Module 13 Example: Measuring Up with Comic Capital

PROMPT

For this week, you will perform a mini-article analysis on a fandom that you participate in (that is, something you are a fan of: a sport, a TV show, an activity, a hobby, a music genre, etc).     Articles must meet the following criteria:

1. A minimum of 12 pages of text
2. Published in an ACADEMIC journal.
3. Published after 1970.
4. An actual article (not a book review or editorial).

For your post, you will include

1. A full MLA citation at the start of the post.
2. A discussion of what the article is about and what it is arguing (1 paragraph).
3. A discussion of your critical thoughts on the article (1 paragraph).
4. A discussion of how the article has enhanced your understanding of the particular fandom that you explored (1 paragraph).

Relevant Labels/Tags:  Fans, fandom, mass audience, fan community, journal article, [name of said fandom]


EXAMPLE
Brown, Jeffrey A. "Comic book fandom and cultural capital." The Journal of Popular Culture 30.4 (1997): 13-31.

Brown uses the concept of cultural captial in connection to comic fandoms.  The term, cultural capital, is derived from Pierre Bourdieu that relates to the various capital that one accumulates within his or her life that is not of a fiscal nature.  For instance, education and knowledge range, position within culture, understanding of and relation to cultural practices, etc.  He explores how meaning is made among comic fans as it relates to their knowledge of the industry and the value generated in that knowledge and how it relates to collecting comics.  Additionally, he explores the different places where cultural capital is exchanged such as in comic book stores, magazines, conventions, etc.  

He explores how all of this interacting and exchange influences the comic book industry in terms of the most popular titles and also the price of the most prestigious comics (e.g. Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #27; first appearance of Superman and Batman respectively).  Brown then devles into the history of comics fandom and recognizes that historically, there was very little cultural capital be attained from comics since it was seen a culturally-depriving rather than enhanced (such as the 1940s-1960s and especially after Frederic Wertham's influence on the industry).  

Brown notes that the rise of the counter-culture brought with it the return of some cultural capital to comics.  He also considers how comic fandom is affiliated with mass culture, where the accumulation of many comics is more significant than cultivating just a few elite selections.  He also illustrates that despite cultural critics who say popular culture has no canon, comics indeed has a canon of famous and important works and creators.  

This establishment by fans of a canon has also influenced how the comic publishing industry represents itself and publishes works.  Ultimately, Brown presents an interesting intersection wherein comic fans achieve their status by being so deeply vested in comics, something that is considered non-elite, and yet in doing so, mimic aspects of cultural elitism that is a cornerstone of cultural capitalism.  

I rather like this article in that it helps to explain how deeply vested we are as individuals in our fandoms and some of the reasons we get deeply invested in our fandoms (notice the economic terminology!). In particular, I think this article shows the ways in which fans negotiate meaning and value in their fan cultures and that process has an impact on the content producers.

Night Of The Living Dead

Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 zombie film. Within this film the main character, Ben hold up in a Pennsylvania farm house while at the same time trying to protect themselves from the recently dead - the zombies. However, this film tackles race not within the movie as much as it does on the outside.

Though from the outside this movie may look like the classic zombie horror film it made a giant decision within its casting. During a time where black actors were not often cast as the lead, Duane Jones portrayed the main character Ben. During the 1960's black characters were often given the over the top personalities as we saw in Spike Lee's "Bamboozled," but instead Ben was a central character with no "ethnic" personality traits. As reported in How Casting a Black Actor Changed, Night of the Living Dead, "Director George Romero agrees with that recollection: “Duane Jones was the best actor we met to play Ben. If there was a film with a black actor in it, it usually had a racial theme, like 'The Defiant Ones.' Consciously I resisted writing new dialogue ‘cause he happens to be black. We just shot the script. Perhaps 'Night of the Living Dead' is the first film to have a black man playing the lead role regardless of, rather than because of, his race ("How Casting a Black Actor Changed, Night of the Living Dead.")."  Even the director knew that he was taking a large risk by portraying a script that was written for a non-specific race with a black actor.

Though we still see racial casting problems (#OscarsSoWhite, anyone?) this movie took a giant step towards the right direction. Of course there will always be problems in casting for race specific characters, but for a character that can be portrayed by any race, the door should be open for any one to be casted. In this case Romero knew that Jones was the best character to portray Ben, regardless of the times and the fact that black actors didn't usual play the "serious" role.

Colonialism in The Walking Dead-- the comic ** Negan Spoilers**

When we consider the zombie, the zombie is always the other; since they do not exist they can be nothing other than the other. This sets up the oppositional relationship of us versus them. But here is the funny thing about oppositional relationships, often times you cannot know one half without the other. To understand what it means to be inside, one must know outside, to know what it is to have one must know to have not. So this oppositional relationship illustrated by zombies/the other vs. us is to know about ourselves.

Kirkman sets this up nicely in his comic The Walking Dead. In this post apocalyptic world, Kirkman lets the reader believe that the enemy is the walker, however it turns out the real enemies are the fellow survivors and their potential to consume resources and destroy another's way of life. In short-- The Other.

Viewers of the television show were left with a cliff-hanger at the close of this season. The Alexandrians  were forced into submission before Negan, and his sexualised bat Lucille, and we know he murdered one of our favoured characters, however it was decided by the writers to leave the audience hanging and not reveal who died as they believed the "who" sets up the next chapter in the story (Talking Dead, Season 5, Episode 16, Air Date April 3, 2016).

**POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT**

Readers of the comic know-- insofar as we know the show writers have changed key story-lines for characters in the past, case in point Andrea is still alive and is partnered with Rick Grimes--that Kirkman chose to kill off Glenn. However, viewers of the show, will have to wait until October 2016 to know whether the show adheres to the comic or not.

That said, this newly forged oppostional relationship between Negan and Rick is a curious example of us versus them. As we read, the comic Negan shows very "human" characteristics. He has, in his position of leader, created a system that for his followers--the Saviors--works. As has Rick with the Alexandrians.


Now in this post apocalyptic world, all of the survivors have come to understand the walkers and how to both use them as methods of deterrence and how to eliminate them efficiently. They are merely endless copies of themselves that spread themselves across the land consuming all there is in their path and leaving yet more dead in their wake--an interesting metaphor for capitalism symbolizing the point at which we exhaust our resources, through over farming both the oceans and  the land, and creating waste and pollution. However, the relationship that Kirkman creates in The Walking Dead from trade issues 17-21 is the real--and in the television version, present--threat to the society that Rick envisions for his followers.

Upon killing Glenn, Negan informs Rick that Rick and his people now work for "The Saviors". Negan has set up his own system whereby he collects 1/2 of the provisions that the neighbouring communities collect or produce (Kirkman, Something To Fear, 2012, pg. 93). It is clear that Negan is  ruthless given his judicious use of Lucille, and one might venture to say he has become a sociopath in this new world order, particularly demonstrated by the way he chose Glenn as his victim. But, he also exhibits a kind of fairness in his dealings. He recognizes that Alexandria is very low on flood supplies so to ensure they stay strong and healthy he chooses to not take half of the food on his first collection run (Kirkman, What Comes After, 2013, pg. 16). In doing so, he ensures that his new workers remain healthy, and this in the long run, to Negan's way of thinking, benefits the Savior's stockpile of supplies. Negan also refuses to harm a child and chooses to not retaliate against Carl, Rick's son, even after after Carl kills six Saviors, (Kirkman, What Comes After, 2013, pg 90). Negan would no doubt recognize that to do so would guarantee a war with Rick and his people, which would in turn significantly diminish the number of workers within his collective. Additionally, when Spencer, the son of the former leader of Alexandria, approaches Negan behind Rick's back, Negan brutally slays him, effectively protecting Rick's position of authority from betrayal from within. But this also strengthens the political hierarchy at Alexandria (Kirkman, March to War, 2013, pg. 63). This use of both control and freedom meted out by Negan is an attempt to colonize the Alexandrians to Negan's form of government. He is exercising his power to control with brute force and fear, and utilizing compassion when necessary in order to keep Rick and his people (and Kirkman's readers) in a state of anxiety. In this story arc we as the reader experience through Rick and his followers how it must feel to be afraid of the other, to actually experience the other, justifying the need to colonize those who we do not know nor understand.

As the Negan story arc continues, we come to realise that Negan and Rick have evolved into the leaders that they are. It also stands to reason that those who are followers of Negan, are in many instances content with their new post apocalyptic life. The story of these two groups, as different as they are, could just have easily be told from the perspective of Negan. If that were so, we as readers, would be sympathetic to Negan, having grown to know the characters. But we do not know these characters. We are as readers feeling the anxiety that these characters would as they experience the other through Negan and the Saviors. Both groups have committed atrocities. Ironically, it is the hero Rick who descends so far into this same inhumane sociopathic mentality, that he bites Negan just as the undead walker would have done. This point is crucial to Rick's understanding of what it means to be human. He, for one instant became the undead; he momentarily lost his humanity.

In the end,of this particular storyline, it is Rick's group that prevails--of course it is because this is The Walking Dead!It was through the violence and the brutality that Rick witnessed in Negan and in his own self, that Rick came to recognize his own humanity. Rick chooses to incarcerate Negan instead of meting out a similar deadly justice that met Glenn. In choosing to spare Negan's life Rick proves that he is the more humane or even more human of the two leaders.

King of the Zombies

The film that I chose to watch and analyze was King of the Zombies by Jean Yarbrough. In this movie, a man by the name of Mr. Bill sets off to the Bahamas with his servant Jeff, and a the pilot of their plane. While on their way to the destination, the plane falls off course and crashes on an island in the Caribbean. The three men are greeted and welcomed by a man named Dr. Sangre whom they suspect is hiding something. Jeff one night, while in the kitchen with the staff learns about the living dead or zombie presence in Dr. Sangre’s house. Mr. Bill and the pilot have some doubts about the zombies, but soon find out the truth. Dr. Sangre turns people into zombies to try and get information out of a United States admiral he had captured.

One of the theoretical lenses from the class that is also portrayed in this particular film is race and ethnicity studies. In this film a lot of the characters and situations play on race. During the time of when this movie was made, African Americans had certain stereotypical roles. With that being said, we see African Americans in this film as servants, cooks, and just as the help in general. Around (13:52) we see Jeff in the kitchen meeting the African Americans working in the kitchen. We also see the zombie characters being African Americans. I don't necessarily see this film as racist at all, Jeff, one of the main characters is African American and has a very substantial role and is able to make a name for himself. 

White Zombie

The movie White Zombie was made in 1932; it was directed by Victor and Edward Halperin. This movie is considered to be the first full length zombie film and has been described by critics as the model of all zombie movies. It had box office success, was very popular. The plot in short is the following. Madeleine Short arrives to Haiti to marry her fiancé Neil Parker. On the way to their friend’s, Charles Beaumont’s house she met an evil voodoo master, Murder Legendre, who, grab Madeleine's scarf.  Charles Beaumont, the friend of the couple, loves Madeleine and asks Murder's supernatural assistance. Murder converts Madeleine to zombie using her scarf and she almost kills Neil being in zombie condition. But when Bruner knocks out Murder, he breaks Murder's mental control over his zombies and Madeleine. She awakens and embraces Nail. Undirected by Murder the zombies topple off the cliff. Charles also falls to his death.

Through the lens of racism – there is only one black character in this movie, the coach, though the story takes place on Haiti. Through the lens of Hegemony theory – it is obviously the product for elite taste. The Castle, where all characters live, its furniture, cloths, servants, etc. – everything is designed according to taste of elite. So the movie itself is a product of pop culture, but made by elite standards and for elite. Through the lens of feminism this movie can’t pass Bechdel test. There is majority of male characters. The only female character has no personality at all; it’s just object to gaze. Madeleine beautiful face is shown by numerous close ups but it is impossible to say anything about her personality. She is an object of three men desires and nothing else.  Female servants are shown briefly, it is impossible to tell anything about them. 

Module 12 Example: Bring Out Your Dead!

PROMPT

For this week, you will be providing an analysis of the zombie film that you watched. The analysis should draw upon one or more of the mini-lecture videos from this course (not including the one that is actually on zombies) such as feminism, race & ethnicity studies, the Frankfurt School (also known as critical inquiry; also, don't forget Part 2 & Part 3), symbolism, post-modernism, and hegemony.

• White Zombie (1932)- 65 minutes 
• Revolt of the Zombies (1936) - 62 minutes 
• The Devil’s Daughter (1939) - 52 minutes  
• King of the Zombies (1941) - 67 minutes 
• Night of the Living Dead – 96 minutes 

What you should include in this post:

1. Clearly identify the the film.
2. A description of content (1 paragraph)
3. A brief discussion of a theoretical lens that you want to use  (1 paragraph).
4. Applying the theoretical lens to the film to explain what newer meaning is derived by using the lens on the film  (1 paragraph). 
5. Where possible, a direct reference to a specific time (meaning how many minutes into the film) or a brief video clip that helps to illustrate your point.

Relevant Labels/Tags: Zombies, [Name of movie you examine], [Name of theoretical lens that you use].

EXAMPLE

So I decided to do my critique of King of the Zombies.  The film follows the exploits of a pilot, Mr. Bill, and Jeff (his African American servant) when they crash land on a jungle island somewhere in the Caribbean.  They encounter a Dr. Miklos Sangre (Spanish for "blood"), who welcomes them into his home.  While initially the pilot and Bill are fine with things, Jeff learns about and encounters zombies or the "living dead" within the house while stationed with the other (black) servants.  The rest of the film is a mixture of discovery by the white protagonists of the existence of zombies and Dr. Sangre's goal of turning people into zombies in order to ultimately get information from a US admiral he has captured.  All is thwarted but there are some many fascinating things going on in this film. 

The films could be analyzed through a great many lens.  The one I will talk about in this post is through the lens of feminism.  To discuss women within the film, it is also necessary to recognize that race also plays into this discussion. The representation of women is as troubling as the depiction of African Americans and people of African descent.  In particular, the servants of Dr. Sangre (to whom they call Master) is particularly telling.  Within this film, the maids faithfully serve Sangre, even though at times, their men have been enslaved from beyond the tomb.  Samantha's former husband now walks about the place as a lifeless zombie and she seems entirely content with this.  (This scene occurs around 44:00 minutes).  Coupled with this are the ways in which women are entirely passive (the wife of Dr. Sangre) or disregarded or made to be pawns of the men and eventually ends up dead (Sangre's niece).  In total, the film plays to a male-aesthetic in its presentation of women--particularly younger women as visually appealing and meant to be looked at (a la Mulvey) and are props for the men's machinations.

Crime Must Pay the Penalty! Issue #41 (November 1954) 

In Crime Must Pay The Penalty Issue #41 the criminals are always caught and punished for their crimes. In the first story a safe-cracker is released from jail and declares that he is going to go straight. But his buddies have another plan, they force him to betray his new employer, a legitimate safe cracking company, and rob the customers. But the now good safe cracker manages to foil his old criminal gang's plans and in the end is rewarded for his bravery and trustworthiness. In the second story a criminal gets surgery to change his appearance and avoid deportation. He has his cousin, who is his spitting image, deported in his stead but when his cousin brags about being a past crime boss he has him killed. Of course the crime boss's plans are foiled and he is caught by the cops, as are all the other criminals in every story, because like the title says, Crime Must Pay the Penalty!

This is a good example of Hegemony, in which the idea that "Crime Must Pay" is represented in each of the stories. This theme reoccurs through every plot line reiterating the concept that being a criminal may seem like an easy way to gain fortune, but that in the end you are either going to end up dead or caught. Most of the criminals, even though they wear suits and drive fancy cars, seem to be from a poor background, they talk with slang and act all macho and some times are immigrants, like the criminal from the second story who was going to be deported. Never are the bad guys corporate criminals who schemed their way up the ladder, instead they are blue collar, hard and dirty felons who rob banks and wave around guns. This gives off the idea that the people who break the law are often of the lower classes, that crime and jail are meant for those poor offenders who are lazy and moral scum, rather than white collar up standing citizens.

Cave Girl

For Module 11, I went to The Digital Comic Museum and read the comic  "Cave Girl" Issue #12. In this issue, Cave Girl, an archaeologist, had her work disrupted when a group of skull heads attack her and fellow archaeologist, Luke. Using clubs and rocks Cave Girl defeats the group of skull heads, leading a female to save the campsite.

Though it is refreshing to see a female singlehandedly take the lead, the comic reverts back to sexism almost immediately. By first look, this "hero" is seen in a short zebra dress, and of course as very large "curves", along with a huge pink flower in her hair - to further emphasize it is a female lead. But the sexism doesn't stop with just the looks.  On the first page, Cave Girl is seen thanking her partner, Luke, and attributing her knowledge to him, as if she could not complete her job without him. In fact, it wasn't until Luke was hurt that Cave Girl got the "strength" to save the day, and there was disbelief in the village after she took down a group of skull heads to save the day.

Even in a comic where a female is the lead there is the connotation that a girl must rely on the man for her brains, and must be in love with her male partner. And aside from the looks and love, there is also lust being shoved down the readers throat. Cave Girl's sexuality is seen from the beginning, all the way to the end, which forces us to believe the writer is using her as a sexual object, rather than believing a strong women can save the day.

Glamorous Romances

For this blog post I entered The Internet Archive Comics Collection to broaden my horizons and dive into some comics. I’ve never really been a Comic kind of girl but after looking through a lot of comics they’re actually very entertaining. Being a woman who loves the thought of romance, I found a comic titled Honeymoon For One located in the Glamorous Romances comic book in the December issue. The comic focuses on a couple by the names of Rita Burton and Julian Doyle. The couple met at the Museum of science where they fell madly in love. They plan on getting married and having a honeymoon in Tahiti (the museum is doing a exhibition on Tahiti and Julian needs to go collect materials there) all is good until Rita catches Julian kissing another women, his Ex Fiancé. Julian resigns and leaves with his former fiancé. Rita still plans on going to Tahiti and her boss assigns an assistant to go with her named Gibbs Smith. Rita and Gibbs get swept up in the romance of the island and end up falling in love in Tahiti. Not shortly after but who appears, Julian, confessing that he still loved Rita and their love becomes one big triangle between Gibbs, Rita, and Julian. In the end Rita goes with her heart and actually decides to marry Gibbs and they live happily ever after. I believe we can look at this comic through a feminist theoretical lens. Honeymoon For One shows feminism in a positive light. When Julian resigned from the Museum and ran off with his ex Fiancé, instead of giving it to another leading male, they gave Rita the responsibility to go to Tahiti herself and finish the exhibit. Women fight for equality between men and women, especially in the workforce.

To Read Honeymoon For One click below:
https://archive.org/details/glamorous-romances-072

Module 11 Example: Reading Comics

PROMPT

For this post, students should visit either the Digital Comic Museum or The Internet Archive Comics Collection and read a US-based comic (these archives have manga and other non-US comics; these are not acceptable contributions for this assignment).  After reading the comic, provide an analysis of the comic using one or more of the theoretical lenses that have been presented to you in the course lectures such as feminism, race & ethnicity studies, the Frankfurt School (also known as critical inquiry; also, don't forget Part 2 & Part 3), symbolism, post-modernism, and hegemony.

Your post should include the following:

1. A clear identification of the comic book that you read that includes the title, issue number, and direct link.
2. Describe the content (1 paragraph).
3. A brief discussion of a theoretical lens that you want to use  (1 paragraph).
4. Applying the theoretical lens to the comic to explain what newer meaning is derived by using the lens on the comic  (1 paragraph).

Relevant Labels/Tags:  comics, [the name of your comic], [the name of the theory you are using]

EXAMPLE

For this module, I will be tackling Crime Must Pay The Penalty Issue #10 from October, 1949.  The comic contains 4 comic stories (Revenge of the Cop Haters, The Genius and the Perfect Crime, Sinister Cab Combine, Pledged to Homocide), and one text story (Lineup Masquerade).  Revenge of the Cop Haters and Pledged to Homicide both entail prisoners who get out of prison and continue to commit crimes in attempt to get the aforementioned revenge or just to cause chaos.  The Genius and the Perfect Crime and Sinister Cab Combine, both deal with people who are aspiring improve their social standing (one to become part of elite culture and the other to court a woman) and commit criminal acts to achieve them.    Given the history of comics and the interest in crime comics (and eventually, horror comics) that we talk about in this module, I think discussing hegemony is probably a good topic to consider.  In hegemony, we see that there is a disruption of culture or an intrusion and that society tries to use compromises of sorts to limit actual substantive change.  Many of the comics read are often by youth, who feel disempower and crave a life not confined by rules and order.  Crime stories provide this opportunity to explore the uninhibited life.  Readers get to enjoy vicariously, the adventures and violence by the criminals represented in these tales.  However, the compromise comes with the fact that the stories often ended in their demise.  Thus, the cultural hegemonic powers provided the exploration of power in the face of authority but only tangentially and always with a message that this path ends in destruction of the individual instead of the overarching authority.