Comics are/were blamed for societal failure because they are the easy targets. Rather than blaming the real and more serious/detrimental reasons for our failures we tend to focus on issues that are areas of enjoyment but that can make an impression. Comic books can make an impression on their readers but it is likely that the material that is being transcribed through the comics has already been communicated in other forms; it is unlikely that a comic book reader is first introduced to violence or sex through Batman or Superman. Reasons to blame comic books for societal failure are: violence, sex, portrayals or marriage, horror, crime, etc. However, comics are one branch that extends the tree of these issues. By saying that comic books are the reason for societal failure, we are funneling the inherent issues; we take a broad description of our failure and narrow it down to why we are the way we are. In my opinion, comic books are the least of our worries; out of all of our media outlets I would think that comic books are one of the least likely, at least in today’s society, which would expose natural experiences and lessons at an exaggerated level. We blame comic books because we look to place blame anywhere but the appropriate arena: ourselves, we are the reasons for societal failure because we can’t accept progression.
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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