BW Media Spotlight

Normally, Chapter By Chapter is me reading a fictional book one chapter at a time to study each part of the story. In this special review series however we are looking at Seduction Of The Innocent, a non-fiction book as the writer, Dr. Fredric Wertham, tries to make the case that comics were a bad thing for kids in the 1950s. The book had a huge impact on the comic industry and fans. We will examine what he is saying not exclusively by today’s standards, but the time in which the book was made to see where Wertham was right, and where he was horribly wrong.

Comic Books and the Psycho-Sexual Development of Children

“Give me good proofs of what you have alleged;
‘Tis not enough to say – in such a bush
There lies a thief.”
– Shakespeare

This is probably going to be the hardest one to go over for a number of reasons. Remember all the way back at the book reveal when I mentioned that I wasn’t going to necessarily judge by today’s opinions? Well, this chapter is the reason why but having read through part of it (I’d read the whole thing like usual but post time is coming up fast) there are a series of problems I need to address during this and going into it.

1. Homosexuality comes later in the book but I really want to judge things based on 1950s standards rather than 2017s, where the subject is still hotly debated regardless of legal proceeding and what Hollywood likes to have in their stories. (Meanwhile I’ve seen more acceptance of interracial marriage in a Cheerios ad than I do any movie or TV show featuring an interracial couple.) Getting into that debate will derail what I’m trying to do with this series and BW as a whole so I’d really rather not. And yet it’s rather infamous for it thanks to the Batman/Robin connection, which actually does last longer than one paragraph like I thought in last night’s site update and also invokes Wonder Woman. If you know Wonder Woman comics of the period you should not be surprised.
2. BW Media Spotlight strives to be a PG site. Where there have been videos featuring adult language it was only for demonstration and the proper warnings were added. There is some graphic accounts of things like sadomasochism and BDSM and not without some precedence. I haven’t read a lot of comics from this time period but if Wertham’s comments were “watch what your kids read” instead of “all comics are evil” we wouldn’t have a problem. So like last week’s chapter on violence there is little I want to quote. As usual the chapter title is a link to the posting I’m using so please read that before coming back here. Just don’t let the kids read it. Just the same parental discretion is strongly advised and this one may not always be safe for work, if you know what I mean.
3. Some of the stuff Dr. Wertham brings up here are still being debated today, by less prudish fans no less. “Good girl” or “cheesecake” art may have started around this time but it’s still around today and backlashes against covers or scenes is something that has come up here at the Spotlight more than once over the years. So there may be more agreements from you guys with Wertham than you would have thought.

All of this means that going over this chapter is going to be using a lot more eggshell stepping that I would have thought. but we’re going to go through this anyway, because Dr. Wertham still gets a few things wrong while others I am not the person to judge. This should be a pain.

Chapter 7: I Want To Be A Sex Maniac

A comment a child actually made to Wertham, which he will work to tie to comics. And frankly this is a hard one to fight him on but that doesn’t mean he still isn’t off the mark. Just probably less so than usual or you expected.

Continue reading →