Moses & the "Vault of Horror"

In my last post, I looked at Frederic Wertham as a sympathetic character, who worried about the influence that comics had on children. In that story, comic literature (specifically the Horror comics of the 1950's, created by EC Comics) were the villain. But Horror comics didn't spring out a vacuum in 1950's America. They sprang from the soul of a country that had been conditioned by decades of "Red Baiting" and fear mongering, and fear of "aliens". Horror comics, as well as sci-fi movies about space aliens, and Hitchcock films about, say someone watching you through a "Rear Window", all provided a nessessary emotional release; it was cathartic.

Against this backdrop appears Frederic Wertham, with his book "Seduction of the Innocent", where he claims that comic books, especially horror comics, are a cause of juvenile delinquency. Had he been a little more intellectually curious, he might have asked, "why are horror comics so popular?" If he had focused his attention on the consumers of horror comics, instead of those who create them, he'd have to look at why kids have a fascination with gross and gory things. The discussion might then broaden to include parenting, the whole "nature vs. nurture" argument, and other topics.

While researching Wertham a little further, however, I found him to he a fascinating character. Although he comes across as a shrill critic, and a real threat to the freedom of the press, he's motivated by a desire to protect young people from the corrupting influences of mass consumer culture, mass culture being a contemporary equivalent of the "Golden Calf" in the Bible. I don't know if Wertham viewed himself as a kind of "Moses" character, sent from God to show the people the law, but his behavior (his "prophet"-like style, warning the people of dangers), but I see him as that type of person. From my research online about him, I've learned that he was trained as a psychiatrist, corresponded with Sigmund Freud (and later in life with comics fans through their fanzines), and was very liberal in his sympathies. I was surprised that worked for racial equality and against censorship. However, there is something very sad and tragic about Wertham, for his pseudoscientific book "Seduction of the Innocent" caused a lot of trouble, but was short on "proof". Wertham noticed that many juvenile delinquents read a lot of comic book literature. Therefore, he concluded, comics were the CAUSE of their juvenile delinquency. You can't make scientific claims without scientfic testing

Wertham's book really did cast a long period of darkness over the comics landscape; a Plague of Darkness. So, at once, Wertham is a sort of Moses character, as well as his own Pharaoh; contained within his own moral crusade are the seeds of the Plague of Darkness. I'm sure he meant well, and that his heart was in the right place, but look at all of the trouble he caused.

And he failed; comics today are darker and more sinister (and more well written!) than ever before. Although he helped destroy EC Comics (a real "CrimeSuspense" Story), fans of those comics went to college, went to art school, and now create very mature works, inspired by EC Comics. Libraries across America include comic books and graphic novels in their collections. Clearly, librarians value the literary qualities of comic book literature.

But I'm bothered how Wertham's crime fighting crusading spirit was the source of so much grief. Clearly he was motivated by a sense of moral indignation and fear. I don't look at him as a cynical person, rather as someone who made emotional decisions rather than scientific ones. Wertham was a psychiatrist, so I'm interested in his project to psychoanalyze superheroes (actually, as a psychiatrist, he should be prescribing medicine for the various superheroes. Psychoanalysis is more in the domain of psychology)

This musing about Frederic Wertham has me thinking about the Jewish idea of "tikkun olam", or "Repairing the World". Clearly, Wertham saw the world as filled with corrupting influences, and that the job of the censor is one of "repair". But can censorship be a valid instrument of repairing the world? Should all ideas be vented, so that the best ones float to the top? (Maybe the best ideas have the most hot air? ;) An ideal for Judaism is to "repair the world", but that suggests that there is an idea of what that "world to come" will be like. If everyone has a different idea of what a "World Repaired" looks like, then you've got the problem of competing agendas; you've got seeds of conflict, even before you can agree to disagree.

The irony of Wertham is that his moral crusade against horror comics created his own "Vault of Horror". When you read about Wertham's background, and his liberal sympathies, he comes across as "Moses", saving the people from paganism. But when you see the real effects of what did, he comes across as Pharaoh, bring a Plague of Darkness across the land of artistic freedom. I'm not quite sure what to make of all this. Although I am left with questions about heroes & villains, and the criteria we use to tell the difference. As it is in life, so it is in today's comic books.