The decade most of us remember growing up in is the 90s. When we were children we watched shows like All That and The Fresh Prince. Cartoons were something that attracted the attention the children and young adults at the time, but cartoons were not something that were among them. There was a small majority of students who were fans of comic books, but why are cartoons today making a comeback? Today it seems like the most popular tv shows are family guy, the simspsons and American Dad. Where do these shows come from? They are similiar to shows like Seinfeld and Two and a Half Men because they both are humorous shows with very distinct able characters. Growing up I was never a comic book kid. I was into sports and tv shows and never read much of anything. Coming into this class I had the predisposed view of comic books that many people have who are not avid readers. They seemed like a fun way to pass the time. After reading Understanding Comics, I realized that a great deal of thought and effort is put into the making of a comic book. Unlike a book, the comic book really gets the reader involved. You aren't just reading line after line. Your eyes are constantly jumping around the page looking at the different characters and conversations. To me, reading a novel can become very stagnant and often times puts me to sleep. Many comic books are about super heroes and Hollywood today is giving them a second look. So many movies have come out recently about superheroes and they all have been hits with the viewers. Americans historically have been obsessed with the idea of a superhero since the first comic about one was written. Are comic books as widely read today as in the past? No, but their influence on the movie industry is still felt today.
Ohhh my goodness... When I decided on trying to analyze the mythological origins and references in superhero comics, I had no idea the can of worms I was opening up... On the one hand, it was awesome to see just how many connections there were between superheroes and psychology/mythology/philosophy, but all the information also made it terribly difficult to distinguish what I should be using and how to tie it all together. When I was talking to one of my sorority sisters about it she said, "Oh yeah, well, research essays are kind of like putting together puzzles..." and I think that really sums up what writing this paper was like for me. Fortunately, I was really interested throughout the whole process and I very much enjoyed writing the paper. Being a psychology major, I was especially interested in reading about the Jungian archetypes that had a lot of parallels with major modern comic books superheroes. I was also able to incorporate Joseph Campbell's "hero cycle...
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