The Adventures of Tintin in New Zealand
Assignment 1: Fanfiction. Telling the story of Tintin in the different mode of prose fiction and adding a scene and characters
Act One
It was 1983 and Tintin and Snowy had just arrived in Wellington, New Zealand. They were invited there as guests of the Governor General, The Hon Sir David Beattie, whom Tintin had met in Brussels the year before. Tintin had been fascinated to hear all about New Zealand and the Maori culture, so after much consideration he had decided to take up the Governor General’s invitation and make the journey to New Zealand. He was initially reluctant to travel, as he was having a particularly busy time reporting in other countries. However, the Governor General had been very persuasive in encouraging him and had offered to assist him in any way he could.
Tintin had just collected his suitcase from the airport, and the quarantine officials had released Snowy and together they headed outside. Meanwhile, waiting outside was a group of thugs and their boss was telling them what to do.
“Now listen here you lot. His name’s Tintin – a smug little world reporter guy. Tries to clean up crims and causes havoc wherever he goes. He busted some of my mates overseas and they ended up in the slammer. So grab him and his mutt and shove then into the van as soon as you see them.”
“Right-o boss.”
“That’s them! Quick let’s go.”
As quick as lightening, Tintin and Snowy were whisked into the van and with the screech of tyres were racing through the car-park.
“Hey, what’s going on?” shouted Tintin.
“Shut up and stay down” was the reply.
Then suddenly, CRASH, their speeding van hit the side of a passing police car. Tintin and Snowy took the opportunity to leap out and run to the officers.
“Quick, get those guys! They tried to kidnap me” shouted Tintin.
Suddenly Tintin heard two loud bangs. Oh no! This is a nightmare, he thought and so he hit the ground and covered his face. After a few moments he got the courage to look up. The noise turned out to be a car backfiring in the neighbouring car-park. What a relief, he thought to himself. Meanwhile a trail of thick grey smoke could be seen as the thugs had managed to get the car engine restarted and fled the scene to the smell of burning rubber from the tyres. The police car followed with its sirens screaming.
Act Two
Tintin began dusting himself off, feeling very shaky on his feet. That’s strange thought Tintin, and where’s my passport? Just then a man came by.
“Are you okay?” the man said.
“Yes, I’m thank you” replied Tintin. “Just a little shaken. A gang of thugs tried to kidnap me then crashed their car and I escaped but they’ve stolen my passport.”
“Not a very nice way to start your visit to Wellington. I’m Rangi anyway.”
“My name is Tintin, and this is Snowy.”
“Haere mai Tintin and Snowy” replied Rangi. “Do you need a ride anywhere?”
(Just after Tintin and Snowy had landed, they had gone to the airport office and collected a letter from the Governor General’s secretary, advising Tintin that he would be collected at 5 pm and driven to the Governor General’s residence.)
“Thankyou Rangi. I’m sorry to refuse your offer, but my ride will be here shortly.”
“Okay then Tintin. You take care now. Here’s my phone number. If you want to see a bit of the real New Zealand, maybe I can show you round someday? Give us a call sometime.”
“I’d like that very much Rangi.”
“Haere ra Tintin and Snowy.”
“Bye Rangi, and thank you for your help.”
“No problem, see you” and off Rangi strode.
I wonder what that was all about and what do they want with my passport, thought Tintin? I’d better find another policeman and notify them. Then suddenly Detective John Simpson from Wellington Central Police arrived.
“Hello, hello, hello. What have we here? You look a bit worse for wear young man. What’s the problem then?”
“I had just landed and was walking out the building and a pack of thugs attacked me and tried to kidnap me. Fortunately their van crashed into your officers’ car and I escaped. But they’ve taken off with my passport.”
“Oh. I see” said Detective Smith. “You’d better come along with me then. These good-for-nothing young troublemakers cause so many problems around here.”
“But sir”, said Tintin. “Not all young men are like that. I just met a wonderful Maori man, Rangi, who helped me.”
“Well they’re few and far between I can assure you. Come along now and we’ll get you sorted. We’d better get moving before they start forging your details.”
Later at the police station.
“And where will you be staying while you’re here Tintin?” the Detective asked.
“I’m staying with Sir David Beattie and his wife. His chauffeur is collecting me at 5 pm.”
“Oh. I see! How very nice for you! And I’m King Aslan!” he said, roaring like a lion at his own joke. “Are you having an old cop on then Tintin?” The Detective put his head right up close to Tintin and called to his second in charge. “Sarge, get in here now. We’ve got a bit of a nutcase on our hands!”
“No sir. Indeed I am not. Here is my letter from Sir David’s secretary”. Tintin passed the letter to the Detective who spent a long while checking it out.
“My apologies, young man. You appear to be genuine. You can go now. I will phone you if I have any developments.”
“Thank you and good day” said Tintin, and he and Snowy headed to the passenger drop-off point outside where waiting for him was a shiny black limousine and a burly driver who introduced himself as Russell. Russell stowed the cases in the boot and Tintin and Snowy got in the back seat and they drove to the residence.
Meanwhile, the next morning, the boss of the thugs picked up The Dominion and read the front page. ‘Famous boy reporter visiting our shores as guest of the Governor General cheats kidnap attempt and escapes.’
“The little snot hopped it! Just wait till I get him” bellowed the boss.
Tintin and Snowy spent three days at the Governor General’s residence having a perfectly agreeable time.
“I’ve probably stayed long enough” muttered Tintin, and he picked up Rangi’s card and phoned him.
“Come on over now if you like Tintin”, Rangi said.
So Tintin said his goodbyes to the Governor General and his staff and he and Snowy jumped into a cab and arrived at Rangi’s house.
“Great to see you again Tintin. You’re looking much better.”
“Thank you Rangi. It’s good to see you too.”
“Come and meet my family. This is my mother and father, my brother Hone, and, looking very sulky in the corner over there, is my sister Temepara. Excuse her” said Rangi, “she’s had a rough day. She’s really into learning the Maori language and they won’t teach it to her at school. Bit of a hangover from the colonial days I think Tintin.”
“It’s very nice to meet you all” said Tintin.
“Oh yeah, Tem, that reminds me” said Hone. “I was speaking to a bloke today and he said he’d heard there was a brand new kindergarten opening for Maori kids, called Te Kohanga Reo. The staff and kids speak only Maori there! Have you heard of it?”
“No” said Temepara, her eyes widening in excitement.
“And” added Hone, “he reckoned soon there were going to me more Kura Kaupapa like Ruatoki for primary kids and even wanangas, so the kids can continue right through with their Te Reo.”
“That’s brilliant. Can I go there Mum and Dad?”
“You find out about it and we’ll look into it” was her parents’ reply.
“Why do you want to have separate schools for Maori children?” asked Tintin.
“Well, it’s because since the 1940’s Maori families have slowly moved from their rural homes into the cities and now, as a result, less than 20% of Maori know enough of the language to be considered native speakers. Many don’t even know where their Maraes are nor have any idea of our culture. So our people have taken steps to try to correct this, and that’s why we are now starting to have these places. We had our first Maori Language Week in 1975 to raise awareness, the same year as we had the Land Marches, to protest at the way our lands were taken by the Pakeha” said Hone.
Later that afternoon.
“What are some of your interests Tintin?” Asked Rangi.
“Oh, I like learning about different art and cultures” Tintin replied.
“Well, why don’t we start with a visit to the art gallery then? I can show you some of our great art works. There’s one artist whose work I’d particularly like to show you. His name is Ralph Hotere and his work is brilliant – quite avant garde I suppose you’d call it. He had a really successful exhibition a few years back in 1979 with his friend, the great Maori poet, Hone Tuwhare. The exhibition was based on Hone’s poem ‘Rain’ and Ralph’s work was called ‘Three Banners with Poem’. Hone was really involved in Maori cultural and political initiatives. Ever since that exhibition, Ralph’s work has been really popular.”
“That would be splendid” replied Tintin. “Let’s be off then.”
But just as they were preparing to leave, the phone rang.
“Is Tintin there?” the voice said.
“Yes, just a minute. Tintin – phone for you.”
“Hello, Tintin speaking.”
“If you want your passport back, you’d better go check your friend’s letterbox” then bang, the line was dead. Tintin told Rangi and they ran to the letterbox and in it was a torn piece of crumpled up paper with words that made no sense at all.
“Give me a few minutes Rangi. I’ll have to try and decipher this”…
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
Hi Renabrab, I’ve just finished reading your Tintin fan fiction, and there seems to be a lot of good ideas in your story. I think it’s great how you’ve incorporated Maori into the prose, really adds a cultural overtone to the whole thing. Also your reference to real life events and issues were really impressive, you must have done a lot of background research on that, good work. The suspense you have going on in the story is really great, I like how it starts off with a bang and ends leaving the readers hanging, can’t wait to read the next part. I do have a little suggestion about the Maori words you used though – maybe it would be a good idea for the characters to explain what those Maori words mean? Because I’m kind of struggling to keep up during those parts of the story, maybe Tintin would too if he just arrived in New Zealand. One way of blending explanations into the story that I can think of is probably to have Tintin ask Rangi what those words mean and have Rangi give a brief explanation? I mean stuff like Te Reo and Maraes would probably require a bit of explanation to foreigners. But other than that, this is a really impressive piece of creative writing, great work :)
Hi, Renabrab and Ni!
I also thought that explanation of Maori words used in Renabrab’s fanfiction would be helpful as Ni suggested. However, I just remembered one of Patricia Grace’s novel, Cousins. It contains a number of Maori words but I do not remember reading any explanation of them in the novel. Including words from different languages has special purpose in writing therefore it is not really necessary to explain it (by attempting to explain might diminish the intended purpose or effects).
Hi, Renabrab, I'm glad to read your updated one. I appreciate your ideas of introducing 'Maori culture and art' in your fan fiction. I found you have also included critical issues of Maori society. It seems to me somehow thought-provoking story which is, I think, really good. In addition, Ni’s suggestion can be right, but I rather agree with Harim’s thought. Now I’m doing the Pacific Readers paper, and I, too, have found many Pacific writers often use some their own language symbolically in their writing on implicit purpose. I don’t think I can find any more points to suggest on your work so far.
Hi, Harim and Hannah, I’m actually quite surprised to see the responses to my suggestion for explanations on Maori words in the fanfiction. First of all, in response to Harim’s comment about explanations diminishing the intended purpose of the text. I think the example you gave about Patricia Grace’s ‘Cousins’ doesn’t really apply to this genre of writing. Tintin is meant to be presented in the form of a cartoon, not a full blown novel, so it would be quite easy to incorporate the explanation into the content without disrupting the flow. Well, think of it this way, if the readers have absolutely no idea what the words mean, there wouldn’t be any purpose or effects to convey, would there?
Also, the two pieces of writing have quite different target audience pools. ‘Cousins’ is written for a New Zealand audience who are expected to have at least a partial understanding of the Maori language. It is intended to extend the reader’s knowledge of the Maori culture. On the other hand, Tintin is a cartoon intended for an international audience who have no previous knowledge of the Maori way of life. It is more an introduction rather than an in-depth analysis, as it is the case with ‘Cousins’. Besides, we have to remember that Tintin’s original creator Hergé is Belgian, and I’m sure he didn’t speak Maori.
I think the points I made here also apply to Hannah’s example of Pacific literature, which are most probably written in order to educate the young Pacific Islanders about their culture and heritage, not to convey their culture to an international audience. Frankly, very few average international readers would comprehend or even spot the symbolisms embedded in the text in the form of another language. I don’t know about you guys, but I usually don’t have a Maori or Pacific Island dictionary next to me when I’m reading.
Hi everyone. I am glad the topic of borrowing from non-English languages in English literature is creating discussion, as it is an area of interest to me.
When I wrote Tintin in NZ, I followed the guidelines given in the handbook and wrote the story in another mode, choosing prose fiction as my genre. As much as I would have loved to write a graphic novel, my drawing and graphic skills are not up to that!
I used both Herge's The Blue Lotus and Tintin in America for inspiration. I note that in The Blue Lotus there is a lot of untranslated Chinese language, mostly in the backgrounds. (pp.20,26,45,47). I have no idea what the script means, but the presence of the untranscribed text did not dampen the appeal of the story for me, but rather added to the authenticity of the story, which we all know was a key concern of Herge.
In Tintin in America, Herge writes the words of the Spanish character Pedro as such: "Caramba! Un hombre...Oho!...Ees sleeping!...Bueno, bueno!... Pedro, he theenk he has a vairey, vairey good idea!..."(p.34) and other examples. Herge obviously wanted to impart the Spanish accent, language and presence in this story as well as those of the Red Indian characters he portrays as well.
I agree that Patricia Grace does not incorporate a glossary in her novel Cousins. She did, however, in her more recent novel Tu, include a brief translation of two Maori terms at the beginning. These were quite complex Maori terms that a reader would struggle with. Witi Ihimaera in 'The Matriarch' also does not include a glossary. I hear what Ni is saying in relation to an international audience versus a NZ audience. However, it was my intention to extend the reader's knowledge of Maori Culture and NZ history through the story. As a NZer who has lived here all my life, I presumed incorrectly that everyone would be fmiliar with these terms. Obviously I omitted to fully consider new arrivals as much as I should have.
In Herge's time, translation by dictionary would have been the main way for a reader to find the meaning of unfamiliar words, so translation would have been much more difficult than the quick Google search we can do now. The question is however: Should the reader have to spend time translating or wondering what a word means? As writers, we have to make a considered opinion if we are to incorporate untranslated terms, would that unnecessarily slow down the reader? It's a thought provoking question.
I consider the untranslated Maori words I used are in keeping with Herge's style. However, there is always room for improvement and perhaps the English words I use alongside the Maori could be more descriptive of the terms. Writers then run the risk of insulting the intelligence of the reader if they spell everything out too much. It is a tricky one and in the end the call must come down to the writer. I will certainly consider all points of view before submitting the final version, as they all have validity. Thanks everyone for your opinions.
Hi Renabrab, I agree that it’s not absolutely necessary to include explanations for all the Maori words you use. I understand how readers might get a bit annoyed if they see too much explanation in a piece of writing. Personally, I am for the idea of incorporating explanations into the text, maybe not for every Maori word that pops up, but for the ones whose meanings aren’t so obvious.
Your idea of using the English words alongside the Maori words in order to convey their meaning is, in fact, a form of explaining. It is not necessary to include a glossary in order to translate the Maori words, subtle hints and nudges within the prose work just as well or probably even better. After all, as you said, the decision is up to you to make. Explaining Maori words doesn’t have to compromise fluency and readability. Guiding the readers towards the meaning of a word works equally well as a dictionary or glossary and show sophistication of the writer’s skills.
Good luck.
Wow, so many exciting comments here. I'd like to forward my point. It's so great to present Maori in your Tintin story, Renabrab, because he is in NZ. Maori culture is a part can't be missed. However, I agree with what Ni says it might be better to give a brief explanation of some maori words in your fiction. Though Herge doesn't translate Chinese in the Blue Lotus, it's all about background and it doesn't affect readers to understand the whole story. All the Chinese background in 'Blue Lotus' just gives a Chinese setting and readers are supposed to know where the story happens and what background it is all about. But yours is different because it might be add certain difficulty to your readers. Further more, storie of Tintin, I think the majority readers will be kids so that to explain something they are unformiliar with might be a good thing to do.
As Harim and Hannah mentioned, we all have read Patricia's Cousins. In fact, my essay was about the cousins last semester. Though I've read the novel twice, I didn't know all the Maori words (I knew most of the words related to plants and birds etc), and I didn't go any webs to find what all the words meant. To read a story or novel, the most trouble thing is to check dictionary all the time. My own experience is it would ruin the whole story or plot if you need to check dictionary frequently.
In one word, your Tintin story is just wonderful. As I said before, your plot arrangement and your language skill are just fantastic.
Thanks Min Zhang for your kind comments.
I have decided to incorporate everyone's suggestions to some degree in the final version.
1. I'm going to leave "Haere mai" and "Haere ra", as their location in the text makes interpretation easy.
2. I'm leaving "a brand new kindergarten opening for Maori kids, called Te Kohanga Reo" as is, because that is self-explanatory.
3. I think "Kura Kaupapa like Ruatoki for primary kids" is okay?
4. I will change "even wanangas,..." to "even wanangas, so the older teenagers can continue right through with their university studies in Te Reo Maori".
5. I will add "Maraes or ancestoral homes". It's not a direct translation though, so I have used 'or' purposely here. The message I want to convey is the loss of connection to roots.
Thank you all for your help.
Renabrab, I have enjoyed your fanfiction. You preserved Tintinness and at the same time showed your creativity in your fanfiction. It seems to me that I am reading one of the Herge’s Tintin series and yet it feels different from Herge’s.
There is one thing I’d like to share my thoughts on. It is about Temepara’s wish to go to the school where only Maori language is spoken. When children’s home language is not the dominant language in the society, they inclined to use the dominant language rather than their home language once they start schools. Even though the language they learnt first is their mother tongue, continuous exposure to the society and the education system make them acquire the dominant language and be content with it. This is of course my observation. I am having difficulties to get my children to learn and use our first language at home and it is not just my problem but many others around me. In the case of Temepare, I think it would look more realistic for her parents to persuade her to go to the school rather than the other way round.
Thanks for your comments Harim. I appreciate your first-hand evaluation.
I wanted to portray Temepara and Rangi's parents as laid-back and easy-going in the story. It was a deliberate line because I wanted to portray Temepara as a strong, non-conventional female character -as with many of the texts we have studied this semester.
I thought also that a neutral attitude from the parents would reflect the fact that many parents of that era would have been through schooling where they were punished for using Maori and they would still have those memories and perhaps a reluctance to encourage their children outside of the 'standard'.
The 1975-1983 era I chose was an interesting one where lots of social change was occuring, and the conflicting attitudes of the times made this an appealing time to write about.
I think it is great that you want your children to speak their first language more often at home. I think pride in identity is very important in today's society and I can see how you would find Temepara's parents attitude frustrating. Kids can be so headstrong! Good luck and thanks for your comments.
Post a Comment