The third chapter, "Muzzled Monsters: 1950s Comic Book Trends and the Zombie as Witness," examines and articulates a bifurcation in the historical production of comic books: horror comics, which are graphic and grisly and were ultimately censored in the 1950s, and superhero comics, which feature heroes with superpowers and have grown vastly in popularity. In reading these comic book trends, I consider the role of the zombie in relation to the act of witnessing as it occurs in the wake of the Holocaust, engaging with genocide studies by way of popular culture. Reading the work of Elie Wiesel and of Primo Levi, Giorgio Agamben notes the lacuna at the core of witnessing: life and testimony are necessarily preclusive of one another. To live is to testify on behalf of the dead. Agamben points to many Holocaust survivors who were driven to survive by the possibility that they might speak to the trauma they had experienced. However, for Agamben, the true witness can only ever be mute. My work examines the production of the American comic book in the post-war period as a response to the Agambenian lacuna of witnessing. My project argues that the divided response to the dual trends of comic books - the eventual censorship of the horror comic book and promotion of the superhero comic book - points to a disturbing conspiracy of silence with respect to the Holocaust. For while Superman can (and often does) prevent the grim reality of war, it is the living dead who prove the true witnesses; the ability to be both living and dead, to have experienced the fullest extent of trauma and then be revivified to speak of it, is the prerequisite for a complete witness. And in the realm of popular culture, the brutality of the Holocaust was silenced in favor of the American superhero, the possibility of Superman who could protect the community via the fantasy of assimilation and integration.
Zombi: They Live Scaricare Film
Download Zip: https://moslifoviei.blogspot.com/?yd=2vCDcY
The third chapter, \"Muzzled Monsters: 1950s Comic Book Trends and the Zombie as Witness,\" examines and articulates a bifurcation in the historical production of comic books: horror comics, which are graphic and grisly and were ultimately censored in the 1950s, and superhero comics, which feature heroes with superpowers and have grown vastly in popularity. In reading these comic book trends, I consider the role of the zombie in relation to the act of witnessing as it occurs in the wake of the Holocaust, engaging with genocide studies by way of popular culture. Reading the work of Elie Wiesel and of Primo Levi, Giorgio Agamben notes the lacuna at the core of witnessing: life and testimony are necessarily preclusive of one another. To live is to testify on behalf of the dead. Agamben points to many Holocaust survivors who were driven to survive by the possibility that they might speak to the trauma they had experienced. However, for Agamben, the true witness can only ever be mute. My work examines the production of the American comic book in the post-war period as a response to the Agambenian lacuna of witnessing. My project argues that the divided response to the dual trends of comic books - the eventual censorship of the horror comic book and promotion of the superhero comic book - points to a disturbing conspiracy of silence with respect to the Holocaust. For while Superman can (and often does) prevent the grim reality of war, it is the living dead who prove the true witnesses; the ability to be both living and dead, to have experienced the fullest extent of trauma and then be revivified to speak of it, is the prerequisite for a complete witness. And in the realm of popular culture, the brutality of the Holocaust was silenced in favor of the American superhero, the possibility of Superman who could protect the community via the fantasy of assimilation and integration. 2ff7e9595c
Comments