|
''Seduction of the Innocent'' is a book by German-American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, published in 1954, that warned that comic books were a negative form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency. The book was taken seriously at the time, and was a minor bestseller that created alarm in parents and galvanized them to campaign for censorship. At the same time, a U.S. Congressional inquiry was launched into the comic book industry. Subsequent to the publication of ''Seduction of the Innocent'', the Comics Code Authority was voluntarily established by publishers to self-censor their titles. ==Content and themes== ''Seduction of the Innocent'' cited overt or covert depictions of violence, sex, drug use, and other adult fare within "crime comics" – a term Wertham used to describe not only the popular gangster/murder-oriented titles of the time, but superhero and horror comics as well. The book asserted that reading this material encouraged similar behavior in children. Comics, especially the crime/horror titles pioneered by EC, were not lacking in gruesome images; Wertham reproduced these extensively, pointing out what he saw as recurring morbid themes such as "injury to the eye".〔as notably seen in Jack Cole's "Murder, Morphine and Me" which appeared in True Crime Comics Vol.1 #2 in May 1947.〕 Many of his other conjectures, particularly about hidden sexual themes (e.g. images of female nudity concealed in drawings or Batman and Robin as gay partners), met with derision within the comics industry. Wertham's claim that Wonder Woman had a bondage subtext was somewhat better documented, as her creator William Moulton Marston had admitted as much; however, Wertham also claimed Wonder Woman's strength and independence made her a lesbian.〔Wertham, Fredric (1954) '' Seduction of the Innocent''., pp. 192, 234–235, Rinehart & Company, Inc.〕 Wertham also claimed that Superman was both un-American and a fascist. Wertham critiqued the commercial environment of comic book publishing and retailing, objecting to air rifles and knives advertised alongside violent stories. Wertham sympathized with retailers who did not want to sell horror comics, yet were compelled to by their distributors' table d'hôte product line policies. ''Seduction of the Innocent'' was illustrated with comic-book panels offered as evidence, each accompanied by a line of Wertham's sardonic commentary. The first printing contained a bibliography listing the comic book publishers cited, but fears of lawsuits compelled the publisher to tear the bibliography page from any copies available, so copies with an intact bibliography are rare. Early complete editions of ''Seduction of the Innocent'' often sell for high figures among book and comic book collectors. Beginning in 1948, Wertham wrote and spoke widely, arguing about the detrimental effects that comics reading had on young people. Consequently, ''Seduction of the Innocent'' serves as a culminating expression of his sentiments about comics and presents augmented examples and arguments, rather than wholly new material.〔Carol L. Tilley. (2012). Seducing the Innocent: Fredric Wertham and the Falsifications that Helped Condemn Comics. Information & Culture: A Journal of History. 47 (4), 383–413.〕 Wertham's concerns were not limited to comics' impact on boys: He also expressed a concern for the effect of impossibly proportioned female characters on girl readers. A. David Lewis writes that Wertham's anxiety over Batman's and Robin's perceived homosexual subtexts was aimed at the welfare of a child introduced to that sort of family unit, not on some inherent immorality of homosexuality.〔(Seduction of the Insolent by A. David Lewis )〕 Will Brooker also points out in ''Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon'' that Wertham's notorious reading of Batman and Robin as a homosexual couple was not of his own invention, but was suggested to him by homosexual males whom he interviewed.〔Brooker, Will (2000) ''Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon'', Continuum Publishing Group, p. 125〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Seduction of the Innocent」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|