Racial Stereotypes in Comics
Racial Stereotypes in Comics Open up a comic book or graphic narrative and you are likely to discover not only words and pictures that form a story, but also many colorful assumptions, predispositions and prejudices held by its creators (Royal 7). Critics have long associated comics with the perpetuation of racial stereotypes (Singer 108). Cartooning relies on simplification, generalization, distortion and exaggeration. When suppressing the individuality of a person’s appearance to conform to a preexisting racial stereotype instead of exaggerating an individual’s features to bring out his humanity, caricatures can become racist stereotypes (Aldama 33). Stereotypes in comic books commonly generalize simple ideas about a few people and apply them (often incorrectly) to their whole race. Through repetition, the stereotypes in various media become normal to viewers (Singer 108). Case studies have demonstrated that once a cultural stereotype is internalized (often before the “age of judgment”), the person unconsciously interprets experiences to be consistent with the underlying stereotype, “selectively assimilating facts that validate the stereotype while disregarding those that do not” (Rifas 3). Even stereotypes without racist or prejudicial purposes can reinforce racism. There is always the danger of negative stereotyping and caricature dehumanizing characters and exposing prejudices (Royal 8). Most of the comics by white creators have typically shown non-whites as inferior and subhuman in comics, if they are present at all (Singer, 107-108). Stereotypes can be harmful or helpful in their depiction of race and should be used with care. Stereotypes may not be all bad. Illustrator Lee Weeks said, “We need a certain amount of racial stereotyping in this medium. We have to define the limits who is what, then you can stretch it” (Agorsah 281). Will Eisner agrees that they are a necessary tool in making comics (Eisner 17). They are the most effective way to convey a
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