Page:1954 Juvenile Delinquency Testimony.pdf/31

Rh "The prevalent attitude seems to be that all comics are objectionable. This is certainly not the case, and if you read the 'fine print' almost everyone who writes about the comics admits this. Unfortunately, the average render is not concerned with the ordinary work-a-day writings. His attention must he caught and retained. * * * in order to retain an audience it is necessary to highlight the unusual, the bizarre, the sensuous, the anxiety-producing factors. The facts are there, but the usual, the ordinary have slight sales value and consequently must be softened in the interest of the stimulating, unusual items.

"There are comics which are undesirable. These are in the minority. The group: known collectively as 'jungle adventure comics,' typify this class. Within the group all of the features are displayed which have been considered objectionable. Here are found the scantily Gad females, the chained females, and the sexually suggestive situations which are the comics' most objectionable feature. However, such pictures and situations become significant principally which viewed through the repressions of the viewer and seem to arouse little anxiety in the well-adjusted reader.

, formed in 1949.

The committee reported in 1951 the following findings, which are condensed:

"1. The entire comic-book industry is remiss in its failure Lo institute effective measures to police and restrain the undesirable minority of stubborn, willful, irresponsible publishers of comics whose brazen disregard for anything but their profits is responsible for the had reputation of the publishers of all comics.

"2. Comics are a most effective medium for the dissemination of ideas and when such a medium is used to disseminate bad ideas which may leave deep impressions on the keen absorptive minds of children, the unrestricted publication und distribution of comics becomes a matter of grave public concern.

"3. Comics which depict crime, brutality, horror, and which produce race hatred impair the ethical development of children, describe how to make weapons and how to inflict injuries with these weapons, and how to commit crimes have a wide circulation among children.

"4. The New York State Joint Legislative Committee states flatly as follows: Crime comics are a contributing factor leading to juvenile delinquency.

"5. Instead of reforming, publishers of bad crime comics Lave banded together, employed resourceful legal and public-relations counsel, and so-called educators, and experts in a deliberate effort to continue such harmful practices and to fight any and every effort ta arrest or control such practices.

"6. The reading of crime comics stimulates sadistic and masochistic attitudes and interferes with the normal development of sexual habits in children and produces abnormal sexual tendencies in adolescents.

"A disturbing feature of this situation is that publishers of completely wholesome and acceptable comics have come out squarely in support of publishers of the objectionable type, even though the latter are making serious competitive inroads in their field, One reason given is that all publishers, both good and bad, fear any governmental imposition of regulation and possible censorship of their publications."

The New York State committee grouped objectionable comic books under these descriptions:

1. Those which depict brutality, violence, and crime.

2. Those which depict ways of inflicting bodily injury, plans for commission of crime, and unlawful breakings.

3. Those which are sexually suggested and in some instances depict semihidden pornography.

The New York committee concluded that governmental regulation should be undertaken as a last resort and only after the industry itself has shown an inability or incapacity to do it, or has failed or refused to do it.

, The content of current comic magazines. Elementary school journal (Chicago) v. 32, May 195%: 505–510.

(Dr. Milter is assistant professor of education at Michigan State College, East Lansing).

"The major purpose of this study is to determine whether or not this impression is valid. This is accomplished through an analysis of the comic magazines proffered by the publishers during the 2-month period in 1951."