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How does class affect our perception of Comic books: It doesn’t?

Something unique to the United States is our massive pop culture bubble, which most citizens are at least aware of if not wholly indulged with. Comics may have been considered a lower form of art and even today they struggle to find their definition to mean more then children’s entertainment but they still reach and affect millions of people in both situations. Class affects comic book writers and the business of comics way more than its readership.

Comic book companies and creators look to improve their persona conditions through this “immature” medium, the same way the film industry profited from unsubstantial comedies or today, from movies with Vin Diesel in them. Comic books did have the mask of being “for children” so some of its writers and artists meanings could be subtly soap boxed through their morally upright heroes.

Meanwhile the readership of comics by children would not be so fickle: I remember preferring one Barbie car over another simply because it had a blue stripe instead of a purple one and I am sure this was the way children picked their favorite comic book characters. It started as Superman wears blue and I like blue, to Captain America doesn’t like Nazis and my dad doesn’t like Nazis so he buys me these comics.

Comics as a medium for messages and culture can even be seen in the massive amount of comics that were sent overseas during WW2. The fantastical stories were nostalgic for soldiers and gave them an escape from the brutalities of war. Today a popular charity called Operation Comix Relief sends comic books to army hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan for wounded soldiers to read. The idea is that these men and women can escape there reality temporarily into the “children’s” stories.

While class does exist in America comic books are on a blurred line of mass culture that makes them accessible.

...unless you meant the class we are taking now in which case it affects my persona perception a lot because I'm slowly realizing that what i once perceived as common propaganda, might in its cultural boundaries be its own revolutionary idea.

Comments

J Chambliss said…
The interaction between culture and commerce is an important force to consider over time. How has U.S. pop culture transformed and how is that affecting your experience?
September 17, 2011 at 10:10 AM
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