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Film, Video Censorship and the Comic Book: 'Seduction of the Innocent' at 70

Transcript: TEXT

About this Item

Title

  • Censorship and the Comic Book: 'Seduction of the Innocent' at 70

Summary

  • In 1954, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published "Seduction of the Innocent: The Influence of Comic Books on Today's Youth," a book which cemented his role as America's most prominent critic of comic books. At the time, comic books were near the peak of their popularity, with titles like Batman, Superman and Captain Marvel selling as many as 1.5 million copies per month. The content of those comics was also entirely unregulated. Writing amid a moral panic that Wertham himself helped create, "Seduction of the Innocent" almost immediately helped spur the formation of the Comics Code Authority, which dramatically reshaped the nation's comic book industry. Widely hated among comic book fans for decades, Wertham and the legacy of his "Seduction of the Innocent" has been reevaluated in more recent years in light of his anti-racist activism and recent conversations around comics and censorship. Comics scholars Qiana Whitted, Carol Tilley, and Margaret Galavan join the Library's Josh Levy and Megan Halsband to discuss Wertham's legacy at a time when censorship in comics and graphic novels has again surfaced in the national conversation.

Event Date

  • June 06, 2024

Running Time

  • 1 hours 27 minutes 39 seconds

Online Format

  • video
  • image
  • online text

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Censorship and the Comic Book: 'Seduction of the Innocent' at 70. 2024. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-11352/.

APA citation style:

(2024) Censorship and the Comic Book: 'Seduction of the Innocent' at 70. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-11352/.

MLA citation style:

Censorship and the Comic Book: 'Seduction of the Innocent' at 70. 2024. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/webcast-11352/>.