Fredric Wertham and the critique of mass culture / Bart Beaty.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beaty, Bart.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wertham, Fredric, 1895-1981.

Wertham, Fredric.

Mass media and culture.

Mass media--Influence.

Mass media.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (250 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book is a re-examination of the critic whose Congressional testimony sparked the Comics Code. Bart Beaty traces the evolution of Wertham's attitudes toward popular culture and reassesses his place in the debate about pop culture's effects on youth and society. When The Seduction of the Innocent was published in 1954, Wertham (1895-1981) became instantly known as an authority on child psychology. Although he had published several books before Seduction, its sharp criticism of popular culture in general--and comic books in particular--made it a touchstone for debate about issues of censorship, child protection, and freedom of speech. This book reinterprets his intellectual legacy and challenges notions about his alleged cultural conservatism. Drawing upon Wertham's published works as well as his unpublished private papers, correspondence, and notes, Beaty reveals a man whose opinions, life, and career offer more subtlety of thought than previously assumed. In particular, the book examines Wertham's change of heart in the 1970s, when he began to claim that comics could be a positive influence in American society.

Contents:

From Freud to social psychiatry

Mass culture in the twentieth century

American concerns about a mass society

Wertham and the critique of comic books

Television and media effects.

Notes:

Based on the author's dissertation, McGill University.

Includes bibliographical references (p.209-223) and index.

ISBN:

9786612917240

9781282917248

1282917242

9781604730715

1604730714

9781429460484

1429460482

OCLC:

86108486

Publisher Number:

heb40096 hdl