Class becomes a very important factor when it comes to our perception of the comic image. Class affects peoples' opinions and their perception of the world. Since class impacts us at a very early stage, it will also create different perceptions of the comic image amongst different classes. It is easy to see how class affects the perception of the comic image by studying the history of American media and its major impact in the early twenty first century. As popular culture become prominent in the early twenty first century, the middle-class began to interpret the mass media differently. Media began when sports became prominent to the lifestyles of Americans. The first and second world wars had a major impact in the lives of Americans and the emergence of early media. The U.S. participation in the war encouraged athletics since Americans needed to be physically fit. The military even created football teams in order to increase the moral and prepare soldiers. Football teams then became popular in college, which caused the creation of stadiums. With the emergence of sports and radio, came the public's desire for a hero character in their lives. The perception of heroes for each class affected their perception of the comic image. The ways that different heroes were portrayed demonstrated class variation.
For example Superman was raised on a farm by a middle-class family. Clark Kent then moved to the city. He went from an average person who was clumsy and wore glasses to a man who was faster than lighting and could lift things four times his weight. Heroes like Superman were what the average aspired to be like and they admired these characters. Superman became modeled after the old frontier characters. He personified how the average American could overcome obstacles and be a great hero. Superman is an example of how the middle-class persona affected the comic image. Stories like Superman were also popular in the media. Jack Dempsey was a boxer who was born to a low class Irish immigrant family and then rose to fame even though he only weighed 180 pounds. In the early twenty-first century the respectability these kind of heroes increased, which demonstrated how the middle-class image changed the perception of the comic image. It is my opinion that class does affect our perspective of the comic image.
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