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2 oeuvres 30 utilisateurs 2 critiques

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Nickie D. Phillips is associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York, and director of the college's Center for Crime and Popular Culture. Her research focuses on the intersection of crime, popular culture, and mass media.

Œuvres de Nickie D. Phillips

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It may not shock readers to discover that comic books have only recently begun to prominently feature women and minorities as a matter of course, or that, despite a lot of talk about compassion and aversion to killing, there is little but disparagement on the subject of rehabilitation. The data and the analysis of it is what, of course, makes this book. Phillips and Strobl provide and overview of the comic book industry from its birth to the dismissal of the Comics Code Authority before launching into justice caped crusader style. The writing was concise and their analysis interesting.

Reading 'Comic Book Crime' was an education. I'd taken some sociology courses in college, but had never taken anything focused on Criminal Justice. Reading this study made me wonder why I never saw any Criminal Justice majors in the philosophy department. It would give them a little more patience at the very least. The authors' slant on superhero comic books and the outlines of criminal justice theory were both fascinating.

Despite the source material for the study, no reading of the comics referenced in the authors' sample are strictly necessary, though it does enhance the reading if you have. For example, 'Identity Crisis' was heavily referenced. The authors limited their sample of books to those written after the events of 9/11 and to superhero comics as a rule as the genre with the most sales and widespread cultural influence and the genre most interested in the idea of justice. Even those who have never picked up a comic book know who Spider-man, Wonder Woman, and Batman are.

The authors make note of the formula of long-running comic book series is the main reason why rehabilitation or deadly retribution is rare and it is why I'm no longer a regular reader, but what they have collected gives me hope that comic books and their classic characters are going to continue to evolve and even better reflect the conflicts of the real world.
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ManWithAnAgenda | 1 autre critique | Feb 18, 2019 |
You know most of the stuff about the retrograde treatment of gender, race, and sexual orientation in most mainstream comic books, with outposts of “diversity.” The authors’ almost all-male interviewees were fairly explicit that they needed characters to be male to relate to them; female heroes seemed “unrealistic.” When they discussed Hank Pym’s violence against Janet, they were “most engaged” with Hank and the threats to his masculinity; they were “less focused” on discussing Janet and her victimization.

The authors don’t tie those topics deeply to crime, though clearly there’s a bunch of stuff about threatened white masculinity going on. The authors discuss villains’ “deathworthiness,” which leads to debates in the comics themselves about incapacitation versus retribution; their interviewees say that they enjoy the violence and retribution but clearly distinguish it from real life. In fact, they say that reading about superheroes’ ethical dilemmas helps them test their own morality. Also, their interviewees tend to judge deathworthiness by fit with the hero’s character (Superman doesn’t kill) rather than by the villain’s own acts. Some gleefully identify with the Joker—at least while they’re reading. Comics don’t show rehabilitation or anything beyond a sob story that “explains” either a deliberate choice to lead a life of crime or a disordered inability to control criminal impulses, and of course the comics show incapacitation failing on a regular basis. Visions of utopia require a constant rooting out of the evils of today, leading to an emphasis on crime, danger, and broken government institutions. But the presence of the possibility of redemptive violence seems satisfying to the comic readers they talked to—it doesn't need to end with a bloody death for the Joker as long as the potential is raised in the narrative.
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rivkat | 1 autre critique | Feb 2, 2015 |

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Œuvres
2
Membres
30
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Évaluation
3.0
Critiques
2
ISBN
6