Transcript Chapter 3 – A Critical Approach to Popular Culture

COMIC
BOOKS AND
BATMAN
1
Lesson 13
SOC 86 – Popular Culture
Robert Wonser
COMICS
Stand out as an overarching symbol of
pop culture itself.
2
They are ephemeral, timely and weren’t
designed to last.
The characters are all children but they seem to have
much more insight into life than do adults, who are
relegated to the margins of the strip.
Its tone is subtle sadness, a veiled angst that begs the
readers to ask the great question of philosophy: Why
are we here and What is life all about?
3
PEANUTS
COMIC BOOKS
4
Comic books epitomize the
accessibility, and appeal to
instant gratification that lie at
the core of modern consumer
culture.
The preeminent motive shaping comic books has
been the commercial motive of publishers to
craft a product that appeals to paying
audiences.
Because the profit is low, publishers have
traditionally emphasized quantity over quality.
This has fueled the use of formulas that can easily
be duplicated as well as adequately speak to
the concerns and expectations of their
audience.
5
Formulas are ways in which specific cultural
themes and stereotypes become embodied in
more universal story archetypes.
Like rock-and-roll, comic books
responded to the emergence of
adolescents as a discrete market with
tastes and preoccupations of its own,
sometimes in direct conflict with the
mores of mainstream adult culture.
6
Audiences turn to formulaic stories for
the escape and enjoyment that
comes from experiencing the
fulfillment of their expectations within
a structured imaginary world.
7
COMIC BOOKS
GRAPHIC NOVELS
8
Starting in the 1970s “indie” publishers began
competing with the larger publishers.
They experimented with new styles, more
sophisticated formats, and stories suited to
adults.
Graphic Novels are book-length comic books that
tell a single story for adults.
Comics online have become almost completely
ironic in focus (thanks The Simpsons!)
More importantly, irony is a basic mindset
of the carnivalesque.
READING COMIC BOOKS
9
The Superhero genre is still popular today
because as Barthes argued it recycles an
ancient code—the code of the hero. This
code includes:
• A life-saving journey in infancy: Superman
had to leave his home planet of Kypton to
avoid being destroyed along with it.
• An obscure childhood: little is known about
the early lives of most superhero characters.
• Orphanage: some superheroes, like
Batman, Captain Marvel, Black Panther
and Cyclops, have lost their parents as had
many ancient mythic heroes.
Barthes’ code of the
hero
10
• Superhuman powers: possessed by all
superheroes (physical or intellectual).
Sometimes gained in unusual ways (e.g.
Spider-man being bitten by an irradiated
spider gone berserk). He gains his spider
sense, spider’s web.
• A fatal weakness: exposure to kryptonite,
blindness (Daredevil), psychological
problems (the Hulk), the fatal weakness is a
basic feature of the hero code—Achilles
had a weak heal, Samson’s strength
depended on his hair, etc.
11
•Selfless dedication to the common
good: usually at their own
expense, the heroes of ancient
myths and the comic book
superheroes exist to help the
common folk.
• A magic weapon: Norse god Thor
had a powerful hammer. Spiderman has his web shooter, Iron Man
has a sophisticated suit of armor;
Batman his sophisticated car and
array of gadgets, etc.
In 1954 Frederic Wertham published Seduction of
the Innocent
Mostly about horror comics but contained four
pages that suggested there were homoerotic
overtones in Batman comics:
"At home they lead an idyllic life. They are Bruce
Wayne and "Dick" Grayson. Bruce Wayne is
described as a "socialite" and the official
relationship is that Dick is Bruce's ward. They live in
sumptuous quarters, with beautiful flowers in large
vases, and have a butler, Alfred. Bruce is
sometimes shown in a dressing gown. As they sit
by the fireplace the young boy sometimes worries
about his partner… it is like a wish dream of two
homosexuals living together." – Dr Fredric
Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent (1954)
12
READING BATMAN
COMICS
IS BATMAN GAY?
Interesting the
moral panic
that
ensued…
13
Comics were
thought to
promote
deviancy
Superheroes have evoked moral panic
In the 1950s concern over violence led to
senate hearings.
However as moral panic theory suggests,
the public outrage and concern was to
last only a brief period.
By the 1970s comic books were seen as
not only a simple form of entertainment,
but also as mementos of a previous,
supposedly more innocent period (one
in which propaganda could be
blatant!).
14
MORAL PANIC AND
COMIC BOOKS
15
COMIC BOOKS AND PROPAGANDA
16