The Role of Comics in Education - Assignment Example

The Role of Comics in Education Introduction Comic books have been popular material for both children and young adolescents as well as adults for a long period. As the 20th century unfolded, an increasing number of comic books were in circulations with different publications being released annually. However, during that period, there was minimal attention accorded to the role of comic books in the society. Few researchers had focused on understanding the effect of the content and images presented in comic books to their readers. In that era, there was an assumption that comic books did not meet the requirements of literary work and were not taken seriously despite their popularity. The same view continued until the 1940s, when William Marston authored his article titled “Why 100,000,000Americans Read Comics.” Marston sought to highlight the remarkable figure of Americans who were regular readers of comic books. Moreover, he sought to place emphasis on the role of comic book in the education sector and has powerful literary works contrary to what many people had believed. The wave of Marston’s views would continue until the 1950s, when Wertharm authored his book offering a critique of comic books and their adverse effects on children and the society. Wertharm was reacting to the existing assumption that comic books had no influence to the readers despite their violent content. He used his knowledge in psychiatry to develop his arguments on the adverse effect of comic books for children. This paper will compare the arguments of the two authors on the role of comic books to readers especially children. Since 1938, the perception surrounding the comic books began to change remarkably. In the previous era, humor had been the central aspect defining comic books. However, since 1938, comic books proved to be more emotionally appealing. Marston, in his article entitled, “Why 100,000,000 Americans Read Comic” makes a clear statement regarding this issue. He highlighted that, dramatic adventure and humor had ceased to be the defining aspect of comic books. In his text, he highlighted, “Comics continuities of the present periods are not meant to be humorous, nor are they primarily concerned with dramatic adventure. Their emotional appeal is wish fulfillment” (36). From Marston’s comic titled “Wonder Woman” the emotional appeal is evident as the feminine heroin engages in acts that ensure that good triumphs over bad. The plot of the story proves to be highly appealing the emotions of the readers because of the powers that the wonder woman had as well as her loving nature. Evidently, Marston was writing during a period when he sought to enlighten American scholars on the emerging roles of the comic books. This explains why his article was published in the American scholar. This is why he highlighted that there had been, “a radical departure from all previously accepted standards of storytelling and drama” (36). Notably, Marston was keen to reveal the emerging roles and the content of comic books and contrasted it with what many people had previously known. By highlighting that comics were emotionally appealing, he opened the possibilities of describing their role in education. On the other hand, Wertham agrees that comics can highly appeal to the emotions of the readers, but is keen to highlight that this may be in a negative way. According to Wertharm, the emotional appeal of comic books has served to “seduce the innocent” a fact reflected in the title of his work. According to him, comic books contained themes such as cruelty and violence which served to influence children negatively. He stated in his book that, “the basic ingredients of the most numerous and widely read comic books: violence; sadisms and cruelty…” (15). According to Wertharm, there were many books in circulation read by a remarkable percentage of children. According to him, comic books emotionally influenced children to adopt negative traits. He further asserted in his text, “it is our clinical judgment all kinds of behavior disorders and personality difficulties of children that comic children do play a part” (10). This is evident in the comic titled “Wonder woman” whereby, a female heroine who had supernatural powers indulges in different aspects of violence. Evidently, children reading such a comic book are likely to adopt the traits exhibited by the wonder woman. During a time when many people were unaware of the potential effects of comic books in contributing to personality disorders, Wertharm sought to offer a professional psychological analysis of the effect of comic books on child readers. His work targets scholars because he describes terms in a clinical sense, illustrating that he expected his audience to understand psychological terms. He was keen to offer a critic to the then existing view that parents could allow children to freely read any comic book. Marston further asserted in his article that, comic books presented strong characters who would motivate children to be more resilient in handling challenges in their lives and who would be more willing to embark on self advancement. Moreover, he highlighted that, comic books positively contributed on teaching children morality. Marston believed that a child who interacted with a super character in a comic book developed a conviction that, he or she would become great. Therefore, such a child determined higher goals for themselves in life. In a bid to emphasize that effect on children, Marston asserted, “the wish to be super strong is a healthy wish, a vital, compelling power producing desire” (38). In his opinion, comic books were worthwhile to be used in the education system in a bid to encourage children to adopt stronger personalities and bring out the best in them. This is true of the wonder woman comic whose audience was both boys and girls, encouraging them to have physical strength coupled with the aspect of love that the wonder woman exhibited. In support of this, he highlighted in his text that, “the superman-wonder woman picture stories build up this inner compulsion by stimulating the child’s natural longing to battle and overcome obstacles, particularly evil ones…” Marston’s audience comprised of scholars who understood the process of development exhibited by children in different aspects. This is why he kept mentioning literary critics who formed his target audience. In his first statement in his article, he begins by highlighting that, comics were part of American literature when he said, “American literature has reached in the present day comics” (35). In this, he sought to place emphasis on the need to use modern comics in literature classes as they add the potential to influence children. Wertharm does not agree with the Marston’s conviction that comic books can freely be used in literature classes. In his opinion, that would be exposing children to a diverse range of negative content. Wertharm believes that parents and teachers need to protect children from crime comic books which have the potential of motivating them to become criminals at a tender age. He is convinced that crime by children has increased remarkably during the crime comic era. In support of this, he asserts in his book that, “up to the beginning of the comic book era, there were hardly any serious crimes such as murder by children under 12 (155).” This statement implies that, the comic book era has contributed negatively to the personality of children and has only motivated them to become criminals. Therefore, he opines that there is a need for sufficient protection of children against crime comic books. In reference to the wonder woman comic, Wertharm expressed his conviction that, it was one of the books, exhibiting a high level of negative influence on children. When describing his advice to a ten year old girl who was concerned about reading the comic, he said, “… asked me why I thought it was harmful to read wonder woman (a crime comic which we have found to be one of the most harmful” (58). In his opinion, the wonder woman comic influence children negatively motivating them to indulge in crime. Since Wertharm was addressing an audience that he thought needed to realize the benefits of protecting children from crime comic books, he sought to describe vividly their potential effect on children. Throughout his work, he addresses parents and other professionals as he struggles to develop his argument against crime comic books. Conclusion As highlighted above, both Marston and Wertharm developed strong arguments concerning the comic books and their potential use in education. Marston believes that comic books should be used in education because their emotional appeal coupled with strong characters presented in the books can influence children positively. On the other hand, Wertham believes that there is the need to protect children from the adverse effects of crime comic books which have the potential of influencing children negatively and motivating them to indulge in crime. The two texts are of critical significance in informing the debate on the relevance of comic books in the modern society. Work Cited Marston, William. “Why 100, 000, 000 Americans read comics”. The American Scholar 13.1(1943-1944): 35-44. Print. Wertham, Fredric. Seduction of the Innocent. Mattituck, NY: Amereon House, 1972. Print. Read More