Discourse Chronicle

In times of social danger and economic turmoil, many psychologists believe that people become more aggressive, more conventional, and less interested in feelings and emotions. A new study published in the latest issue of Political Psychology finds that comic book characters do these things as well. In times of higher threat, i.e. the events of 1979 which included the Iran hostage crisis, comic books contained more aggressive imagery, focused on male characters, and were less introspective. The authors reviewed comic books published between 1978 -1992 frame by frame to judge the amount of violence and conventionalism drawn, the number of women and minorities in speaking or subordinate roles, portrayal of wrongdoing by the authorities, and the amount of reflection (thought in balloons rather than dialogue). In general, the authors found that women spoke less and a significantly greater number of panels were devoted to aggression during high threat periods.

[Ryan Malphurs, a colleague from the English department, is writing about terror and violent rhetoric in the English department. My question about this study is why consider only Marvel titles? Arguably, Superman is a more prominent figure for association with patriotism than Captain America, with a longer history of standing for “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.” BK]

category: Comics, Politics, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics