Skip to main content

If a woman makes you angry, just cut off her head! Or, why a little censorship is good.

So, I had no idea that there was such a backlash against comics in the 50s. I mean, I understand that pop culture ends up being the scapegoat in a lot of cases - that's nothing new. But wow, people actually believed that comics were a primary factor in the rise of violence among adolescents and children in the U.S. during that time? That comic books were making people hurt each other and themselves? It just sounds so ridiculous to me but then, it was probably a pretty disturbing issue when children were hurting (sometimes torturing) each other; maybe the alternative was just too difficult to face and it was the only suitable response.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about censorship as an overarching concept but, I have to say, after seeing some of the covers and panels from the horror comics of the Golden Age, I see why some people may have thought it was appropriate. At some point, when does innovation and "pushing the envelope" become completely senseless and gratuitous? And, if there was already concern about violence and sadism in comics, what could be worse then drawing attention to yourself in such a way? Then again, I can't help but think E.C. giggled collectively each and every time they released another issue with a man's head exploding or children being chased by rotting zombies.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why blame comics for societal failure?

Why blame comics for societal failure? Society blamed comics for the societal failures because it was a fairly new industry, and as things seemed to go “wrong” they figured it must be comic books. When a child grew up during the war, his father was probably killing people and the military and his mother was probably making things in factories to help kill the opposition. The only things kids had to “babysit” them was comic books, and they read many different kinds. So when kids starting acting differently in this new generation the figured it must be the comic books. Society didn’t want to believe it may have been the internal and external scars war causes on the soldiers and their families. Also the fact that young unattended children are reading these comics may not be able to differentiate between fantasy and reality. When society fails it always needs a scapegoat then it was comic books next it was rock and roll. Society naturally resist change.
2 comments
Read more

The 1950s are often portrayed as a period of social cohesion. Why is this misleading?

When we think of the 1950's, most people think of similar things such as "Leave it to Beaver", very conservative and cliched pop music, and high patriotism. Our view of that time is one of social conformity to conservative values, with a traditional nuclear family where the father worked and the mother stayed home, where a majority of people attended church, where crime was relatively low, where a majority of American citizens were extremely patriotic, and where entertainment media emphasized these same conservative values and were subjected to censorship if they did not conform. This is misleading because while these things were all true to a certain extent, the world was obviously not perfect and not everyone was conforming or upholding traditional values, even if it seemed like they were. The 1950's were actually a very tumultuous time period, with the end of World War II leaving Europe war torn and in debt, the outbreak of the Korean War and the clashes of opinion...
1 comment
Read more

Were comics at the forefront of social transformation or lagging behind in the 1960’s?

Throughout the 60’s, comics were at the forefront of social transformation. Possibly the best example of this is through comics reflection of the public’s view of the Vietnam War. At the beginning of the war a majority of Americans fully supported the cause. The idea that communism, the most evil idea conceived, could spread first through South-East Asia and eventually to the US lead Americans to accept the need to occupy Vietnam. However as the war progressed it became more obvious that it was less to defend democracy and actually just a proxy war against Russia. As support for the war diminished, comics greatly altered their position on the war to question the causes of the war, and whether the US should actually be there. The comic Iron Man accurately represented this shift in support as he stopped dealing arms, and took a moral stand against their use. As well as Vietnam War culture, comics also accurately portrayed youth culture in the US throughout the 60’s. Comics suc...
Post a Comment
Read more