On the 'translatability' of ideology in multimodal texts : orientalism in Tintin au pays de l'or noir

Abstract EN

The present paper aims to investigate how the nature of 'language' and 'meaning', in multimodal texts, such as French-language comic books, defines the limitations of translating ideology, namely orientalism.

Using a quantitative study of the occurrences of orientalist notions and imagery in Hergé's Tintin au Pays de l'or noir, findings showed that ideology can be identified on three main levels of communication: verbal, non verbal and graphic, operating on three textual levels: peritextual, microtextual and macrotextual.

The results also showed that the majority of orientalist occurrences were on the macrotextual level, in the form of overarching themes that were based on the relationships between panels rather than their contents.