Today Kirk spoke about the developments of the 50s American comic industry. He spoke of the emerging art form of Entertainment Comics, the Comics Code Authority's strict standards, and how US cartoonists reacted to those standards.
The Comics Code Authority represents an idiosyncrasy in American society and law. We Americans love to hold ourselves up with lofty political and social ideals like liberty and democracy. Our most important document, the Constitution, guarantees freedoms for all Americans, including the right to free speech. In America we think of ourselves as champions of the oppressed and voiceless. But the Comics Code Authority is a serious breach to that idealistic self-image. A quasi-governmental group censored many individuals' art and imposed their worldview upon the readership. This represents the dominance of entrenched white views on individuals' art. And it's surprising that censorship this blatant happened in our free United States. Another dimension of the lecture was the idea of art versus industry. That is, to what degree are the comics art and to what degree are they industry? They are not completely art because they are made for commercial rather than strictly art-related reasons. They would not usually belong in a museum. But also, they do usually have subject, composition, and content. They do show technical skill. And usually they have substantive content: civil rights, retribution, morality. I would be more comfortable labeling these types of comics as art rather than more basic superhero comics designed for children.
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