ABSTRACT
This chapter examines certain selected instances of stereotyping of Americans. It deals with such matters as the source of stereotypes, the nature of stereotypes and the relationship between stereotypes and national character— as well as other related concerns. Comic strips and comic books are themselves, also complex phenomena which can be analyzed from a number of different perspectives and which involve attention to graphic, narrative, and linguistic elements. Too many Europeans, curiously enough, being American involves returning, in one's fantasies, to the nineteenth century and barren towns full of desperadoes. Americans have tended to find their identity by contrasting themselves with Europeans, with their "fatherlands," and with everything connected with European historical society. As a stereotyped American, Lucky Luke is heroic and admirable, and offers a positive image of American culture and society. The chapter concludes stereotypes of America in European comics with a case study of an important French-language comic-strip hero, Tintin.
