Tim in Iraq

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Tintin in Irak ( French original title: Tintin en Irak ) is a Belgian-French political parody of the comic series Tintin and Struppi originally written by the Belgian illustrator Hergé . The album was published on the Internet shortly after the Second Iraq War in 2003 by its author Youssouf and quickly circulated, so that a short time later it was also available as a limited print edition .

In terms of content, the parody deals cynically with the central events of the Iraq war and with the foreign policy of the United States . The special feature of the album is the takeover of existing panels from previous Tintin albums, where only the text was changed and adapted to the then current political situation. In the following period the unauthorized acquisition of images resulted in a lawsuit in which Youssouf of plagiarism was indicted.

Characters

In Tintin en Irak both the fictional main characters of the Tintin albums and real political protagonists appear, including George Bush , Colin Powell , Tony Blair , Jacques Chirac , Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein . Due to the absence of real people in the original comics, the appearance of the characters in the parody matches little or only partially with that of the originals. While Bush was given the features of General Alcazar, the figure of General Tapioca was used as a template for Hussein.

The classic main characters of the Tintin comics are characterized by the fact that they do not always do justice to their original roles. Instead, they embody several, sometimes contradicting people:

  • Tim takes on many opposing roles in the parody. After initially describing himself as an "Iraqi opponent" living in Iraq and an active supporter of US foreign policy, he then took on the role of political advisor to US President George Bush. When Tim, who lives in France, senses the impending war, he finally travels to Iraq as a human shield . In addition, Tim also impersonates smaller roles, such as that of a Belgian journalist at TV Moulinsart , or a UN inspector.
  • Schulze and Schultze play a particularly important role in the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. As United Nations inspectors , they go so far as to examine crab cans. A page from The Crab with the Golden Scissors was used to illustrate this scene .
  • In contrast to the classic Tintin comics, Captain Haddock only plays a subordinate role and appears on the one hand as an observer of the UN and on the other hand in his original role.
  • Professor Bienlein embodies on the one hand the role of the tour guide in the nuclear power plant and on the other hand also his original role .

action

The action begins in Baghdad in 1991 . Tim, who is in prison at the time, explains to the reader that he is an Iraqi insurgent who opposed Saddam Hussein's repressive regime and was arrested in the process. Tim is supposed to be shot the next morning, but he is saved at the last second by the news that Hussein has just been overthrown by the United States . Only a few seconds later, however, Tim learns that this is incorrect information and that the Americans are actually targeting the oil in Kuwait , so that Tim is ultimately sentenced to death.

This event is followed by a time jump to Washington in 2002 . Tim, who has been assigned the role of advisor to US President George Bush, receives RW Chicklet, an employee of the oil company Esso. Because of the high oil reserves in Iraq, which are underutilized, Chicklet wishes to have access to the oil reserves. However, this is only possible in the event of a government overthrow in Iraq. Despite his arguments, Chicklet does not manage to convince Tim of his plan.

A few days later, Chicklet tries his luck with the US president. After drawing Bush's attention to the refusal of UN inspectors and the resulting suspicion of a possible existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Bush finally agrees to Chicklet's plan. The plan was thwarted a week later by news that Iraq had meanwhile agreed to the return of the UN inspectors. In order to continue to have a "pretext" for political intervention in Iraq, Bush then gave the press an order to report that Iraq's reaction was only a tactical game and that Saddam Hussein's terrorist dictatorship would be ended must.

While the “Propaganda Department” in the USA is discussing the extent to which an attack on Iraq could be portrayed as legitimately as possible, Tim travels to Iraq as a Belgian journalist for TV Moulinsart . In a subsequent conversation with bin Laden, it turns out that Bush had reported connections between Hussein and bin Laden in order to justify the US intervention in Iraq.

During a visit to Iraq, the UN inspectors , represented by Tim and Captain Haddock, are first led through a supposed goat cheese factory , which is actually a nuclear power plant . Then the inspectors Schulze and Schultze go on a search for weapons of mass destruction together with Tim. However, since they cannot find any, the question of justifying an attack remains open. The UN recommends peaceful disarmament , which Powell would like to use in favor of an even simpler attack by the US on Iraq.

After the Iraqi government accepted the destruction of its missiles on February 28, 2003, Bush gave Iraq an ultimatum to complete disarmament by March 17 , which would otherwise face American military action. Tim, who reads this news in the newspaper and fears an impending war , spontaneously decides to travel to Baghdad as a human shield to prevent the worst. After the war begins, Captain Haddock and Professor Bienlein decide to support Tim. During a tour of the desert , however, Tim is kidnapped and bin Laden is introduced. When Tim tells him that he is French, he is welcomed in a friendly manner due to the critical position of the French towards the US military operation and then released again.

Meanwhile, Captain Haddock and Professor Bienlein have arrived in Iraq. While Haddock initially raved about the hospitality of the Iraqis, Professor Bienlein was skeptical from the start. In retrospect, Haddock also remarks that the primary aim is not to protect the civilian population , but rather to protect the Iraqi army from American attacks. When Tim reappears , the three decide to evade the manipulation and travel back home.

After the victory of the Americans and the overthrow of Hussein's dictatorship, Tim has mixed feelings: On the one hand, there is great joy at the liberation , on the other hand, there are great losses at the civil level and the political future of Iraq is also still in the stars. In a nightmare , however, Tim is predicted that an "Islamist republic" will be founded.

reception

The parody led to rapid success and numerous reports in the press. However, the work attracted particular attention when the unauthorized takeover of panels from previous Tintin comics led to a conflict with the rights holders . Youssouf's websites were then blocked, and the author himself disappeared from the public eye. At the beginning it was also questionable how long the comic would be available on the Internet, since the Hergé Foundation , which consists of people close to the deceased comic artist, wanted to react to the person who unauthorizedly tore the drawings out of context.

«On peut se moquer d'un auteur et le faire en souriant. Dans ce cas-ci, leproblemème est différent: il ne s'agit plus d'une parodie, mais de contrefaçon. On parle de parodie lorsque quelqu'un se sert de certains éléments d'une oeuvre, mais on ne peut pas reprendre systématiquement l'oeuvre intégrale d'un auteur en ne changeant que les textes. »

- An anonymous legal advisor to the Hergé Foundation

In addition to the plagiarism allegations, the content has also provided a lot of discussion. Didier Pasamonik, director general at L'AGENCE BD , described the parody as "an old-globalist propaganda instrument" dealing with the subject and the quality of reproduction . The parody would mainly denounce the negative aspects of globalization and capitalism , which leads to a severe deformation of the classic Tintin comics. The author was also accused of presenting Tim as a French citizen, as this did not correspond to the reality.

Literature and Sources

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Didier Pasamonik: "Tintin en Irak": Moulinsart piraté! In: ActuaBD. June 26, 2003, accessed November 25, 2019 (French).