There was once a little girl who happened to be Chinese and was also deaf. She wanted to be a musician but she didn’t know if a girl like her was allowed to do something like that. She loved reading comics and watching TV. She always saw these amazing people doing incredible things but she never saw someone like her on there. This caused this little girl to give up on her dreams. Many people love reading comics but they might not see themselves on the page, this might make them less likely to buy the comics. Comic industries need those customers and if they don’t have customers they might not do as well. Though some may disagree, adding character differences in comic books, such as gender, race, religion, and other physical and mental factors, …show more content…
are known as the Big Two they have produced a ton of comics over the years. They are the most well known but they are going to suffer soon if they don’t start producing comics with diversity. While it is good for smaller industries to have more business with comics that feature different types of minorities it is still important that the comics we know and love to stay. Already the big twos are losing customers to smaller industries that are focusing more on minorities. That should be a sign to the Big Two that they need to step up their game.
Many people probably wonder if there is any necessity to this and the answer is yes. There are multiple reasons and one of them is people need to see themselves in the things they love. “People are voting with their dollars” to see themselves shown on the pages and represented as a way of empowering them (Rosberg). Comics are not just used for entertainment some have been used to change the world; “Comics and other forms of critical art and commentary have long been used as tools for social resistance”
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For everyone else, however, this is much more difficult. When they turn on the tv, watch a movie, or watch a Youtube video they don’t see themselves. Instead, they see a white, Christian, abled body person. Seeing those types of people over and over again can make even the strongest people feel like nothing. According to one Journalists “Just knowing America Chavez exists helps people feel stronger and more powerful. It may not be that powerful but it can help change society” (Leiva). Comics can help make people realize that they can be who they want to be no matter what they look like or what they believe. Many people do believe that entertainment can change people’s mindsets for good, this journalist included; “[Ms. Marvel] made me realize that I don’t want to be anyone other than a stronger version of myself, that I don’t have to change my color or my values to be an influential figure to the world.” (Dern)
Some people are probably wondering if there is any need for an expansion of the comic book industry especially if they are doing so well. Although sales may seem good for both Marvel and D.C. they have been slowly failing and they have had to fire many prominent members of their staff and end popular comics sooner than expected. By doing so fans of the comics will stop buying comics from that company and the company will start losing money. This is a clue that
Inspired by the way comics were able to illustrate the events of WWII I decided to investigate to what extent did comic books influence American perceptions during World War II. Comics turned into an apparatus to exploit racial and social contrasts and outlet for wartime purposeful publicity. The Golden Age of Comic Books portrays a period of American comic books from the late 1930s to the mid 1950s. During this time, present day comic books were initially distributed and quickly expanded in notoriety. The superhero model was made and some surely understood characters were presented, for example, Superman, Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel.
...or political artists. Obviously I did my share of creating a few comics and then explaining the ideas behind them but having said that, the comics I created were all meant for younger kids to be able to understand. Also, they didn’t necessarily show the reader that I had much more intelligence on the topic than most other people.
The book, ‘Alone in the Mainstream,’ is a collection of interviews spliced together thematically with parallels to the author 's life. It covers everything from Teachers, good and bad, to friends, bullies, classes and all other parts of growing up. The common theme gluing them all together is not solitude as the book states, but difference felt by the interviewee or the author. Several of the sections, namely the ones about great teachers and great friends, show that deaf people are not alone, but that their experience is vastly different.
There have been major changes to the superhero archetype in comics in these recent years as compared to the past. Along with that arises controversy on the subjects like the new female Thor or a black kid as Spiderman. Many are zealously against such changes for reasons like sexism or racism. While many others are fervently behind such changes because they use it to empower their own political views on today’s topics. These topics are important to today’s society however they should not be so important in comic books because comic books should be value-neutral and gender, ethnicity, sexuality and things of this nature should not matter.
In the 40s, comic books had a large audience. There would have been at least a dozen people in your class who read comics, claims Chabon. A few years later in the 70s, there would have been less than a dozen but more than one or two people who read comics. Now, it is hard to find more than a few people that you know who actually read comics. If you read comics today, you are considered unique. Children are loosing interest in everything that stimulates the mind in a positive way. Chabon claims that the obvious decline in interest in comic books should make authors want to take initiative and fix the
I briefly interviewed a male in his late teens, asking if he knew who Nyle DiMarco is. His response was, “I heard of him, but I do not exactly know who he is or what he does for a living.” I responded that Nyle DiMarco is a model, actor, and activist, who won first place in Dancing with the Stars and America’s Next Top Model. He started his own foundation, called LEAD-K, preparing children who are deaf for kindergarten through language acquisition. I then asked him, how do you feel knowing a deaf man was able to become a model, actor, and activist. To which he said, “Being deaf should not affect anyone in any way because they are capable of doing anything, except for hearing” (Anonymous, personal communication, November 8, 2017). This should also be seen positively because he is a major influence in the deaf community as
In 1941, Stan Lee, the creator of the Marvel universe, released his firs comic book about the patriotic hero Captain America. This comic was released during World War 2 to give the Americans a sense of hope and to let people know that we’re not alone. Marvel does a good job with its comics because they want to show you that even when times get tough, as long as you have hope things will get better. A good example of this would be Spiderman. When his Uncle Ben died, his last words to Peter were, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Spiderman goes on to
Although we have taken monumental strides in the past fifty years towards racial equality and diversity, it is still commonly argued that popular culture lacks some sort of racial representation. In the United States, the people who live here are vastly diverse when it comes to race and culture, yet in the media people of color get marginalized and stereotyped everyday in film, music, and etc.
Every child in the United States has heard or read the Marvel and DC comics books. If you have not then you have probably have heard of their characters like the famous star spangled hero, Captain America, or the Dark Knight himself, Batman. Both Marvel and DC has influenced the children and adults of American in its darkest times. The great wars affected many by its poisonous grasps, and its victims sought comfort with the antidote provided by the marvelous illustrators and writers of comic books. Now their cinematic counterparts are here to inspire the 21st century. The Marvel and DC cinematic universes have similar content, they both have unique characteristics that set them apart.
In our society, certain ideals are held in high regard. Individuals relentlessly pursue these ideals to achieve a perceived perfection. These principles are often depicted in media that further glorifies and establishes a desire to pursue these paragons. In a medium such as comic books, however, these standards and perceptions are heavily distorted by the characterizations and settings. Particularly, the superhero genre absorbs the ideals we strive towards and regurgitates them in an extreme and unrealistic manner. The superhero genre is often reflective of societal changes in ideas and morals. These ideals are then molded into misleading representations that influence the behaviors of viewers. Comic books absorb elements of our society and transform them. For example, as the enemies of America change, so do the enemies of our superheroes. However, the enemies are transformed into supervillains that are extremely dark and villainous. Such characterizations cloud people’s understanding of real threats and enemies affecting our society. Also, to cater to the value that American society places on intelligence, attractiveness, and physical strength, comic books create characters that epitomize these characteristics. Though the represent society’s ideals, these characters manipulate the ideas and convey them back to the audience in an unrecognizable manner. In developing such distorted representations, the superhero genre affects human behavior and perceptions of these ideals.
In the world of comics, two main publishers dominate: DC Comics and Marvel Comics. DC Comics promotes superheroes such as Batman, a vigilante who began fighting crime solely to avenge the untimely death of his parents. He possesses no unique superhuman ability, other than a substantial fortune inherited from his late parents. Yet, the public in the Batman comics still adore their hero. In contrast, Marvel Comics promotes superheroes such as the X-Men, a team of superheroes who possess the X-Gene, a DNA mutation that gives each member a different ability.
All of these comics have a common theme of disregard for human life, but they also have characters that give you hope that not all people are like that. They see something bad and do not just look away because it is easier. These black and white thinkers stick to their values and moral codes not matter what life throws at them. However, these characters were not created without thought. There is an obvious amount of thought put into them by the authors’ to create the reactions the reader would have to them to make them more
Today’s society consists of numerous individuals who are diagnosed with disabilities that prevent them from partaking in their everyday tasks. Not everyone gets the chance to live a normal life because they might have a problem or sickness that they have to overcome. Deafness is a disability that enables people to hear. All deafness is not alike; it can range in many different forms. Some people like Gauvin, can be helped with a hearing aid, but some can’t because of their situation and health reasons. In society, hearing individuals consider deafness a disability, while the deaf themselves see it as a cultural significance. In the article “Victims from Birth”, appearing in ifemnists.com, Founding Editor Wendy McElroy, provides the story of
“The Golden Age of Comics” PBS. PBS, 2011 Web. Retrieved on February 11 2014 from http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/the-golden-age-of-comics/
Most people believe that graphic novels are just an art book with minimal text. They believe it is just for entertainment for kids or young adults. They think that graphic novels are just like comics. But to get to the point, graphic novels are just like all the other novels. They are a piece of literature that tells a story and pulls out the reader’s imagination, so that they feel that they are a part of the story or can even relate to the story. Graphic novels have changed and developed into such remarkable pieces of literature and should be accepted by all scholars to be placed in that category. According to John Ridley, “There are still some people out there who believe comic books are nothing more than, well, comic books. But the true cognoscenti know graphic novels are-at their best-an amazing blend of art, literature and the theater of the mind”.