During the 1950s New Zealand conservatives, and liberals alike, were concerned by the ‘new’ popular genre of comics - they believed the new form of literature to have an adverse effect on young readers (Horricks, 2004). Having lived through a moral panic of a popular genre in 1999 - Marilyn Manson’s music being linked to the Columbine Shootings - I can easily comprehend how a society can jump on the band wagon when it comes to fearing and framing the unknown.
Over time, it would seem that the panic of the comic genre has moved from new popular genre to new popular genre, and will continue to do so as long as technology advances and genres continue to be created. Today, comics and graphic novels are being accepted more and more in the world of classical literature and can be found reviewed in the newspaper and online, studied at colleges and universities, and referred to in academic journals (Horricks, 2004).
As society shifted their perception of comics from negative to positive, authors such as Herge gained freedom to push topic boundaries. For example, in the story of Tintin and The Blue Lotus, Herge included political reference by adding a poster in the background of frames on pages 6 and 7 that read (in Chinese) ‘abolish unequal treaties’ and ‘down with imperialism’. I think the ability for comic authors to be able to discuss and introduce ideas from the outside world, and their own utopian world, gives this popular genre an edge that other classical and new genres might struggle to achieve.
Horricks, D. (2004). The Perfect Planet Comics, games and world-building. In Williams, M, (Ed.), Writing at the Edge of The Universe. Christchurch: U of Canterbury Press.
Hergé. (2005; 1935). The Adventures of Tintin: The Blue Lotus. London: Methuen.
I really liked your Columbine-Manson analogy. For me (someone who is impartial to the comic genre) it makes the beliefs of the time a little more understandable in their attempt to 'fear the unknown'.
ReplyDeleteThanks for saying so Catherine! It can be hard to place your mind back to a time when you were not alive yet right? However, giving everything I have seen in literature (both fiction and non-fiction)of the 1950s period in New Zealand (and internationally), it was a huge period of change and there was a slow acceptance of a variety of 'feared' literatures, practises, groups and ideologies.
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