Tarzanesque
stock character in comics imitating Tarzan
Tarzanesque (in French: Tarzanide) is a term created by Frenchman Francis Lacassin used to describe characters in comic books inspired by Tarzan. A tarzanesque character resembles Tarzan in his physical resourcefulness, within a line of action that includes an adventurous life in the jungle, the gift of understanding and being understood by animals, contact with lost civilizations and courage combined with the ability to deal with nature. The creation of such characters may have been propitiated by the success that Tarzan had achieved since his appearance in literature in 1912, culminating with the release of daily comic strips in 1929, which paved the way for a genre that combined the allure of the unknown environment, the need for the archetypal characteristics of the hero and the popularity of access.
The Tarzanesque follows the same line of action as Tarzan, but including diversified heroes, female or male, adapted to adventures set in a set of elements that make up the jungle stereotype in the popular imagination, which includes, besides the African jungles, the Amazon jungle and even strange jungles in polar regions.
Etymology and characteristics
The term "Tarzanide" was created by French literary critic Francis Lacassin, author of three books on the Man-Ape: "Tarzan: mythe triomphant, mythe humilié" (1963), "Tarzan" ou "le Chevalier crispé" (1971) and "La Legendé de Tarzan" (2000). Like Tarzan, a Tarzanide is generally considered "the king of the forest" or "the king of the jungle." He can talk to animals and even lead them and is respected by most of the neighboring tribes and often finds lost civilizations. The spelling "Tarzanidi" is also applicable, as is the Portuguese variant "Tarzânico".
While the terms "Tarzanide" and "Tarzanidi" are adopted for characters originating in Franco-Belgian and Italian comic book publications, for North American publications the term Tarzanesque is widely used. According to Wiktionary, the word Tarzanesque suggests a savage jungle life.
History
First manifestations
The success of the Tarzan comic strips that appeared in 1928 boosted the creation of multiple "kings" and "jungle girls" (also called "jungle women").
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This entry incorporates text from “Tarzanesque” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.