One of the constant questions that I face as a historian is why do I spend time researching comic books and comic book culture. The reasons for these questions are numerous. On one level, it is a question of training (although seldom vocalized as such). This is fair question, I did not graduate from an American Studies Program—I graduated from a history program. Moreover, I do not focus on a “cultural” topic in same way some of my peers did. Indeed, I avoided the more exotic theory driven analytical approaches pursued by my peers. This was not from lack of understanding, if anything it was from annoyance (if you have ever been in a meeting with someone who won't shut-up, think about that person channeling dozens of other people who won't shut up—that is the grad student in love with theory. It gets old quick. These questions aside, my concern with the city has personal, professional, and ideological foundations. This is not a space I feel a need to explain every nuisance of my thinking, but suffice to say, I am concerned with the city as a space that reflects the continual evolution of the lived experience. I find that "space" compelling because it provides a kind of evolving record of the hopes, fears, and desires human being bring to and created by the city. If you consider the city in this way—then you are open to many interesting avenues of inquiry. My primary area is planning history—an arena linked to the city as it is, the city as it was, and the city as it failed to become.
If we consider the city as it is desired to be, then comics are an interesting topic. Indeed, comic book superhero stories are all about the lived experience of the American city. The decision to create superheroes reflected the shift from a homogeneous small town communal lifestyle to heterogeneous big city lifestyle. The fact that comics grew out of pulp magazine story tradition that depicted male, white, Anglo-Saxon heroes traveling the world challenging and defeating exotic natives is no accident. While pulps recognized that the dangers represented by primitive people around the world could and should be confronted and defeated—comic book character are present a realization that the “other” that American fears at the turn of the century are not far away—they live in the city. In this way, the Comic Book City (CBC) is a tableau for the hope, fears, and desires of the American public that has evolved from and along with the modern cityscape. Rather intentional or accidental, the CBC touches on classic questions of urban development and evolution.
Urban history developed as distinct field in the 1960s' as a consensus among scholars pushed for scholarship with greater social relevance. Many believed that social sciences could find solutions to modern social problems. Several unexplored fields of historical study received consideration with the intent that new scholarship would highlight different viewpoints. Urban historians abandoned examinations of elite political and social groups; instead studies began to ponder the actions and motivations of the common man living in the city. As a consequence, the "new" urban history focused on particular social questions concerning women, labor, immigrants, African-Americans and other issues. Methodological demands pushed aside themes of culture and ecology that formerly guided urban studies. Urban history's early foundation drew on several different sociological and historical theories. Among these early urban scholars was Max Weber. Weber's The City (1905) asserted that capitalism produced a crude urban environment, but not strictly in the Marxist model of structure development. In 1916, Robert Park, a contemporary of Weber, developed the urban ecology model to study the city. Park believed that studying the city could reveal how the urban environment shaped human culture. These early works inspired other scholars. The most prominent members of these urban thinkers were not historians, but their influence shaped historical works.
Louis Wirth, a sociologist developed many key ideals about urban living. Wirth believed that sociology should be built around questions of human behavior. The urban environment is especially important for behavioral studies because the city's social organization leads to behavior changes and consensus driven actions. Lewis Mumford developed this community concept further. Mumford's theories on the city strove to place the urban environment within some kind of context apart from other subjects. He does not dissect the elements of the urban environment, instead he looked at the city as a separate entity apart from the country, but intimacy connected. As an urban historian, I see these ideas explored in the CBC city—the idea that the city offer distinct cultural landscape and behavior cues are acknowledged almost without thinking for most Americans. DC comics use of the city as an imagine landscape is profound. Making the decision to create the city its heroes inhabit has given the writers and artist at DC a chance to translate what we understand about urban life into their urban setting. Metropolis is the city as it should be, protected by a paragon of American values, Gotham is the city failing to be as it should, protected by a dark champion injured by the very place he seeks to protect. Metropolis and Superman offered a Jeffersonian critique of the city—the Midwestern farm boy goes to the city with his values and strength of character and builds a life and uplifts the community because his values are strong. Batman in contrast is a native fighting against the masses corrupted by the city’s dangers. He is heredity community leader forced to take action to protect the good people from the vice, crime, and madness that grows urbanization. The comic book story is a fantasy, but the fantasy is rooted in the mind’s eye of the urban experience.
If we consider the city as it is desired to be, then comics are an interesting topic. Indeed, comic book superhero stories are all about the lived experience of the American city. The decision to create superheroes reflected the shift from a homogeneous small town communal lifestyle to heterogeneous big city lifestyle. The fact that comics grew out of pulp magazine story tradition that depicted male, white, Anglo-Saxon heroes traveling the world challenging and defeating exotic natives is no accident. While pulps recognized that the dangers represented by primitive people around the world could and should be confronted and defeated—comic book character are present a realization that the “other” that American fears at the turn of the century are not far away—they live in the city. In this way, the Comic Book City (CBC) is a tableau for the hope, fears, and desires of the American public that has evolved from and along with the modern cityscape. Rather intentional or accidental, the CBC touches on classic questions of urban development and evolution.
Urban history developed as distinct field in the 1960s' as a consensus among scholars pushed for scholarship with greater social relevance. Many believed that social sciences could find solutions to modern social problems. Several unexplored fields of historical study received consideration with the intent that new scholarship would highlight different viewpoints. Urban historians abandoned examinations of elite political and social groups; instead studies began to ponder the actions and motivations of the common man living in the city. As a consequence, the "new" urban history focused on particular social questions concerning women, labor, immigrants, African-Americans and other issues. Methodological demands pushed aside themes of culture and ecology that formerly guided urban studies. Urban history's early foundation drew on several different sociological and historical theories. Among these early urban scholars was Max Weber. Weber's The City (1905) asserted that capitalism produced a crude urban environment, but not strictly in the Marxist model of structure development. In 1916, Robert Park, a contemporary of Weber, developed the urban ecology model to study the city. Park believed that studying the city could reveal how the urban environment shaped human culture. These early works inspired other scholars. The most prominent members of these urban thinkers were not historians, but their influence shaped historical works.
Louis Wirth, a sociologist developed many key ideals about urban living. Wirth believed that sociology should be built around questions of human behavior. The urban environment is especially important for behavioral studies because the city's social organization leads to behavior changes and consensus driven actions. Lewis Mumford developed this community concept further. Mumford's theories on the city strove to place the urban environment within some kind of context apart from other subjects. He does not dissect the elements of the urban environment, instead he looked at the city as a separate entity apart from the country, but intimacy connected. As an urban historian, I see these ideas explored in the CBC city—the idea that the city offer distinct cultural landscape and behavior cues are acknowledged almost without thinking for most Americans. DC comics use of the city as an imagine landscape is profound. Making the decision to create the city its heroes inhabit has given the writers and artist at DC a chance to translate what we understand about urban life into their urban setting. Metropolis is the city as it should be, protected by a paragon of American values, Gotham is the city failing to be as it should, protected by a dark champion injured by the very place he seeks to protect. Metropolis and Superman offered a Jeffersonian critique of the city—the Midwestern farm boy goes to the city with his values and strength of character and builds a life and uplifts the community because his values are strong. Batman in contrast is a native fighting against the masses corrupted by the city’s dangers. He is heredity community leader forced to take action to protect the good people from the vice, crime, and madness that grows urbanization. The comic book story is a fantasy, but the fantasy is rooted in the mind’s eye of the urban experience.
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