Introduction of the Problem

I. Introduction of the Problem

Statement of Purpose

I never grew out of my love for reading comics. I started out with Betty and Veronica, Batmen, and X-men than slowly expanded over a broader range of titles. When asked to choose a senior project that related to a personal interest I chose to create a graphic novel. My purpose in this choice was to experience the process behind making the comics that I enjoy reading so much. Considering my own positive experience with graphic novels I was perplexed to find there are people who extremely dislike comic books. I was interested in finding out whether there were negative and/or beneficial aspects to reading graphic novels that would create such a diverse group of people who either liked or disliked the genre. Hence why I am questioning graphic novels affects in society.

Statement of the Question and Hypotheses

What affects do graphic novels have on society?  The interactive art in graphic novels create a new unique art form in society  Reading graphic novels benefits the readers in ways that improve society  Graphic Novels cause readers to become violent increasing crime in society  Null Hypothesis: Graphic novels are only another type of book, they have no negative or positive aspects affecting society

II. Summary of Sources and Analysis of Credibility

Wertham, Fredric. Seduction of the Innocent. New York: Rinehart, 1953. 2

This book focuses on the affects of graphic novels have on their readers. The author goes into detail on behavioral research dealing with children. What the author stated in his findings was that children reading crime comics or violent comics in general have a higher chance at becoming juvenile delinquents. To back up his findings he used many situations of young children who committed deeply troubling crimes with no apparent violent origins other then the fact they were avid crime comic book readers. The book also goes into the possibility that comics affect children’s sexual development. Implying sexual content in graphic novels leads children to commit sexual crimes. I think the source is credible. The author of the book was a Psychiatrist who spent seven years investigating his facts, and the situations of children committing crimes after reading violent comic books. In recognition of his efforts in researching the topic he was the first psychiatrist to be awarded with a membership to the National Research Council.

Arnold, Andrew. E-mail interview. . In the interview, Andrew Arnold discussed how the negative judgments made towards graphic novels where due to the misconceptions that people have about them being either only for children to read or being nothing but pornographic material. He also addressed how comics offer a medium in which an artist / author may express themselves and their views to the world. This medium is unique for it is quite unlike film or portrait art, and because of its uniqueness it adds to the diversity of art and imagination in society. He believes that graphic novels, have place in public libraries just like every other book. I believe this source is credible. Andrew Arnold is a columnist who writes for time magazine specializing in comics. He started a comic review in the Boston area until the project overloaded him with work forcing him to quit.

Gustafson, Rod. "Help for the Reluctant Readers." Parenting and the Media. 29 Jun 2004. 20 Jan. 2005 . The website goes into how kids of all learning levels prefer text with pictures. The pictures make the learning interactive and provide motivation for the students. Rod Gustafson explains that the idea of comics stunting reading abilities is untrue. Graphic 3 novels maintain the plot and character complexity that non illustrated books have. This website gives the results of a survey that found that students who read graphic novels were two to three time more likely to read other genres for pleasure than students who did not read graphic novels. In conclusion the website explains how the term ‘graphic’ is still verily loose and therefore applies to all levels of novels creating confusion when trying to sub-group them. I think this source is credible for the author serves as the executive for Alberta Associations for Media. He also writes columns for a newspaper, an internet movie review in the parents’ perspective and is a major film critic for a Canadian TV station.

Lavin, Michael R. . "Graphic Novels." Making the Case for Graphic Novels: Why Kids like them and Why Librarians Should Care. 2004. Brodart. 20 Jan. 2005 . On this website the author talks about the effects that graphic novels have at increases reading interests of young adults. He supports the idea that libraries should include comics in their selection for not only do they aid in young adult’s reading interests and levels their subjects are highly diverse and available for all ages. That and its been proven that kids who read graphic novel engage in other pleasure readings more so than kids who do not read graphic novels. Another interesting point the author brings up is graphic novels aid people learning a second language and people who have disabilities and more young adults are trying their hand at drawing their own comics. I believe this source is credible because the author has been a reference and collection development librarian in public and academic libraries for over twenty five years. He has been a life long collector of comic books and is widely cited by librarians for his website about comic books for young adults.

Bell, John. "Comics Curriculum ." Comics in the Classroom . 5 Apr 2002. National Association of Comics Art Educators. 20 Jan. 2005 . In summary this website discussed how the cartooning medium is not recognized legitimately. If a student wanted to major in art or film they have access to advanced 4 classes in those areas for that purpose, but anybody wanting to study for a career in with comics would find themselves unsatisfied. The author went on to say that times are changing and the people have finally come to understand graphic novels are not just for kids. The skills required to created a complete story are demanding, one must make the characters look, talk and interact in a setting in such a way that a reader can understand. From where that’s headed the prediction being it will not be long until educational programs for learning to cartoon are in place. I think this source is credible for it was created for an association trying to push cartooning into higher college level courses. The National Association of Comics Art Educators feels that colleges are not supplying the demand for increasingly large number of people interested in cartooning. If their information was false they would have a harder time pushing their case through to the schools.

III. Application of Sources to the Question

Wertham, Fredric. Seduction of the Innocent. New York: Rinehart, 1953. This book goes into detail of how graphic novels cause violent and criminal behavior in young kids. The actions of the children in this country make up a deep part of society and therefore this book addresses how comics affect society in a negative way. “Three boys, six to eight years old, took a boy of seven, hanged him nude from a tree, his hands tied behind him, then burned him with matches. Probation officers investigating found that they were re-enacting a comic-book plot.” (pg 168, work cited: 5) Indicating that in reading the crime comics the children were influenced to commit a crime.

Arnold, Andrew. E-mail interview. . My interview covered my question in several different ways. Some of the ways our society expresses itself is through literature and film, yet graphic novels are uniquely different from either of these concluding that comics open another channel for creative expression. “They offer an opportunity to engage with the world, an author and art in a completely different ways-- through the unique language of comics.” (Work cited: 1) Mr. Arnold also expressed that peoples rejection of this is mainly cause by misconceptions in 5 our society that graphic novels are either for only children or are expressively pornographic.

Gustafson, Rod. "Help for the Reluctant Readers." Parenting and the Media. 29 Jun 2004. 20 Jan. 2005 . Reading and the ability to read well are extremely important in our society. This source covers in depth research done on the beneficial affects of reading graphic novels. The research was mainly focused on young adults and the author of the website found that reading graphic novels can improve reading skills and increase the motivation to read in teens. “Most notably, they are far more likely to "read for pleasure" on a daily basis than non-comic readers - over three times more likely for the lower economic students and twice as likely for the middle-class group.” (Work cited: 3)

Lavin, Michael R. . "Graphic Novels." Making the Case for Graphic Novels: Why Kids like them and Why Librarians Should Care. 2004. Brodart. 20 Jan. 2005 . The source applies to my question through noting graphic novels benefits for education, and also their benefits public libraries. Recent surveys show that very few teens visit public libraries. In libraries with sections dedicated to comics there is an increase in the number of adolescences who come to check out books. Michael R. Lavin writes “graphic novels are popular with kids not only because of their visual format, but because they deal with themes and topics that are meaningful to younger readers: alienation, prejudice, social injustice, coming of age, and personal responsibility, to name a few.” (Work cited: 4) The younger generation of this society is largely influenced by graphic novels.

Bell, John. "Comics Curriculum ." Comics in the Classroom . 5 Apr 2002. National Association of Comics Art Educators. 20 Jan. 2005 . 6

As stated in the website “despite the growing critical recognition and commercial success of cartoonists' work and the fervent interest in the medium from young artists, academe does not recognize the medium's legitimacy.” (Worked cited: 2) This source covers the educational limitations in cartooning available today. I feel it applies to my question by recognizing status of cartooning at colleges in a society where learning is held at the highest regard.

IV. Conclusions

Evaluation of Hypotheses The interactive art in graphic novels creates a new unique art form in society Work Cited 1 stated the unique combination of script and pictures made graphic novels a new art group. I found in my research that the demand of cartooning is just as challenging as the art forms of film and art today. Reading graphic novels benefits the readers in ways that improve society In work cited number 4, 2 and 3 my sources where all consistent in saying that reading graphic novels increased the reading skill and motivation of their readers. Two of my sources stated that the illustration in graphic novels aided in learning. I also found that when libraries included graphic novel sections an increased number of adolescences came to check out books. Graphic Novels cause readers to become violent increasing crime in society Work cited 5 was the only source that I found that was negative. It went into cases of children reading a large amount of extremely violent comics who were influenced by the crimes they read about. Null Hypothesis: Graphic novels are only another type of book, they have no negative or positive aspects affecting society I found no source in which graphic novels were described as just another type of book. In all the sources they were described as either having beneficial/negative affects or they were described as a unique art medium. 7

Analysis of Effectiveness of Original Hypotheses I believe that my hypothesis about the improvement to society and my hypothesis about graphic novels being a unique art form were correct. As indicated in my sources, that graphic novels are unique, and the fact that I found no sources disproving or contradicting these hypothesis. I found no sources indicating anything on my null hypothesis so I don’t believe it to be true. I think my hypothesis about violence in society is a little vague. I found one reliable however there were no actual proven cases where comics were the cause of a criminal act.

Statement of Theory I found graphic novels have hugely diverse affects on society. Most of which are beneficial. In my research I found how reading graphic novels have the potential to increase the reading interest and skills in society. The highly interactive illustrations motivate learning which is why there are some teachers today who use graphic novels to teach. One of my sources implied that reading highly violent graphic novels might influence the reader to take on a violent behavior. Though my source is credible there are no specific cases in which comics can be directly tied to influencing criminal acts from their readers.

V. Implications Implications for project work I found that I should limit the violence I use in my novel so as not to discourage potential readers from committing acts of violence due to reading my novel. I plan to keep the content of my novel positive so as to positively influence the learning experience from reading a graphic novel.