By Akansha Mongia
Since its birth in the late 1800’s, comic book, a genre that is exclusively indigenous to America has witnessed major changes in its perceptions and this continues even today. Something which today by most of the people is waived off as “kids’ stuff” once had mass appeal.
It was not until 1954, the year during which “Seduction of the innocent”, a book by Dr. Fredric Wertham was published that major changes in the views regarding comics started taking place. In the book, Wertham made accusations regarding the role of comic books in driving children to violence, arising people’s passions through provocative superhero costumes, thus declaring them as a bad influence. His comment that the famous characters, Batman and Robin were homosexual lovers, his views and strong arguments created such a stir that communities united to ban comic books from their libraries and stores and even burned them in giant pyres during a grand ceremony. A large no. of writers lost their jobs while some of the publishers who managed to keep up were forced to follow extreme censorship measures by the government sanctioned Comic Code Authority that strictly regulated contents of the book. The readership narrowed as a consequence and comic books came under the ‘kid shelf category’.
However there has been some change regarding the matter in the recent past. Many critics these days are agreeing that comic books as well as graphic novels have strong story-telling potential. Study of Popular Literature is being encouraged with Ph.Ds, analysing the famous Harry Potter series, so why not study and analyse comics as well? After all, this art of story-telling is unique in itself. A major step in this regard has been taken by Delhi University which among many others has introduced a graphic novel in the syllabus of Literature students, thus widening the field of critical study for curious minds.
But despite critical appreciation, the notion of general public seems to remain unaltered. Most people consider this form unworthy of their reading time and even for their children. It does not come as a surprise when parents scold their children for spending more time reading comics than paying attention to their textbooks. This notion needs to be reassessed as these books help improve reading skills, certainly have the potential to influence one’s imagination and there is no denying the fact that many of them have moral lessons in them, the superhero ones being evident examples. Thus, instead of pasting the tag of age limit to its readers, one has to shed certain assumptions and boundaries and as French philosopher Jacques Derrida once said, ”Texts do not operate within genres, genres exist within texts.”
Akansha Mongia is a student of English Honours (1st yr) at Janki Devi Memorial College, DU. Being an aspiring writer and a nature lover, I like to indulge myself in writing poems, expressing my opinions and reading. Inclined towards philosophy, culture and history, I believe in exploring and discovering oneself, writing being an important medium for that since it encourages introspection.
Stay updated with all the insights.
Navigate news, 1 email day.
Subscribe to Qrius
