Transcript The Un-TV Experiments

Comic Books and
Batman
Popular Culture
SOC 86 – Fall 2013
Robert Wonser
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Comics
• Stand out as an overarching symbol of pop culture itself
• Comics (or comic strips) are narratives told by means of a
series of drawings arranged in horizontal lines, strips, or
rectangles, called panels, and read like a verbal text from
left to right.
• Usually depict the adventures, exploits or lifestyles of one
or more characters in a limited time sequence.
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Peanuts
• 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?
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Comic Books
• 1930s: comic books communicate narratives
through a unique combination of text and
sequential illustration that works within its
own aesthetic vocabulary.
• Comic book is a misnomer; not books and
usually not comical
• Most closely associated with superheroes;
Superman, Batman, and Spider-man
• Comic books epitomize the accessibility, and
appeal to instant gratification that lie at the
core of modern consumer culture.
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• 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.
• Formulas are ways in which specific cultural
themes and stereotypes become embodied in
more universal story archetypes.
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• Audiences turn to formulaic stories for the escape and
enjoyment that comes from experiencing the fulfillment
of their expectations within a structured imaginary
world.
• 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.
• Where are they today? The mass medium so
appropriate for propaganda and star-spangled saber
rattling in the 1940s now survives among a subculture
raised on cynicism, irony and moral relativism.
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Comic books
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Graphic Novels
• 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.
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Reading Comic Books
• 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.
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Ancient Code Recycled
• 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.
• 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. Spider-man has his web shooter, Iron Man has
a sophisticated suit of armor; Batman his sophisticated
car and array of gadgets, etc.
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Reading Batman Comics
• 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)
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Is Batman Gay?
• Interesting the
moral panic
that ensued…
• Comics were
thought to
promote
deviancy
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Moral Panic and Comic Books
• 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!).
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Comic Books and Propaganda
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Comic Books and Movies
• Comic book characters crossing over into movies
a true convergence of media stages in the domain
of pop culture.
• Watchmen is particularly interesting; Rorschach, a
demented vigilante with a morphing inkblot mask
who investigates the Comedian’s murder. They are
parodies of superheroes.
• The Comedian is a reworking of the statesponsored, nationalistic breed of superhero a la
Captain America or Nick Fury.
• Rorschach is a version of the night-shrouded hero
embodied by Batman (the Dark Knight) to
Daredevil.
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• In carnival theory, parody and irony reign supreme.
• What happens when we put out faith in moral
leaders (represented by the Watchmen indicative of
politicians like Reagan or Thatcher in the 1980s)?
• The Watchmen serves as a critique of power
generally.
• The Watchmen was also grounded in the real world
in ways previous comics were not. Metropolis is
noticeably artificial and faux pristine in comparison
to the world depicted in the Watchmen.
• The comic book came to satirize the comic book (we
will see this theme reemerge, The Simpsons satirizes
sitcoms (amongst other things) and the Daily Show
satirizes real news programs).
• Comics have broad appeal because they constitute a
perfect example of how fantasy, the comedic, and
the grotesque are intertwined in pop culture
materials and spectacles.
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