is tintin racist

Hills (2004) lists a number of defining characteristics of cult TV that contain similarities to the defining characteristics of pop genres (e.g. fantasy, science fiction) discussed earlier in the Pop Genres paper. Can you identify these and discuss why you think that these characteristics are repeatedly viewed as underpinning popular genres. Hills (2004) suggests that two characteristic of cult TV are that it draws on the fantastic world of speculative fiction (fantasy, horror, science fiction), and that it makes the fantastic ordinary. Certainly, if we look at cult TV shows, they could mostly fit into one of the speculative fiction sub-genres. So for example in Science Fiction there is Star Trek and Dr. Who, Game of Thrones is fantasy, and Buffy is horror. I would go further than Hills (2004). It appears to me that Cult TV not only makes the fantastic ordinary, it is flippant about it. So for example Buffy asks why she should preserve the arms of the mo...

What is the difference in emphasis between the terms science fiction and speculative fiction? Which is The Man in the High Castle? The Speculative Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand includes fantasy, science fiction and horror among the authors and types of literature it includes. Fantasy, science fiction and horror could therefore be described as sub-genres of speculative fiction The online Dictionary.com, defines ‘speculative fiction’ as: a broad literary genre encompassing any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements This would include all three sub-genres above, as well as alternate history like High castle , and stories such as the His Dark Materials series, which explore parallel worlds. Science fiction usually deals with what could happen under the laws of this universe. Its speculative element is in discoveries or social trends that have not yet happened, or which have not happened on Earth, but have happened ...

The scholar S. Napier (2005) described the ubiquitous nature of shoujo ( 少女 =‘young girls’ in Japanese), and the use of these characters in Japanese anime, particularly the films of Hayao Miyaza ki . The protagonist of Miyaza ki ’s Spirited Away is a ten year old girl, and the theme centres around a coming of age story for this rather spoiled Japanese schoolgirl. Tonari no Totoro features a Japanese family in crisis, consisting of a father, two young shoujo , and a n absent mother in hospital. The heroine San in Princess Mononoke is older than the typical shoujo , but nevertheless shows typical shoujo characteristics. The shoujo characters are characterised by wide eyes and features that are not always very Asian. One theory is that this is a deliberate attempt to make the protagonists less Asian, so that the films are more acceptable to Western audiences.  It could also be part of an inferiority complex or love-hate relationship that the Japanese have to the ...

Note while you are reading A Wizard of Earthsea Le Guin’s depiction of race and gender. Is there anything surprising in this? Why? Gender stereotypes in A wizard of Earthsea are obvious. The wizard school at Roke takes boys only. All the great mages are men. Female mages are either weak magicians such as the witch who first taught Ged, or they are wicked witches like the beguiler of Osskil. As described in Chapter 1, there are two sayings on Gont, “weak as women’s magic,” and ‘wicked as women’s magic”. Other women appear as handmaidens, such as the Lady of O, who was consort to her Lord, or Vetch’s sister Yarrow, who cooked for Vetch and Ged and gazed at Ged admiringly. This stereotyping is surprising in a supposedly feminist author like Le Guin, one who would go on to write the Left hand of darkness and The dispossessed , both of which treat men and woman as different but equal, much as a more modern author might do. Le Guin became aware of sexual stereotypes and corr...

Do you think comics are a children's or adult genre/media? How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin's appeal to adults? Certainly, comics can be marketed for adults. In fact there are some blatantly pornographic Manga comics that are aimed solely at adults. Japanese office workers read these on the train away from their family. When they get to the station, there are waste bins conveniently located, with notices on them, “Let’s not bring bad books home”. There are also some comic strips , largely satire, that appeal to children and adults. Footrot flats is one example . On one level it has likeable characters that get into scrapes and do funny things. On another, it provides a useful commentary about New Zealand society. As an animal rights activist, I find Dog to be an enigmatic character, typical of many meat eating humans. He is fully aware of the killing and carnage prevalent in New Zealand society (as a farm-dog, he couldn’t not be), and not always comfortab...