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Lauren Houle (Login adurand)
Forum Owner
Posted Apr 25, 2007 3:16 PM
This was a nice week to end on because it was kind of fun to look through the comics- I wish I had known about the graphic adaptation to the 9/11 Commission Report when we had to read the Report!
I never really thought about comics as a serious medium… honestly, the last time I read a comic was either in the Sunday paper funnies or my cousin’s Archie books from the 1980s. (80s? 90s? I’m not sure.) Anyway, I thought there was an interesting idea (and blow to GW) in the beginning of Jenkins’ “Captain America Sheds His Mighty Tears: Comics and September 11”, when he wrote that the way George W. Bush reduced the war on terrorism to a conflict between the “Axis of Evil” and the “Forces of Freedom” was kind of comic-bookish. Then he said it seemed grossly unfair- to comic books.
He also talked about how intellectuals were out of touch with the emotional state of the public after 9/11, and how critical theorists had given up hope that popular culture could be a meaningful site for political intervention. I think this is a very keen notion- popular culture is very important in shaping public opinion. It is true that every generation has their cause, and since the beginning of comic books, they have influenced politics and economics. The author mentioned the “Cultural Front” of the 1930s and 40s, which gave aesthetic form to the struggle against fascism at home and abroad. How can we deny that the multitude of anti-Bush administration products of popular culture have influenced the American public? It is evident in the change of public opinion regarding GWB over the past few years, and in things like the bumper sticker which I saw recently that said something like “1/20/09- Bush’s last day”.
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