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Does Class Effect How We View Comics?

I think that the social class we are in effects how we view comics, depending on the society that people are brought up in differs on how things are viewed. One of these is comics, many comics are about the super hero that does good for the community, no matter what their class is he/she is there to help. However the super hero's past may be present in the story and by what class he/she derives from will impact how the reader views the super hero. Some super hero's are born in the wealthy class of society, and for the people he/she ends up doing good for all. The most common route of comic, is when the super hero comes from a poor family that does not have much, makes some dramatic change, becomes the super hero and does good for all man-kind. One story of this type is Clark Kent a.k.a. Superman. Clark Kent was a middle class farm child that decided to leave his home and move to the city. In the city is where Clark Kent becomes "Superman" and rids the city of evil. Now, this relates to a lot of people from that time that were moving to the city from the frontier and needed something that was supportive in their life. Moving to the city was what an average American at that time was doing, and that Superman was doing the same thing gave residents hope that it would happen in the real world. The story is of an average American that can do amazing things. In the reading, one that stood out to me was Jack Dempsey, who we talked about in class as well, and the story of how an average well Irish-American can do something amazing. Starting from the little bar fights, to being on the big stage. These stories stand very strong to me when thinking about comics and class. Classes make how we view things, the lower class is not going to view a comic the same way as the upper class. Meaning in the comics will hit home to different classes in different ways. So, class is definitely a factor to when it comes to interpreting comics today.

Comments

J Chambliss said…
The shift in perception associated with class can greatly affect how a character is understood. The appeal of Superman rest in an "everyman" quality. Like Jack Dempsey, he represents a positive story of hard work and contributing to the community.
September 17, 2011 at 10:15 AM
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