Krazy Kat

An essay on Krazy Kat for my Comics and CUlture class with Charles Coletta at Bowling Gree State University
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Alex Merced

George Herriman & Krazy Kat

POPC 470

The Kat that made the world Krazy

The story of Krazy Kat and George Herriman a significant tale in the history of comics that still leaves a lasting impression on the comic scape today. George Herriman born in 1880 was born to Creole family which would play an important role in race representation in his work in the future. His family would move to Los Angeles to get away from the enforcement of Jim Crow laws in Louisiana. George Herriman would in the future hide his creole descent and play along when people assumed he was Greek and was even listed as Caucasian on his death certificate. After the age of 17 he began working for the Los Angeles Herald where he would write such comic strips as Major Ozone, Musical Mose, Acrobatic Archie, Professor Otto and His Auto and many more. During the time that Herriman worked the Comic Strip, The Dingbat Family, Krazy Kat and the cast appeared in a small side comic of the Dingbat Family. These characters living below the floorboards of the dingbat family became it's own comic strip eventually to be known as Krazy Kat. Krazy Kat was first published in the New York Journal. Krazy Kat is about the adventures of Krazy Kat who in love with Ignatz Mouse who hates Krazy Kat and is constantly throwing bricks at Krazy Kat, and being arrested by Officer Pup who is in love with Krazy Kat in surreal and comedic love triangle that ran from 1913 – 1944. Krazy Kat was also filled with Minor characters such as Kolin kelly, Kwakk Wakk, Mock Duck, and many other who served as plot devices in the twisted and culturally complex triangle between the three protagonist of the comic strip. Krazy Kat also briefly became animated in a few different incarnations which battled the issue of what is the gender of Krazy Kat, some of them portrayed Krazy Kat as male while others portrayed Krazy Kat as female. Krazy kat is no hailed as one of the best comic strips of all time according to many authoritative texts and is still talked about even classes such as this one as a milestone in the history of comics. Al thought there is more to Krazy Kat then just a forward step in the evolution of comic books, Krazy Kat represents a a new benchmark of achievement when it came to style and substance .Krazy Kat was praised for it's levels on intellectuality and though of as poetic and deep. This can be demonstrated in this comics where Krazy Kat discusses with a minor character, Door Mouse, about why he carries a door.

Krazy Kat was very culturally significant piece of work in the world of comics strips which can be seen by it's influence on the work of other artists, and it's criticism of race/gender relations. Many have written about Krazy Including E.E. Cummings & Bill Waterson which shows much of the impact of Krazy Kat.

We can see that the lasting influence of Krazy Kat survived through the work of other artist long after the Cat and Mouse would leave us from the pages of the newspaper. The most well known adaptation from our generation must the be the fames Cat and Mouse duo from the Simpson's, Itchy and Scratchy by Matt Groening. Another well known one are from older animated cartoons like Wile E. Coyote from Chuck Jones or the Tom and Jerry cartoons which all were very similar in styles and themes in relation to the battle between animals, especially in the ambiguity of the Roadrunners gender. Bill Watterson also lists Krazy Kat as one of his big three influences the other two being Peanuts and Pogo. In more reference more relevant to my generation Michael Stype of REM having a tattoo of ignatz Mouse on his forearm. These are all references that show the continuity of Krazy Kats influence on the fabric of our culture.

Most analytical critiques of Krazy Kat Revolve around the racial and gender issues raised by the comic. Like in many of the strips of Krazy Kat we'll see the characters change from black to white and treat each other with different dispositions. This all shows some some of the race ideology of Herriman developed from growing up in an American family yet playing along to whiteness, treading the racial boundaries in life so did his characters. In the essay “Some say it with a brick” by Elisabeth crocker, Crocker talks about the influence of Pore Ol'Mose, a comic about sympathetic African American character on Herrimans Musical Mose which sets the stage for Herrimans work in race identity in his work. (Crocker) After Musical Mose, crocker speaks of the personification of Krazy Kat as Black and Ignatz mouse as jewish. An interesting point crocker brings up is Joe Stork and the Klub, to Crocker the Klub represents club where the characters can be bourgeoisie at the cost of abandoning the low class racial identifiers that plague them, in this case Krazy Kats water boiler which Krazy Kay would not abandon. Race is very prevalent issue in the world of Krazy Kat which is an overall theme in Herrimans work as you can see in this strip from Musical Mose.

The gender of Krazy Kat was always a question that neither Herriman or Krazy Kat could never answer. Although Crocker discusses that Krazy Kat would usually be referred to as him he also would switch gender rolls depending on the scenario around him. While Crocker continues to point out many of the different places you can see gender and race play out in Krazy Kat in her articles one must ask what does this all mean? Herriman and his background has shown he's live an ambiguous life in which he would adapt himself to keep the balance which we can see happening in Krazy Kat. Although as far I can see this was primarily a race issue with Herriman which makes the inclusion of gender ambiguity in Krazy Kat interesting. Did George Herriman ever have gender issues of his own, or was exposed to these themes somewhere else in his life I wonder since the ties to his racial representations are so clear. Although one can say they probably are unclear the statements of race in Krazy Kat are much more clear than the ambiguity of gender and the questions it raises. Either way, this type of direct confrontation with social issues was important in the legacy of what makes Krazy Kat and George Herriman so important to the history of American and Comic Culture.

Many great artists of our time have attested to the importance and depth or Krazy Kat and EE Cummings is no stranger to attesting to the world of Krazy Kat. EE Cummings actually wrote a forward to a collection Krazy Kat strips titled “A forwards to Krazy”. (EE Cummings) In this forwards EE Cummings talks about other complexities of Krazy Kat mainly pertaining to the dichotomy of good and evil and society and anarchy drawn by the opposition of Ignatz Mouse and Offisa Bull Pup which which the ambiguous Krazy Kat is stuck in the middle of. In this comparison EE Cummings compares Offisa Bull Pup to society and established structures and Ignatz Mouse represents anarchy and free will to do what you want which depending on your disposition either could be the hero and villain. Where this analysis gets even more interesting when he introduces the idea of Krazy Kat representing the power of love. The idea that despite the ideologies of Offisa Bull Pup and Ignatz Mouse, the love of Krazy Kat survives their rights and wrongs and lends itself to another level of complexity which they can't understand. This analysis by EE Cummings is really romantic and showcases another level of the depth of crazy Kat and it's torrid story of love and just being yourself despite everyone telling you the world woks otherwise. So this create and interesting position of signifiers and oppositions that can create an wide variety of implication by EE Cummings logic. If Anarchy and Society are two forces which love must overcome what is left to guide humanity once love over comes and where is hate in all of this. While EE Cummings didn't elaborate much on these questions I feel the answers to there are quite clear when you take a look at the representations of Anarchy and Society who are ignataz and Offisa Bullpup who both hate each other and operate based on their hate. Igntaz throws bricks cause hates Krazy Kat and Offisa Bull Pup intervenes cause he hates Ignatz. What complicates it is that he also loves Krazy Kat which is why he is a more sympathetic characters. So hate can is part of institutions, cause even anarchy is an institution that looks down on institutions. While Krazy Kat who operates on love doesn't care about society or anarchy, and just lives his life pursuing what he loves and enjoys instead of enforcing an institution on other characters which while the most plighted character still the happiest of them all.

For the book, The Komplete Kolor Krazy Kat, Bill Waterson of Calvin and Hobbes fame writes his own forward which I think really delves into the intricacy of the surrealism that that is often claimed to be part of the Krazy Kat Mythos. (Waterson) Bill Waterson most interestingly is not interested in the message or the point of Krazy Kat more than he is interested in how this message is put together and constructed. “Quirky, individual, and uncompromised, Krazy Kat is one of the very few comic strips that takes full advantage of its medium. There are some things a comic strip can do that no other medium, not even animation, can touch, and Krazy Kat is a virtual essay on comic strip essence. “, Waterson summarizes his thoughts succinctly in his forward before he delves deeper in why he feels Herriman creates a comic that lives and breathes artistry. Waterson mainly concerns himself with Herriman and his approach to creating the landscape in his strips about how the scenario would change from panel to panel despite characters going anywhere. Waterson feels that Herriman really stretched the possibilities of his medium in his use of visual possibilities and not limiting them to reality and convention creating a characters out of every inch of every panel aiding to move the story by reflecting the happenings. Also commented on is the linguistic artistry of Herriman mixing spanish, dialects, and misspellings to create humor and vehicles for the story to move and create the world in which Krazy Kat exists. To Waterson, Herriman approach style to Krazy Kat served a much more important ends than social commentary which can only be best put by the very final line of his forward, “Krazy Kat was not very successful as a commercial venture, but it was something better. It was art. “

Throughout the life and death of Krazy Kat and George Herriman many have attested to the greatness and impact of his work. To art and beauty of his style, verbiage of his strips to the complex social implications they had to the many readers who read them Krazy Kat is a champion of artistry.

This Champion has fought and lasted in the memories and thoughts of many prominent animators, comic artists, and more such as Chuck Jones, EE Cummings, Bill Waterson and so many more. How can something that has touched so many of our times greatest minds be even questioned of it's impact and significance in the cultural spectrum. Whether it'd be the social commentary on race, gender, agency and love that is admired by the likes of Elizabeth Crocker and EE Cummings or the artistry and surrealism applauded by Bill Waterson Krazy Kat was rich text that will live on through it's influence on the work on the likes of Chuck Jones, Matt Groening and many more.

WORKS CITED

EE Cummings. “A forward to Krazy”. 1946. A Miscellany  Revised. March 2007. 

Waterson, Bill. “A Few Thoughts on Krazy Kat”. 1990. The  Komplete Kolor Kreazy Kat. March 2007. 

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Crocker, Elisabeth. “Some Say it with a brick” Krazy Kay &  George Herriman. March 2006. Institute of  Advanced  Technologies in the humanities. March 2007  .

Harry Potter essay

THis an essay I wrote for my reading harry potter class which I took with Raymond Schmuck in Bowling Green state university
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Alex Merced

POPC 470

Issue Paper

Alex Merced on Andrew Blake on Harry Potter

During my time doing research to find a solid connection between Harry potter and the Chronicles of Narnia I stumbled across a very interesting book, The Irresistible Rise of Harry potter, by Andrew Baker. Many of the subject material in the book really hit home with material in class and decided a more appropriate essay would be an overview and analysis of this book. The Irresistible Rise of Harry Potter by Andrew Blake is a very relevant book to class and I plan to analyze it's relevance by outlining some of th key chapters in the book and connecting them to class discussions.

Before I begin getting into different chapters of this book by Andrew Blake, I will summarize his overall intentions with the book. In this book Andre Blake intends to explain that Harry Potters success is beyond a great marketing effort and want to get at the cultural significance of it's success, which has been the overall theme of our class especially as pop culture scholars. In the introduction of th book, Blake brings up the argument that some has brought about better narratives of a similar structure not getting the same attention making reference to The Worst With Series which we discussed in class. In the end Blake presents his thesis, “ It is, in short, because Joanne Rowling's creation hits the spot by addressing many of the anxieties in our changing political and cultural world, and if we are going to understand why Harry Potter has become a global hero we have to see him in his times – namely, 1997 and after.” (Blake 4)

There are four chapters of this book I plan on spending a special focus on, Harry Potter and the Reinvention of the Past, Harry Potter and the Temples of Gloom, Harry Potter and the Cultural Turn, and Harry Potter and the Old Reader. Each of these chapters deal with important concepts in cultural studies, and specific examples relevant to our class.

“As Benedict Anderson has claimed, the “imagined community' is crucial to modern nationhood. An England imaging though it's past can hardly be said to exist in the present.” Andrew Blake

In the Chapter Harry Potter and the Reinvention of the Past, Andrew Black Brings up the concept of Imagined communities. The idea of the imagined community is very important in the world of cultural studies in the understand the creation of the nation-state, and the understand of nationalism when there is no sovereign nation. You have the idea of shared experiences, culture, and values that create a community of people who are not truly a community. For example, I'm Puerto Rican and in talking to other Puerto Ricans I find similar experiences and thoughts reverberate due to the function of our signifiers in society so we feel part of something bigger, yet there is no bigger entity. As a Puerto Rican there is no community meetings I must attend or dues I must pay it's all in my head and in head of those who feel a similar sense of nationalism, it's imagined, an imagined community. In this chapter, Blake uses the concept of Imagined communities to explain the current situation of England in relation of the United kingdom and it's losing it's hold as a nation. With the formation of the United Kingdom, England has no legal existence, Blake thinks this make England lose it's notion of England and Englishness. It's in this dilemma where Harry Potter functions to keep the Nation of England alive in the hearts of it's nationalist by creating a new “English” text. While this explains why the popularity of the book began to grow so large in England, the Harry Potter books have become a global phenomenon and this won't fulfill the same nationalist function in all it's consumers. This has tied into class discussions many times when people bring up that it's an “english” text, which will plays an even great roll in subsequent chapters of Andrew Blakes work. This chapter of the The Irresistible rise of Harry Potter is relevant in many discussions in the class identity and community ideology like when we talked about Gesellschaft and Gemeinschaft and the individual priority in the community context.

“Reading, hearing or viewing Harry's Adventures, they will encounter a group of friends who read in order to act; but (a) this usually means they break the school rules when necessary for their purposes, and (b) the hero always knows what to do anyhow, so he's one of them.” Andrew Blake (Blake pg 46)

In the following chapter, Harry Potter and the Temples of Gloom goes back in time to the era of when the first Harry Potter book to set up a context for the English school scenario fostered as later books came. Blake documents that as Rowling was finishing up the first Harry Potter book, a dramatic change in literacy rates between the genders began. This became terror for the nation as they thought this was the sign of the feminisation of england. In culture studies gender ideology is always a very important part of studies, which we have discussed in class discussing issues such gender ideology when it comes to character like Hermione and such, I find it interesting that Andrew Blake suggests that Harry Potter is a representative of this change in English ideology. This makes me think about Harry and many of the other characters in the story and think twice about their gender ideology. First off, let's take a look at Harry, not hyper-masculine in any shape or form except for maybe his ability on the quidditch team yet this is put into questions when you bring up the fact that he's playing in the only non-combative (thus less masculine) position on the whole team. Even further, the rest of the teams job is to protect him at time, although the role of protecting Harry can be attributed more to his pseudo royal status more than maybe a feminisation of Harry Potter. Non of the other male characters in this story are at all body builders or in any way hyper-masculine and usually seem to have a sort of delicate air themselves. So when I think about all this, I can see how Andrew Blake can be suggesting that the Harry Potter narratives evolution reflects this change in English school systems and performance, which actually brings many issues of gender and gender ideology. It's even more amazing now how Harry Potter could attain it's global audience without any real semblance to hyper masculinity. Could this be signs that a larger global phenomenon of dehyper-masculinazation is occurring in global pop culture. Quite possibly, many pop culture forms are challenging the ideology of hyper-masculinity that could lead for such a gender neutral ideology to have the impact it has had. I've written before about emos music resistance against hyper masculinity (which is still oppressive), so one could possibly link the growth in emo music to the growth in Harry potter. It's these kinda questions that I get when i take my cultural analysis and mix it with the content in Andrew Blakes and relate it to what we've worked on in class. Andrew Blake book does have a lot of great material that can be cross analyzed to create new theories and ideas as to ideology and Harry Potter.

“We want the stuff to be mysterious, not to know how it works – even when we know it has been 'created' using computer software designed for the manipulation of words, sounds or images.” - Andrew Blake (Blake pg 47)

In our class we spent probably more time than on anything else on discussing magic and it's role in relation the ideology of the fans and author of the narrative. Andrew Blake in the chapter Harry Potter and Cultural Turn in The Irresistible Rise of Harry Potter has very interesting take on the role of magic in Harry Potter. First off, Blake begins by addressing how the world of Harry Potter not only addresses our beliefs in magic, but our anxieties about creativity. Essentially what I got form it is that Blake is trying to say what makes something magic is not knowing how it is done. The disconnect between the consumer and possibility creates an element of mystery which is all too appealing and is the true art. This appeal of mystery and creativity is supposed to explain why magic is magical in the world of Harry Potter, where people can just chant incantations and things happen without any real explanation of why or how other than an incantation as for how it occurred. This remind me a lot of in class and how people will so feverishly try to protect the magical boundaries of Harry Potter and come up for some very idealistic rationals about magic in Harry Potter, such as the idea that the magic is knock against science. Andrew Blake makes a very interesting point that magic is magic cause it's mysterious, and it's this mystery that makes art appealing and to this end Rowling does a very good job of showing how much of an art magic is.

“And Despite the Hype, Harry continues to be a cultural icon precisely because of his place in this interconnected and relatively autonomous world of popular knowledge, which works outside the official and commercial realms, and often defies them” - Andrew Blake (Blake 66)

In the final chapter I am to take a look at, Harry Potter and the Old Reader, Andrew Blake makes the above statement which brings up the most underlying values I believe of a pop culture scholar. In the years I've been studying pop culture you see the fundamental question of how much influence does the media and marketing have on the local and global community that exclusive of shared ideology. Being a marketing minor I can say that that we scholars were right all along that ideology doesn't work along the lines of popular culture but that popular culture works in contraints of ideology. Appropriation, globalization, adaptation, these are all phenomenon that instead of showing the opposite actually show how changing ideologies shape popular culture, not how changing popular culture shapes ideology.

“And so on – for at least another decade, presumably, as the proposed seven books and their presumed matching movies spiral upwards past each other into ever-higher sales statistics. Why? And More specifically – why books, tapes, films, and merchandise against a set of reference points – including the ways in which we think about the past, eduction, childhood and adulthood, work and creativity in the cultural industries, the consumer, and the reader. And, yes, magic.” - Andre Blake (Blake pg 2-3)

In the writing of Andrew Blake we saw many relevant theories and concepts that tie into class and the many discussions we've had. In the pantheon of Harry Potter literature I felt I got a lot out of reading this book and that it has a lot to offer in the understand of Harry Potter and in the world of applying Popular Culture Studies concepts and theories. In the first chapter I looked at, Harry Potter and the reinvention of the Past we saw the concept of Imagined Communities take place in a world with a dying English nation and Harry Potter working as a new text to help reclaim English nationalism and revitalize even though it's legally dissapeared with the formation of the UK. In the Next chapter, Harry Potter and the Temples of Gloom, we discussed gender ideology and how it applies to the feminisation of england which was heralded by shifting school performance to a female dominant culture and how Harry potter can be seen as a gender neutral text. In my take on Harry Potter and the Cultural Turn I was able to connect Andrew Blakes ideas on magic and creativity and connect them to class discussion and the role of magic in Harry Potter, discussing that art is valued for it's mysteriousness, and it's this mysteriousness that makes magic work which is what makes things function so well in the world of Harry Potter. In the last chapter I focused on, Harry potter and the Old Reader, I began to discuss the notion of the context of popular culture relative to the media and hype. All this point out many things relevant to our class such as the relevance of Harry potter as an ideological text that makes reference to the context in which it was created as well as a living breathing application of al the concepts we have studied as popular culture scholars.

Works Cited

Blake, Andrew. “The Irresistible Rise of harry Potter”. Verso. 2002.

Thailand Youth Essay

THis is my essay I wrote for my youth culture class, if anyone has my essay on the phillipines from when I took Global Popular Culture with jeremy Wallach please send it to me, I have no digital copy. Also I took Youth Culture with Montana Miller at Bowling Green State University.
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Thailand Youth Culture

POPC

Youth Culture

Alex Merced

The Thailand Youth – A Marketers Perspective

After watching the documentary about the CoolHunters I became curious as how youth are approached by marketers in different cultures. Thailand culture is a heavily commercialized culture due to it being a popular tourist spot so I want to see how this effects the youth by seeing what trends marketing research has shown on Thailand youth. I will take a look at how marketers group Thailand youth, the attitudes of Thailand youth, and explore the cultural context of these trends work in the greater scope of Thailand culture.

“Western culture in the form of MTV and Hollywood movies delivered through satellite TV has been a major influence on youth culture, though MTV features local pop stars and culture to a significant extent. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is a stalwart against the inroads of "western culture", seeing it publicly as a threat to "Asian values" but specifically to those of respect for elders and political authority. He even went so far to call Japanese "blondes" for their slavish pursuit of US culture. Part of the Malaysian and Singapore problem however is due to the lack of support for a local youth pop culture, leaving teens with no option other than Western models to express their individuality and youthful values. A thriving Bumi-Rock music genre, highlighting an original, indigenous and Malay based culture was throttled in its nascent years, leaving local Malaysian youth venues crowded with Western pop cover bands, including imports from the Philippines.” - AsiaMarketResearch.com

This is an excerpt from, “Thai Teens Get Serious: New Market Research on Thailand Youth Market “. (asiamarketresearch.com) This article really sets up the dilemma in Asian Pop Cultures interactions with the western media, the article continues to talk about how Thailand actually has it's own thriving Pop scene it's media culture is strong compared to many other Asian countries that have more reliance to western or Japanese imports. With such a strong commercial culture which implies a strong consumer base we see the need for market info on the youth market, like it said in the CoolHunters documentary, this market has a lot of time and disposable income. This article then takes a look at a survey conducted by the Thailand Marketing Research Society which had many results and broke Thailand youth in different groups. The first group this essay breaks the market into is the liberal market which is defined by being open sexually and being an innovator when it come to new things always trying to be trying what's new and original. Next one is the individualist who doesn't care about western values, spends little money, and takes care of their parents. The Follower is conservative to sex issues and withdraws from leadership positions. The final one is the Image Seeker who admires western culture, who's image and status is important to them and is influenced by advertising. As a marketing minor I would assume that the image seeker would be who I'd set my marketing sights on, but that's relative to what I'm marketing. Although this break-up is similar to the archetype of the Mook and Mid-drift that the CoolHunters documentary talked about. I go back and forth on how accurate archetypes can be, I guess like anything else you can take a layered approached that a person is a several pronged being. Archetypes can accurately describe certain layers of a person enough to generalize but there is always more details in context relative to still leave room to a lot of local and social context.

“The Thai youth market shares some common characteristics with other Asian and Western youth markets. Yet there are some major differences. Thai youth are perhaps the most fashionable of certainly their neighbors and perhaps most of Asia. The Thai advertising industry produces some of the most creative promotions in Asia, despite budgets that are extremely low. Thai youth attitudes are affected by the same Buddhist religious and national culture that pervades Thailand generally. In comparison to Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism, this culture encourages individualism, youthful idealism and tolerance and respect for divergent views. It also shares the respect for age and family. At the same time however, it is conservative - embracing change, ...but cha cha.. (slowly.. slowly..)” - Asian Pacific Management News

This segue from an Article by Asian Pacific Management Newswhich analyzes research from ACNielson one of the largest global marketing research firms which is the same company that gathers information for television ratings. Again in this articles it really emphasizes the difference of Thailand consumer culture in the scope of the global market. (Asian Pacific Mangement News) The ACNielson research was on the attitudes of the youth market in Thailand and found several interesting things. They found while adults found economic issues such as debt and education a struggle Teens are more focused on collecting brands and dressing fashionably. The Fashion Center for Thailand is Japan taking many of it's fashion influences from Japan and from Thailand rich Pop Music scene. Other interesting attitudes shown of the youth is that they are more health and education consciousness but do not save money or understand the concept of saving money. What makes this research very interesting is that it doesn't break the youth into archetypes but more so talk about the trends in youth thought after a recent recession in Thailand.

In Both of these articles a very interesting cultural context is discussed that should be highlighted to further enhance the findings in both of these articles. Some of the cultural trends that these articles bring to light are many changes that similar to those in western culture such as greater variety of education options, more equality in marriage in relationships, and more skeptical view of the status quo. Similar to the US over the last few years Thailand has been dealing with the aftermath of economic recessions. The articles both mention the difference in influence on Thailand culture while still influenced by imports from the west and Japan, Thailand still has a very independent pop culture of it's own which seems to stem from it's pop music which both articles seem to mention.

Thailand has very interesting youth market that is very appealing to marketers such as the CoolHunters. It's the fashionable youth with disposable income from raises in low level jobs and generous parent allowances that make them the perfect prey for a commercial onslaught, very similar to the US teen market. Thailand retains it's individuality with it's rich Pop music scene yet is influenced by student that study abroad and Japan. While most these teens would fall into the Image Seeker archetype there are still the individualist who resist the commercial culture and focus on family values, and many other archetypes. Thailand is land of commercial contestation, mainly among the youth from Fashion to Mtv, Thailand has got it too.

Works Cited

AsiaMarketResearch.com. “Thai Teens get serious: New Market Research on the Thailand Youth Market”. Asia Market Research. November 11, 2002. April 14, 2007. http://www.asiamarketresearch.com/news/000258.htm.

Asian Pacific Management News. “Thai Youth Attitudes – Thailand Market Research”. Asian Pacific Management News. May 11^th, 2000. April 14^th, 2007. http://www.apmforum.com/news/ap110500.htm

Civil War essay for POPC470

This essay was written for my comics and culture class which I took with Charles Coletta in Bowling Green State University
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Alex Merced

POPC 470

Comics and Culture

Civil War Gives Comics a Reality Check

Growing up comics had always given stories that were grand spectacles that entertained and wowed but the world has changed which has been sirened by Marvels Civil War. The Success of Civil War highlights the change in US attitude towards, “reality”, which can be shown by it's parallel to current events, it's handling of the good/evil opposition, which can all signal back to a trend we've seen with the rise in popularity of Reality television.

Civil War was a Marvel Comics event released in 2007 that spanned across seven main issues, a side series called Frontline, and pretty much the entire Marvel universe having virtually every other Marvel title get involved in the events of Civil war. As the story goes after tragic events involving a battle between the New Warrior and Nitro, a school of kids in Stamford, Connecticut wind up being brutally murdered. The one surviving member of the New Warriors, Speedball becomes the principal scapegoat for the events of that day. Meanwhile, Tony Stark the rich mogul who doubles as Iron Man begins to push legislation through congress to register super heroes with the intention of being able to hold Superheroes accountable for their actions which receives opposition from Captain America, one of the most respected heroes in the world. As the law gets passed, Captain America begins an underground resistance against Tony Starks regime which began the ultimate battle between Captain Americas Idealism and Tony Starks sense of responsibility to the security of the people. While Captain Americas resistance begins to gain ground in the superhero community, more and more the heroes that once entertained us as kids where now face to face with each other fighting over the future of their kind. Iron Man spends his time in the civil war imprisoning many of his old friends and recruiting many old foes to serve his cause, in a continuing saga that culminating in one of the most shocking comic moments of 2007, The death of Americas greatest comic patriot, Captain America.

The events of Civil War show a trend of Reality in todays popular culture which can be seen by the many parallels in the events to todays popular culture. This ideology can be shown in the comic by the parallels between Iron Man and Registration Act to George Bush and the Patriot Act, Speedball and Nitro to Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, and the Death of Captain America and the Stamford incidents as lost of America innocence.

More and more we see a direct parallel to reality from comics than the allusions or light references of the past, and one of the most blatant and in your face comparisons had to be Iron Man to President Bush. Marvel has been quite forward with it's commentary on the current administration in this series, while also displaying many of the complexities between differing points of view of policies revolving around security. Iron Man pushes an act to serve the safety of citizens of the US by stripping away the autonomy of superhumans while George Bush passes an Act to serve the safety of the US by stripping away rights to suspected terrorists, quite similar. While by the end of the series we see many other similarities come up between the two such as a reference to the halliburton issue when it's side noted that the biggest profiteer in t his whole situation is Stark Industries who received many contracts in the process of pushing this bill through legislation. It's these stark (pun intended) comparisons that drive civil war from back to end, and being the best selling comics of 2006, this shows America turning away from the escapism of old comics and embracing a new reality based relevance in comics.

Another really controversial comparison between Civil War and current events is the whole events with Speedball and Nitro. Nitro can easily be seen as a parallel between Saddam Hussein, a scapegoat for the fallout of an event that was not his fault (9/11), while by no means is Saddam Hussein anything like Speedball ideologically (Speedball is a good guy, Hussein is NOT) it's still a clear comparison the transfer of responsibility. This is where Nitro comes in representing Osama Bin Laden the “architect” of the events of 9/11. Nitro being the one responsible for the events is forgotten about and never pursued due to the transfer of responsibility to Speedball which is very similar to how we never got Osama Bin Laden. Again we see how Marvel made it's comics relevant to todays issues in an extreme way, no longer is the bigger than life beyond reality stories of Superman or other omnipotent heroes relevant, neither is even Captain America which is greatest theme in all of civil war, the lost innocence of superhero comics.

This Lost Innocence in superhero comics is greatly represented in the two greatest parallels of civil war, the Stamford incident and Captain Americas death. 9/11 was time many look at as the loss of of Americas innocence and I feel this paralleled in these two incidents when you look at the symbolism of Children as sign of innocence, so in a sense it's a very literal parallel outright killing innocence. Captain America has been symbol or patriotism and the American way since his inception, his idealistic and sometimes innocent views on how America should be has grown less and irrelevant to the current world as this phenomenon of America just kinda embracing reality since Millennium. Even in the final pages of Civil War the American people are cheering for Iron Man, yelling obscenities to the very hero who's fought for their freedom for day one. With his death we can see the end of an era in American ideology.

It's these kind of references that make Marvels Civil war a text that leaves it's appeal in providing a window into reality instead of an escape from it. With the US population more and more craving reality like or “realityesque” content. With easy to draw parallels to the the current administration, Bin Laden and Hussein, and the changing ideology of American values we see that Civil War more than any mainstream comic this year hit close to home in US Culture, and I believe it's this nature of the comic that highlights the trend towards reality based culture.

Marvel has blurred the shades of gray concept beyond recognition in civil war by creating a text that destroys the old escapist good/evil dichotomy which is typically presented in comics which must equate to an outdated American ideology when you see comics like Civil War not only sell better but completely obliterate the competition in sales. We can see this destruction of good vs. evil in the Iron Man/Captain America Fued, The Formation of the New Thunderbolts, and redemption of Speedball.

The breaking of this good/evil dichotomy is a sign of the changing values to the realityesque.

Iron Man and Captain America, two characters that have always bee associated with eh good side of things, but now readers have been forced to choose which side of good they're on creating blur between the line of good and evil. While they paint Iron Man as the more morally ambiguous side, they still go out of their way to explain his intentions to protect the people unilaterally by making superhumans do “what's best for them”. Captain America instead is painted as morally unwavering and idealistic not willing to compromise or give up. In the end which side is right or if either side is right it never ever answered even in the conclusion of the civil war saga, we're only left with the ever increasing incarceration of our favorite super heroes and the dead body of Captain America. This lack of answers is definitive of lack Good or evil and is part of the changing times of todays world.

During the civil war Saga Tony Stark made a lot deals with current and former villains which was hard to see one of our childhood heroes work with the Bad guys. This dealing with villains hits it's pinnacle when he reforms the line-up of the Thunderbolts with some of the most notorious villains in the marvel universe including Venom, Green Goblin, Bullseye, and many more. The Thunderbolts where originally a group started by the masters of evil to gain the public trust for Baron Zemos (classic Captain America Villain) plan for world domination. During the time of Civil War many of the villains from it's inception now worked for the government fighting crime with the Thunderbolts and Baron Zemo returned with cosmic powers and is asked by Tony Stark to capture known super villains to join the new thunderbolts. While Baron Zemo sacrifices himself to save the world from the Grand Master before civil war is over, the damage is now done. Captain America also crosses the line of who he'll work with brokering deals with the Kingpin and a few C-list villains to aid in his cause who are killed by the Punisher before they even get to say hi. This makes you wonder how can good guys be good if they work with the bad guys and fight against the good guys, the semblance of shades of grey gets so blurred it begins to seem like a lot of movies like The Departed or TV shows like the Sopranos, where good is just relative to what character you'd like to live. What all these have in common is also their commercial success which shows connection in this moral ambiguity and American Values. This is what happens when good guys fight goodguys.

Of course we remember our favorite scapegoat, Speedball, who blurs the idea of bad and good in a very particular way. Speedball shows us that just having good intentions and values doesn't make you “good” as he is lambasted with accusations and even at one point shot (why does he survive getting shot, yet Captain America just croaks). After surviving a assassination attempt Speedball has a mental breakdown and is given a new suit which keeps him in constant pain he now feels he deserves cause of the Stamford incident. In this new costume he changes his name to Penance and joins the Thunderbolts. With Speedball it's not an issue of what's absolutely good, or what absolutely bad, it's an issue of perception which create static in the good/evil binary leaving this perceptual grey area.

Civil War is a comic that really hits home with the reality of todays world, with the world where no one knows who the good or bad guys are anymore with people attacking and fighting for the US in the name of a good cause. We see this phenomenon is other popular culture such as professional wrestling which used to be a very comic like battle between good/evil that now has blurred the lines and become this morally ambiguous battle of superpowers, similar to current global conflicts, and similar to the situation in Civil War. This is all part of the ties to the realesque change in American preferences.

“The Return of the Real is a recurring motif not just in the conventional mass media, but Also in the development of Digital Media. On the one hand, we are deluged with prolifereating reality formats, from those that on found video, like when animal attacks and Busted on the Job, to slick productions like Survivor, and recently, to gross-out shows like Jackass and Fear Factor.” - Andrew Andrejevic (Andrejevic pg.61)

This is what Andrew Andrejevic saids in his book “Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched” also talking about this realityesque phenomena as it pertains to Reality Television. By exploring the relation between reality TV we can highlight the existence of this realityesque phenomenon in which Civil War has played such a kye role in 2006, resurrecting the comic industry and reflecting many changing values in American culture.

“However, The Content of much Reality programming contains informative elements in the programme, but they are nevertheless part of the programme. For example, the lifestyle makeover format Changing Rooms functions as entertainment, and also as information.” Annette Hill (hill pg. 79)

This quote by Annette hill speaks about the double function of entertainment and information presented by Reality TV which we can see in comics with it's ever realityesque nature of Civil War which in some sense is informative on the dynamics of current issues while being primarily entertainment. Reality TV became bigger over the last decade which can be seen as a backlash to all the eccentric and bigger than life programming of the 80's, remembering movies like “Not Quite Human” or “My Stepmother is an Alien” which all kind of abandoned reality all together similar to the hair metal of the time which also felt this backlash when bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam hit it big focusing on reality. This period of time marks the change of American tastes from escapism to the realityesque.

We live in a time of war and and uncertainty, and in the past during times of war, people have looked towards popular culture for escape from reality, but now they are looking for an escape to reality. While in the 50's Captain America would punch Hitler as nice message to the masses that everything is gonna be all right, now he lies dead on the ground telling the world those days are dead and gone. In the same sense in the 50's people got away from their own lives by watching idealized images of the cleavers and the Bradys yet now we escape from our own reality by relishing in the harsh truth of the realities of others by watching reality television. What's with the sudden taste of realism during war time, has society now changed to hunger for a taste of what's sort of like something real, do people now embrace the sad truth of our worlds problem and no longer seek idealistic representation of other views. There is a larger trend at work that you can see as you jump from one pop culture medium to another. Seinfeld, Hip Hop, Harry potter, all popular texts which focus on the truth of human flaws and mortality compared to their world war II counterparts, and on the same token comics have taken this turn.

In the end, Civil Wars success if the pivotal example of our changing values as a nation towards our culture not distracting us from what's going on, but to now hold our are hand and helping understand what's going. People now care what's going on. We can see these allusions to world issues by direct parallels in the Civil War narrative and also by seeing how it represents the changing dichotomy of good/bad in contemporary American society. Compare this to the change of tastes in television programming to more reality based television you see America has accepted reality more and more over the year, or at least something like reality. Now we watch a fallen solider stand alone mourning the death of innocense.

Dear Captain America,

I know you dead and gone but i still feel compelled to write you this letter. I know you never lived at all but yet again I still feel compelled to write you this letter. I grew up with you telling me thing were gonna be alright, but they arn't. I grew up with you telling me that good always triumph, but it doesn't. Despite that I was always able to forget about the worlds pressure and just get lost in your ideals and hopes, which has died along with mine. Although in the end you showed me a valuable lesson in truth and justice, innocence has no place here. I watch as those I harbor continue to obsess over the lives of other hoping that the truth of things will at some point change but that's not what's great about things. What's great is despite everything that is going we can still hope and appreciate that in within itself, innocence is dead, hope is not.

` Sincerely,

America

Works Citied

Andrejevic, Mark. “Reality TV: The Work of Being Watched” Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, INC. September 28, 2003. April 21^st, 2007.

Hill, Annette. “Reality TV” Audiences and Popular Factual Television”. Routledge. November 11, 2004. April 21t. 2007.