Breaking the Mold with Humor: Images of Women in the Visual Media

Comics help to shape, reflect, reinforce, and revise the beliefs and assumptions people have about themselvtls and others. This document addresses three issues related to the comics: (1) images of women in the comics by both male and female 20th century cartoonists; (2) conflicting and fragmented images of women in the comics; and (3) differences in content, message, and humor in mainstream comics versus feminist comics. Humor in mainstream comics has often worked to demoralize women in contrast to feminist comics that help to raise consciousness. Comics help readers understand the important role of comics in the culture and how they help to construct role identities and images of women. Humor is an important tool for breaking the mold and changing perceptions that 3ndividuals have of themselves and others. (KM) *********************************A*********************w*************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***************************t******************************************* BREAKING THE MOLD WITH HUMOR: IMAGES OF WOMEN IN THE VISUAL MEDIA Sheri Klein Indiana University June, 1991 BEST COFY MhkiL U.S. DEPADTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 44This document has been reproduced as Ireceived from the person Or Organization originating it Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in this document dc not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MAT RIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL. RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." Comics as visual media humor have shaped, reinforced and revisioned generations of attitudes and beliefs about ourselves and others. While the majority of comics have perpetuated stereotypical and limited views of women, comics in recent years have challenged these images. To explain how images of women have been challenged in comics I will address: (1) the construction of femininity and sexuality in corn, cs and their roots in 'fine art' images, (2) fragmented images of women in mainstream comics, (3) images of working women in mainstream comics, (4) alternative images of women in feminist and underground commix and (5) the importance of including visual media humor in a visual arts curriculum. Femininity in Western Art In order to understand the portrayal of women in the visual media, we can turn to images in western art. Visual images throughout art history have revealed the status of women judged by their appearances; their feminihity created by dress and bodily attributes. The 'ideal' woman, clothed and nude, appears in art beginning in the Renaissance through the present day. An example of the ideal woman is seen in the painting La Grande Odalisque by Ingres (1780-1867). The woman in the painting is arranged to display herself to a male voyeur, the surveyor, as she looks away out of the picture (Berger, 1977). Both comics and painting traditions have produced particular ways of seeing the feminine body with the male viewer in mind (Betterton, 1987). The spectator is always assumed to be male and the ideal woman is always assumed to be there to flatter him. As women are depicted surveying themselveS and their femininity,