Week 1 - How might Hergé's The Blue Lotus address or relate to what Said (1977) terms 'orientalism'?

Said defines the term orientalism as the way westerners approach or regard things that are foreign and unknown to them, especially through academic materials (books, research...). In ‘The Blue Lotus’ there are a few elements that could relate to Said’s orientalism. First, there’s a scene in Tintin where a white beats a Chinese man because the latter bumped into him. The violent reaction of this westerner illustrated the general feeling of populations from the West and how they usually behaved or we’re thought to behave toward anyone or anything ‘Orient’ originated. However the scene where Tintin saves Chin from the river depicts a complete opposite image of the ‘white population’. In this scene Tintin tries to explain that not all westerners act the same way. More over while Hergé seems to denounce the treatment of the Chinese, he seems to antagonize the Japanese by describing them as the ‘bad guys’ that invades China.