|
« Atrocity Tourism Video Review: Periods 101. |
Main
| Sparkneedle updates today. »
November 15, 2003
Seduction of the Innocent: Now Available for Download!
Most everyone whith a passing interest in American comics is familiar with Dr. Fredric Wertham's medium-annihilating masterpiece, Seduction of the Innocent. Few people can ever really be blamed for single-handedly detroying an entire artform, but Fred managed it, during the height of McCarthyism and the Cold War, by blaming comics for juvenile delinquency, illiteracy, immoral behavior, the promotion of violence, and the glorification of homosexuality via Batman and Robin. (also, by holding Wonder Woman responsible for inspiring lesbianism in her female readers. Sufferin' Sappho!)
Despite a government inquiry that determined that rates of juvenile delinquency had actually fallen in the past few years while comic sales rose, piles of comics were burned in bonfires, entire genres (crime, horror, and romance especially) went extinct, the Comics Code Authority was formed, and publishers turned to the only "safe" comics there were left to publish; garish, simplistic superhero mags and insipid gag comics. Wertham's rabble-rousing, alarmist offal is still name-dropped today by in-the-know members of other threatened media, such as video games and the Internet, as a cautionary tale against the dangers of mass hysteria, the self-perpetuating momentum of moral indignation, and the child-proofing of popular culture.
Simply put, Wertham was an asshole. And he damn near killed comics.
You can download chapter-by-chapter zip files of his infamously froth-mouthed, wild-eyed ravings online here. I've already read this pile of landfill chow, so I can give crazy old man Fred a personal recommendation. Make sure not to miss his obsessive analysis of how close Batman and Robin sit together in most panels.
Posted by Spike at November 15, 2003 08:12 AM
|
