The 1950’s were portrayed as a period of social cohesion because of the prosperity we were going through economically, and how it was the rebirth of the middle class. This middle class began being the centerfold for the American lifestyle and gave off a sense of cohesion. This comfortable living was what people thrived for, and anything that stood in the way of a comfortable, stress free lifestyle was very deeply criticized. This was true with the comic book industry. While the typical father was at work, and the mother at home keeping up the house, the children were free to do as they pleased until dark. A significant amount of these children choose to spend their time reading comic books, which varied in genre. Some comic books were patriotic and showed war heroes, or superhero’s saving the day. But the comics that became the most criticized were the horror and crime comics. The general public saw these books as destructive to children’s minds, and forced them into juvenile delinquency. Although these comics were gruesome, they were far less destructive then T.V shows today. The comics were so harshly criticized that an eventual committee was set up to review comics to make sure they were appropriate before they were published. This form of censorship made it difficult for writers and illustrators to find new creative ideas for comics. The censorship was not an example of social cohesion, because they were separated on this very issue. Not only on this issue but also even bigger issues, such as the civil rights movement. The only cohesion going on was between white middle class Americans. This portrayed social cohesion is misleading because it was exclusive to the white middle class. That is not cohesion at all, if anything exclusiveness causes segregation.
Why blame comics for societal failure? Society blamed comics for the societal failures because it was a fairly new industry, and as things seemed to go “wrong” they figured it must be comic books. When a child grew up during the war, his father was probably killing people and the military and his mother was probably making things in factories to help kill the opposition. The only things kids had to “babysit” them was comic books, and they read many different kinds. So when kids starting acting differently in this new generation the figured it must be the comic books. Society didn’t want to believe it may have been the internal and external scars war causes on the soldiers and their families. Also the fact that young unattended children are reading these comics may not be able to differentiate between fantasy and reality. When society fails it always needs a scapegoat then it was comic books next it was rock and roll. Society naturally resist change.
Comments