Castafiore wearing stockings?

Here is another example of the censorship I talked about in Iran. Here we have the cover of "The Castafiore Emerald". At a first glance, it seems decent enough.



© Hergé/Moulinsart 2004
Image courtesy of Alireza


But once you look harder, you realize that either Castafiore has a lower body of a black person, or she is wearing stockings !!! Of course, the second choice is the correct one. The reason is that women are not allowed to show their bare bodies in Islam. update: I forgot to mention this when I posted this entry, but her dress has also been altered. Originally she is wearing a sleeveless dress, which has now been changed to a long sleeve garment.

There is a debate going on in Iran today. One side says that it's better to have Tintin available for people, and specially children, to read even if it means censoring stuff to acquire permission to publish. The other side - which I support - is totally against any sort of censorship and says it's better not to have Tintin at all, than to subject Herge's art to this sort of abuse.

Remember that the original editions of Tintin which were censor-free and published before the revolution, however rare, are still available and you can find a couple of old Titnin editions lying around in many households, so it's not like we would absolutely deprive people of Tintin if they stop publishing these censored ones.

It wouldn't have been a big deal if it were a few minor adjustments, but as I said before, when you change Captain Haddock's drinks to lemonade or soda, you're modifying the essence of Captain's character, and this has a huge impact on the story. It is an insult to all true Tintin fans to modify and alter Hergé's work like this.

Since we're on the topic of censorship, here's a link to an interesting debate going on about Hergé's earlier work - which contained numerous racial slurs - and wheather or not they should be censored.

incidentally , it's from a forum on a course which happens to be taught at the university I attend, UofT.

July 7, 2004 02:00 AM | « Previous | Main | Next »

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