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News & ArtsWednesday, September 2, 2009
Books I'm Going to Sue If You Give a Mouse a Cookie For Lying About Human/Mouse Relations
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 1:31 PM
It turns out, you can sue a book—even a book that was written almost 80 years ago:
Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo, 41, is taking legal action claiming Hergé's controversial Tintin In The Congo is propaganda for colonialism and amounts to "racism and xenophobia"."Tintin's little (black) helper is seen as stupid and without qualities. It makes people think that blacks have not evolved," he said.
Mr Mbutu Mondondo launched a case in Belgium two years ago for symbolic damages of one euro from Tintin's Belgian publishers Moulinsart, and demanded the book be withdrawn from the market.
Well! This opens up a whole can of worms, doesn't it?
2
I'm going to sue "If you give a mouse a cookie" and its even worse sequel "If you take a mouse to school" for their lack of rythym and unnatural phrasing, qualities which have caused my great mental torment, as my two year old repeatedly requests them to be read to her.
3
What about Heather Has Two Mommies?
I mean, seriously, there are no male parents involved ...
(grin)
I mean, seriously, there are no male parents involved ...
(grin)
4
I'm wondering how this will affect my pending litigation against Little Black Sambo, The Tar Baby, Brer Rabbit and Uncle Remus? Not the publishers, but the characters themselves.
6
I'd like to sue "Pat the Bunny," just so the bunny's deposition would likely reveal once and for all whether "Pat the Bunny" is a command, or the bunny's actual name. Perhaps it's both. But until I get that damn bunny under oath, I'm never gonna know.
7
You can sue anyone for anything. Whether you'll be taken seriously is another story, and this only "opens up a whole can of worms" if it goes anywhere. I really doubt it will.
9
I'd like to sue The Yearling for the time that it stole from me in 9th grade. Time with which I no doubt would have cured cancer.
10
In that case I'm going to sue "Gravity's Rainbow" for making my head hurt every time I try to read it.
And also "Cujo" for failing to scare the shit out of me.
And also "Cujo" for failing to scare the shit out of me.
11
@6 - I'd like to sue you for making me have squishy feelings about bunnies now.
Ewww.
That should be filed under mental cruelty.
But I agree about suing over Cujo.
Ewww.
That should be filed under mental cruelty.
But I agree about suing over Cujo.
15
@5 word to that. I remember watching a show about Herge and he felt really bad about that whole incident. They basically said that he had never had any contact with anyone from that area and was going on popular knowledge of the day. Don't know if that's a cop out, but he seemed genuinely remorseful. I know that he went out of his way to befriend a Chinese man so that he could get accurate details about Chinese life. He even includes a bit with Tintin talking about Chinese stereotypes in Europe. Kind of a mea culpa on Herge's part.
16
You can sue in Europe? Although Belgium is different.
A Belgian and a little kid are walking through a dark forest during a rare-and-exciting thunderstorm. The little kid says, "Ooh, I'm skeered!" The Belgian says, "You're frightened! I have to walk back alone!"
A Belgian and a little kid are walking through a dark forest during a rare-and-exciting thunderstorm. The little kid says, "Ooh, I'm skeered!" The Belgian says, "You're frightened! I have to walk back alone!"
17
I was at a Tintin festival in Belgium a few years ago, and among the many wonderful things they had there, I saw a large black and white photo of the Dalai Lama laughing while reading Tintin in Tibet. Some opera singer's voice was blasting "The Jewel Song" over the loudspeaker (Bianca Castafiore!). I'll never forget it, and I forgave Hergé for Tintin in the Congo after that.
19
@17 nice.
Herge regretted Tintin in the Congo, which is a really bad book anyway you want to slice it, but not as bad as TinTin in the Land of the Soviets. I sure hope this doesn't mean that bad books can be sued... Herge only agreed to republishing TinTin in the Congo because it was a big seller on the blackmarket, IN THE CONGO. (Herge if anything wanted to get paid.)
TinTin is built on stereotypes, though, but some of them, such as TinTin himself, they seem like types, but the type is a mystery. How old is TinTin? Just how affectionate is he with Captain Haddock? Have you ever noticed the diagram of buttocks in Destination Moon? All is revealed in this great book:
http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.ph…
Herge regretted Tintin in the Congo, which is a really bad book anyway you want to slice it, but not as bad as TinTin in the Land of the Soviets. I sure hope this doesn't mean that bad books can be sued... Herge only agreed to republishing TinTin in the Congo because it was a big seller on the blackmarket, IN THE CONGO. (Herge if anything wanted to get paid.)
TinTin is built on stereotypes, though, but some of them, such as TinTin himself, they seem like types, but the type is a mystery. How old is TinTin? Just how affectionate is he with Captain Haddock? Have you ever noticed the diagram of buttocks in Destination Moon? All is revealed in this great book:
http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.ph…
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