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Comic Books and the American Culture
Thesis Statement
Comic books have over the years reflected the American society. This essay seek to illustrate how comic books have impacted the American culture as well as how comic books have been impacted by changes in the American way of life.
Reflection
The comic books have impacted the American culture in a big way. Characters like Spider-Man, Batman and Captain America among others are our modern-day gods and myths. The love and appreciation for superheroes is also part of the American culture. Comic books have changed with time and reflect the American way of life. For example, the first comic books were racist with stereotypes on black people. However, the comic books have changed and today have black superheroes and women in leading roles. The comic book has also minted events where comic book lovers get to meet. Fans usually sport their favorite character costumes and as well as weapons. The events are becoming a common phenomenon across cities in the US.
The American culture has also had an impact on the comic books as evidenced by the accommodation of the LGBTQ community. The pressure from the public has led the comic books to reconsider its characters and affiliate some of them to the community.
Sources
Cook, M., & Frey, R. (2017). Using Superheroes to Visually and Critically Analyze Comics, Stereotypes, and Society. SANE Journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education, 2(2), 1-32. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/sane/vol2/iss2/1?utm_source=digitalcommons.unl.edu%2Fsane%2Fvol2%2Fiss2%2F1&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages
Haynes, N. (2015, November 5). Why comic books are more radical than you think. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20151105-why-comic-books-are-more-radical-than-you-think
Lopes, P. (2006). Culture and Stigma: Popular Culture and the Case of Comic Books. Sociological Forum, 21(3), 387-414. doi:10.1007/s11206-006-9022-6
Marazi, K. (2014). Matthew Pustz, ed. Comic Books and American Cultural History: An Anthology. European journal of American studies. doi:10.4000/ejas.10255
Pustz, M. (2012). Comic Books and American Cultural History: An Anthology. London, United Kingdom: A&C Black.
Resource: Vetting
Cook and Frey, (2017)
This source is credible in that it is recent. Moreover, it is published on the SANE Journal which publishes article covering intersections of comics and ducation.
The article supports my argument by coming up with misinterpretation in comics and how they are reflected in our society.
Haynes, (2015)
This source is legitimated in that though it was retrieved from an online newspaper, the BBC is considered a fairly trustworthy source.
The topic directly relates to my topic in that it supports my argument that comic books have had an impact on American culture.
Lopes, (2006)
Though the article is not recent, it is legitimate for various reasons. The article is published on the JSTOR database which is held to a scholarly standard and most of its articles are peer reviewed. Moreover, the author Paul Lopez an Associate Professor of Sociology and have major works in Film and Media Studies, making his argument worth examining.
The article relates to my topic but does not support my arguments. In its reasoning, the paper highlights cases of stigma in several comic storyline and characters.
Marazi, (2014)
The article is legitimate since it has been published in a peer reviewed journal. The article is also recent.
The article relates to my topic and supports my argument. The article expands on my topic and argues on comics reflecting the society they emerge from rather than concentrating on cultural impact.
Pustz, (2012)
The book consists of a collection of other works examining the impact of comics on American culture. The book is one of the most quoted works in relation to this topic. The book is also recent.
The book is related and supports my topic. The book offers immense example of how comic book have influenced American culture and helped define its identity. The book’s extensive analysis covers the comics in the 20th century and early 21st century.
Essay Outline
| Title: Comic Books and the American Culture |
| Introduction: The introduction will give an overview of comic book and their evolution with time. THESIS STATEMENT: Comic books have over the years reflected the American society. This essay seek to illustrate how comic books have impacted the American culture as well as how comic books have been impacted by changes in the American way of life. |
| Paragraph 1: Comic Books in the early 1900s Topic sentence: The emergence of comic books in the 1900s, reflected the American society and the stereotypes within it. Concluding sentence: The early 1900s helped comic books establish an audience and appreciation for them. |
| Paragraph 2: Golden Age of Comic Books Topic sentence: The Golden Age saw and emergence of Superheroes and a culture around them. Concluding sentence: The Golden age of comic books created a craze around superheroes in America. |
| Paragraph 3: The conversion of Comic Books into Film Topic sentence: The conversion of comic books helped give birth to sueprhero films. Concluding sentence: The superheroes films are a product of the comic books and the culture around it. |
| Paragraph 4: Race and Gender Inclusion in Comic books Topic sentence: Changes in American society steered by a need for equality saw comic books include superhero and characters of different races and gender. Concluding sentence: Race and gender inclusion into comic books are a resulted of influence of American culture on this print media. |
| Paragraph 5: LGBTQ Inclusion Another impact of American culture on comic books is the inclusion of LGBTQ community. Concluding sentence: The recent inclusion of LGBTQ community is evidence of the impact of culture changes on the comic books. |
| Conclusions: Comic books have indeed not only impacted the American culture but have also been impacted by changes in the American way of life. |
Quotes
- “…the constructive and enlightening experience we have had with comic books while also presenting them with a sense of diversity” (Cook & Frey, 2017).
- “If comic books have been ahead of other mass-market media in their depiction of race, sexuality has not gone unnoticed” (Haynes, 2015).
- “Satanism, violence, misogyny, suicide and other deviant behaviours stigmatize a cultural form, creating a link between an attribute (e.g. liking comic books) and a stereotype” (Lopes, 2006).
- “American superheroes such as, Superman, Spider Man, and many more, reveal how even mainstream American comic books mirrored the social, political and cultural reality of the 1970’s…” (Marazi, 2014).
- “There is a potential for the comic medium to teach serious topics in a way that might reach students differently and […] more effectively than more traditional texts” (Pustz, 2012).