is oblivious to sexual undertones when Haddock first meets him*nods* My own developing head-canon is that Tintin didn't quite connect his own sexual urges with other people or

[miss_morland]

Like Halo, I'm always happy to talk about Tintin, and I'm glad to hear fandom is being a comfort to you. <3

Yes, Haddock does occasionally refer to them as "the Siamese twins," but I think that's a joke rather than a reason to believe they're actually twins.

I could have sworn it's mentioned somewhere that they're twins, but I might just be misremembering, after all. Maybe I just assumed it since they seem to have known each other all their lives -- for instance, there's this line in Tintin et les Picaros where Dupond claims that "[n]ous portons la moustache depuis notre plus tendre enfance"(!). I guess it's all open to interpretation...

it may be that this is the first time Haddock realizes that Tintin really will risk anything for him.

Yes! I think you've nailed it. I also think this realisation is a bit unsettling to the Captain -- like, he might feel he doesn't deserve Tintin's love and friendship -- so he tries to compensate by becoming even more protective and devoted, like you said.

I might check out Toison d'Or -- I'm

[kindkit]

I suppose in a way it doesn't really matter if les Dupondt are twins or not. Like Akbar and Jeff, they can be brothers or lovers or possibly both. (I do not fear the twincest, me!) And if they were both, it wouldn't even be the strangest thing about them.

so he tries to compensate by becoming even more protective and devoted

It's around this point that the captain's "I'm not going, absolutely not, no way no how, count me out, okay I'm going" routine starts to be explicitly about Tintin without other justifications. I love the moment in Tintin in Tibet when Haddock describes himself as following Tintin like an old boat on a towline.

Toison d'Or has its flaws--I think Georges Wilson's performance as Haddock is overly cartoonish--but it's also got great charm. And subtext. And hugs. And athletic!Tintin clad only in little swim trunks, if that's your kind of thing.

[vilakins]

That film does them all so well!

Tintin looks like he's twelve in the thing

OK, they used to have boy (and girl) reporters back then but they'd have to be past minimum high school leaving age surely or it just wouldn't be believable. I always saw him as about 17 or 18. How does he sound? Maybe they're just trying to make him more like the drawings?

[kindkit]

The clip I've seen didn't, as I recall, have dialogue, so I don't know if he sounds as young as he looks. But I don't think the Tintin in the drawings looks twelve, either. I believe Hergé said that he originally thought of Tintin as 14-15, but then aged him up a little to about 17.

[vilakins]

He'd have to be around that age, I think. Anyway some teenagers can look absurdly young.

And guess what! I HAVE TWO TINTIN FILMS! Greg reminded me he'd bought them for me a while back but I thought I only had the boxed cartoon set.

I have Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece (the one on YouTube) and Tintin and the Blue Orange. [bounce] They were hidden behind some of Greg's techo junk but he knew they were there so I'm going to watch them this week. :-D

[kindkit]

Yay for the Tintin films! Do you have them subtitled? I do think it's a shame there's no subtitled version on YouTube . . .

[yorda_]

Hiya! I'm sorry to drop by like this, it must seem very random. I'm a fellow Tintin fan and I found your journal through LJ's search feature. I really enjoyed your Tintin posts and the discussions you've had with people in the comments. I see you have also written Tintin/Haddock fic and I have a feeling I'll read them sooner or later. I'm currently a bit unsure how I feel about it, having been a fan of Tintin since I was a very young child. But seeing the new movie and re-reading the comics as an adult does make Tintin/Haddock fic very appealing.

Anyway, the real reason I'm commenting is this:

"I recently saw a little clip of the new Tintin movie and freaked out a bit, because Tintin looks like he's twelve in the thing. He's not that young in the comics, but it's going to ruin any chance of my seeing/enjoying Tintin/Haddock slash in the movie."Do you still feel this way? Because if you do, I want to try and convince you that the movie does Herge's work and the characters of Tintin and Haddock justice - and it is very slashable

[kindkit]

Hi! I do actually plan to see the movie once it opens (yes, I'm in the US). I'm still a bit nervous about it, but I've read a lot of positive reviews since I made this post, and seen some clips that I liked better.

I'm really glad to hear that Haddock wasn't sanitized. It probably helps that apart from Spielberg, there's not a huge amount of American involvement in the film--the US is quite puritanical about drinking, especially in anything supposedly "for children." But I love him for his flaws and rough edges, and I agree that in The Crab With the Golden Claws we see him at his roughest--he's very nearly a broken man when Tintin pops in through his window.

I wish it was December already. There's a whole list of films I'm looking forward to and none of them open until then.

[slashgirl80]

I´ve seen the movie twice :D
I remember reading somewhere a comment where you said that Tintin looked like a twelve year old in the Spielberg movie so you wouldn´t be able to experiment slash feelings...well he looks quite young in some scenes but older in others.
Here for example (at least for me):

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/3791/29467524026543269195210.jpg :P

[kindkit]

Good lord, it looks like they're about half a second away from a big romantic kiss (complete with violin music swelling in the background).

[charaefive]

I have had a VERY rough week, starting on Sunday when my hip suddenly went out of whack, and I was unable to do anything except curl up in my bed and wait for death

[kindkit]

Hi! Le Toison d'Or is a lovely film, isn't it? I'm glad it helped you feel a little better during what sounds like a very tough time.

The new film has some amazing people attached to it (such as Moffat), and that plus that good reviews from Europe are giving me hope. I'm not a huge Spielberg fan--his sentimentality grates on me--but it sounds like his influence was muted by the other talents.

[charaefive]

What astonished me the first time I saw it in Le Toison d'Or, was how incredibly athletic Tintin (well, the actor at anyrate) was. For instance the first time we see him, he's running with Milou towards Moulinsart and he leaps over two (quite large) branches on the ground. And then there's all the fight scenes (I find it amusing that it's always Tintin who fights, and Haddock normally comes along after the fact...(apart from once when Haddock throws the cannonballs down the stairs, but I suspect that's because Tintin had to climb down the rather handy and very conveniently placed rope/pipe).

Mind you, after seeing him in those (incredibly) short (blue!) shorts, I can understand that he was quite fit. (One does have to wonder WHY he got those particular shorts, and IF he got them for a particular purpose...)

[kindkit]

According to what I've read about the movie, the lead was actually working as a counsellor at a youth sports camp when he was spotted by the producer (or some such) who thought he looked just like Tintin and wanted to cast him in the role. So, yes, the actor was very much an athlete.

In that film, given the way Tintin was played, I can believe he acquired those shorts just to provoke the captain . . .