MovieChat Forums > The Adventures of Tintin (2011) Discussion > Alcoholism as humour

Alcoholism as humour

posted 13 years ago by aussiemiguel
122 replies | jump to latest

I'm not one to censor everything, trying to be politically incorrect all the time, but somehow I think it's wrong to turn a real problem like alcoholism into a running joke in a family film. Perhaps that is how the character was defined all those decades ago, but it's one of those things (like the racial elements in certain Tintin stories that have been criticised after their publication) that should have been left behind in this adaptation.
They wouldn't dare use the 'African' characters from the books in a contemporary movie, so why did they decide that alcoholism could and should be used as humour?
And no, I'm not trolling, so please respond with honest, intelligent opinions - whether you agree with me or not.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] clydeerwin 11 years ago

Thank you for saying this. If only this was the first response.

[–] tyrexden 10 years ago

all humor comes from pain. Take the funniest people out there, and they had a rough childhood. Deal with it.

Thats why there are so many fat comedians and minority comedians,

[–] Augustus_Octavian 10 years ago

I think that they should use the African characters. Stand against political correctness, support politically offensiveness (where they are not otherwise inherently bad)!

[–] lakealice 9 years ago

Haddock's alcoholism is an integral part of the character as written by Herge. It would be impossible to portray him any other way and have it still be Captain Haddock. The comic book drawings are good just because what he says and does are so funny, even though by today's standards the premise is distasteful. I agree with that, but you can't make a movie and drastically change his character from the way it was written. There are some Shakespearean drunken characters that were written for humor, too, as well as many, many others through the ages--it certainly presents a problem with how to portray such characters now.

[–] lakealice 9 years ago

[–] parbon84 9 years ago

It was a little more intelligent than "alcoholism = funny" and you know it.

He sobered up half way, he was avoiding facing his issues through alcohol.

The things he did drunk were character related, not alcoholism related.

[–] Ithilfaen 9 years ago

Unfortunately "Politically correct" doesn't apply to Tintin. The books are full of casual racism and sexism so you couldn't expect any sensitivity about alcoholism.

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco