I wonder how many Americans start their day as I do--by reading the front page of their newspaper over coffee and then switching to the comic pages? The grim news of the world needs to be tempered with a little humor. And what humor--Garry Trudeau satiriz ing our President; "Dagwood" fighting off a salesman; "Marvin" manipulating his parents; and "Beetle Bailey" antagonizing his sergeant. Once you begin to smile, the world becomes a better place.
Comics have added a smile to many faces since the 1890's. They are a unique form of American popular art that reflects our likes and dislikes, preferences and prejudices. In the latter vein they have employed ethnic stereotypes, both negative and positive , which have reminded us of our multicultural society.
As a young immigrant boy I fell in love with the comics, much to the consternation of my parents. Whether on the pages of our daily paper, or in separate booklets, the comics brought to me an instant visual image of America, warts and all. "Combat Ke lly," the Irish-American G.I., made short work of the Communist Chinese in Korea in the early 1950's. "Blackhawk," the Anglo-American leader of a multi-ethnic jet squadron, fought remnants of the Nazis throughout the 1950's. Joe Palooka, th e Slavic boxer, persevered until he triumphed. And, "Uncle Scrooge," the Scottish multi-billionaire, was forever seeking new riches. These were characters who seemed much more real than the sanitized "Dick and Jane" of our school reade rs. Indeed, one could argue that I learned to read English in the comics long before I had opened my schoolbooks. While the subject-matter may not have been very edifying, the price was right--$0.10 per comic book. To a paper-boy who earned about $2.50 a week, that was a bargain for a flight to fantasyland.
The Balch Institute's current exhibit on "Ethnic Images in the Comics" captures a bit of that fantasyland. Millions of us have been shaped by these images, whether good or bad, accurate or inaccurate. In a sense they prepared us for a world much harsher and more realistic than the one found in our "Dick and Jane" readers. And, some of us still relish this skewed and humorous world as we chuckle over our morning paper. The comics, like our coffee, prepare us for the day ahead.
This exhibit, sponsored by The Balch Institute and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is both a wonderful jaunt through popular culture and also, happily, a bracing affirmation of American pluralism. The comics, one of the most popular of the pop ular arts, e always reflected and influenced the beliefs of their audiences, and so it's no surprise that the artifacts in this exhibit reveal a wide range of attitudes toward ethnic groups. The strips from the early years of this century are inevitably s uffused with crude, even gross stereotypes: Blacks, Jews, Italians and Chinese are all maligned and mistreated with a blithe insouciance. But as the century progressed and the country became more sensitive to its many minorities, society--and the comics-- began changing for the better. The stereotypes in comic strips have not only been cleaned up, but cartoonists, responding to their readers and to the civil rights movement, have cheerfully introduced a wide range of classy new ethnic characters into their work. These characters--Blacks, Jews, Asians, Native Americans--positively radiate grace and pride and intelligence. It's a pleasant development; the comics provide a great deal of pleasure for millions, adults as well as youngsters, and it's nice to see the strips reflect America's vibrant pluralism within their inimitable fantasy worlds.
I must confess that I haven't looked at comics for quite a while now, and so to prepare for writing this foreword, I did a little research at my local candy store. As I thumbed through the comics on the rack, an amusing thought occurred to me. A heck of a lot of the modern comics deal with interplanetary visitors, and I couldn't help thinking, God, some day some real extraterrestrials will come complaining to the ADL about the way they're badgered and belittled in our movies and literature--and comics.
Anyway, until that great day comes, the rest of us can enjoy "Ethnic Images in the Comic Strips." It's great fun, inspires some flavorful nostalgia, and proves that popular culture, indeed American society as a whole, can change for the better r ight here on the planet earth,
Theodore Freedman
Director, Intergroup Relations Division
Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith
Ethnic Images in the Comics" is the sequel to The Balch Institute's 1984 exhibition, "Ethnic Images in Advertising." For the most part, we have chosen images of ethnic Americansrather than foreigners. The few exceptions are the gross stereotyping of Germans and Japanese during World War Two and the Chinese during the Cold War era, which were so dramatic and widespread that they could not be ignored. We have also included early comic strips from the ethnic press. This has enabled us t o compare portrayals of ethnic groups in the "mainstream" press and comic books with those images created by and for the groups themselves.
Historically, the handling and use of ethnic stereotypes has been similar in both the comics and advertisements. Corresponding stereotypes exist in both fields, and for similar reasons. Early images of Afro-Americans and of successive waves of immigrants were often equally as crude and offensive in both formats. Comic books and strips have differed from advertising in that over the decades the comics have deliberately used the changing meaning of ethnicity in America as part of their subject matter.
As in advertising, positive changes in ethnic images in the comics have resulted not only from the assimilation of certain ethnic groups and from the Civil Rights movement, but also from economic changes. The growing sophistication and increased economic power of Afro-Americans and other ethnic minorities have resulted in a new concern for their interests and tastes.
We hope visitors will come away from this exhibition with a recognition that comics are not just a simple diversion. Rather they reflect and explore and, in certain cases, test the limits of a structured world of social relationships and values that mirro r our own. Through the examination and analysis of ethnic stereotypes, first in the exhibition on advertising and now in this exhibition on ethnicity in the comics, we hope that we have contributed, in a small way, to a better understanding of how America ns' perceptions of each other have changed over the course of the past ninety years, and perhaps generated some insight into how we view each other today.
Gail F. Stern
Museum Director
The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies