Superhero comics are, supposedly, fun! Right? Except when you really
think about it, they are not. When you read them in a historical and
political context, they are blatantly sexist, discriminative,
privilege-perpetuating pieces of propaganda garbed in bright colors and
designed to distract people from their undertone. And it works! As
Edward Bernays knew all too well, if you can serve a piece of addictive
substance — video games, comics, TV in general — with some nice
packaging, and if you can make sure that consuming it doesn’t require
any active cognitive exercise, then soon you will develop an addicted
population who, not unlike tobacco-addicts, would not only come to rely
on the substance but would defend it with fervent zeal. To ensure that
the process didn’t become too apparent it is necessary to present an
appearance of avant-garde — grown people reading comics, adults pushing
buttons on a keyboard and making like it takes intelligence to play
video games, parents watching cartoon with their children — while
quietly reinforcing all kinds of stereotypes under the hood. Take the
Golden Age comics for instance. Not only are the gender stereotypes, and
socio-political ones, silently reinforced through the
cosmetic and behavioural traits of the characters (all neatly divided
along gender lines), but the same are also the guiding principles
behind what each character is allowed, and not allowed, to say.
So, in the spirit of Direct Action subversion of cultural imperialism
in order to pursue Social Justice and Gender Desegregation, here’s some twisted takes on the Golden Age comics from yesteryears!
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