I used to read all the time. My mom would get mad at me for staying up so late reading my book under the covers, pages illuminated by my book light (that she got me, so what did she expect), once I started I wanted to finish. I don’t feel that way about novels anymore, but I feel that way about graphic novels. Once I start it, I want to finish it. Maybe it’s because I subconsciously still believe that graphic novels are ‘easier’ to read than novels. Maybe I too, am apart of the popular culture stigma revolving around graphic novels.
I like to think that I don’t follow social norms, but I am no different than anyone else. Everyone subconsciously follows social norms, whether it’s one thing or the other. Social norms is intriguing, people engage or not engage with the behavior or action based on their own perceptions of how they think someone else will react. Therefore stigmas are born.
Graphic novels have been stigmatized since they were first introduced to the public in only the mid 1930s. Stigmatized as sub-literate and a children’s medium, which affects all comics, it prevented graphic novels from soaring to more adult genres to those in the field of popular literature. The evolution of graphic novels is much like all evolutions humans have gone through, especially evolutions of cultures, comics had difficulty going beyond the limited domain imposed by the stigma associated with comics.
However, stigma is a social construction, it’s not a reflection of an individual’s inherent qualities. Generally, stigmas are meant to discredit individuals or subject them to being discredited. To be discredited is to be, “reduced in our minds from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one”(Goffman, 1953:3). It’s unfortunate that these stigmas blossom by our own social culture in America, we have high expectations for what platforms of media is acceptable and what is not.
Many people were against graphic novels for many reasons, the main being they are lesser literature, people want to ignore them so maybe eventually they will just go away. Something that is commonly misunderstood is that graphic novels and comics are different. Graphic novels are usually longer, they have a story line from beginning to end. Whereas a comic comes in installments that can tell a story, or is more commonly used as a compilation over time for a series. Society first thought that graphic novels were for solely children, and I guess that discredits the value of literature if it’s aimed towards children. Just because a book has photos, doesn’t mean they are just for one audience.
Another reason graphic novels are looked down upon is because a large portion of graphic novels have the story line of a superhero
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There is a weird amount of controversy surrounding super heroes, which I will not dive into, but the fact that I think is weird just goes to show that I follow social norms. Every single genre has controversy, there are some people who love the genre and of course there are critiques, there are two sides to literally everything in our world and I often, along with the majority of the population, forget this.
A main reason they are perceived as beneath literary is because of their lack of text. Lack of text means lacking artistic merit. Graphic novels need to be given a similar evaluation that poems are given. An interesting thought I came across when reading The Stigma Regarding Graphic Novels and Comic Books written by Elizabeth McBride. Poems aren’t judged by their length or what is being said, they are judged by the deeper meaning the words are representing. Graphic novels too, contain a deeper level and meaning than just their pictures.
I think a reason why graphic novels have been able to expand over the years and beat the stigma is the attention that several authors brought to the stigma. Which is also interesting to think about, most of the times people don’t know there is a stigma about something or someone until it’s brought to attention by multiple sources.
There are lots of reasons why there’s a stigma around Graphic Novels and that they aren’t ‘real reading,’ but there are lots of reasons why they are. I think that’s a reason why there’s this course at UMW anyway. To dive deeper into the stigma graphic novels have overcome and still currently deal with, which relates to a lot of other big social issues in America. It’s truly fascinating to look into ethics and culture of graphic novels, it reflects in whole how our society works and is.
I really agree with your perspective of the stigma around graphic novels. Up until this course the only graphic novel I had read was “Smile,” by Raina Telgemeie in elementary school. I think I unconsciously thought of graphic novel as children’s books for a long time. Thanks to this course I no longer have that perspective. I also really like your point about the length of poetry. It doesn’t always take a lot of words to communicate a point. Besides, isn’t a picture worth a thousand words?
I agree that it’s interesting seeing how social norms effect what comics are “allowed” to do, or how they are perceived in the wider scale. Beacuse the stigma still exists today while things like Watchmen and Maus became successful, proving that people who think they cant represent heavy topics are wrong.
I think it’s very interesting how this stigma surrounding graphic novels and comics has been so slowly challenged, as opposed to other mediums that have had similar stigmas, such as animation. The fact that animation was able to outgrow the “only for children” stigma, while comics and graphic novels still struggle with it after a century’s-worth of stories being told. It feels as though there may definitely be a lot to be said about how accessibility to these might play into what has fought the stigma, as cartoons have been able to reach a bigger audience through sheer volume, being offered up to almost anyone with a tv, while comics and graphic novels have for the most part been accessible through purchasing them.