This is a misleading statement because right after the end of WWII, America was going through important rebuilding times that required unity and growth for the country as a whole. And it was, after all, a time of development and financial prosperity for the U.S. But with great pride and freedom there was also more than a hand full of issues that the country was dealing with as well. The list began with civil rights and women's rights, and it also included comic books, of course. The comic book industry was being bashed by every parent in the country, along with several teachers, doctors, and other adults. After the war, when superhero comics essentially went down the drain in terms of popularity, the industry went down the route of crime, horror, and everyday news stories. To the children in which the comics were targeting, the stories were awesome, of course. But to adults they were corrupting the youth of America one gory tale at a time. With the war just ending, the American people began practicing more family values and peaceful activities, meanwhile their kids were reading the opposite in their "literature". This lead to a good amount of tension during this time period for the American population.
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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