Jean-Paul Gabilliet
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604732672
- eISBN:
- 9781621039860
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604732672.003.0015
- Subject:
- Literature, Comics Studies
As a complex social process, cultural legitimation is difficult to observe because its various modalities refer to distinct realities. Legitimation is an intricate mechanism that can be broken down ...
More
As a complex social process, cultural legitimation is difficult to observe because its various modalities refer to distinct realities. Legitimation is an intricate mechanism that can be broken down into three modalities that function in relation to one another: visibility, recognition, and legitimacy. The legitimation of any cultural practice requires effects of consecration, that is, phenomena that “confirm” its accession to the dominant cultural hierarchy. This chapter examines how comics and comic books are inscribed in America’s cultural and social fields. It discusses the mechanisms and agents of internal consecration within the comic book field: the prizes, the specialty magazines, the fans, and the conventions. It also describes the second wave of comics fandom, the impetus of which came from a small group of adult science fiction fans who used to enjoy comic books in their childhood and whose interest was revived by DC Comics’s resurrection of the superhero genre in the late 1950s.Less
As a complex social process, cultural legitimation is difficult to observe because its various modalities refer to distinct realities. Legitimation is an intricate mechanism that can be broken down into three modalities that function in relation to one another: visibility, recognition, and legitimacy. The legitimation of any cultural practice requires effects of consecration, that is, phenomena that “confirm” its accession to the dominant cultural hierarchy. This chapter examines how comics and comic books are inscribed in America’s cultural and social fields. It discusses the mechanisms and agents of internal consecration within the comic book field: the prizes, the specialty magazines, the fans, and the conventions. It also describes the second wave of comics fandom, the impetus of which came from a small group of adult science fiction fans who used to enjoy comic books in their childhood and whose interest was revived by DC Comics’s resurrection of the superhero genre in the late 1950s.
Jean-Paul Gabilliet
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604732672
- eISBN:
- 9781621039860
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604732672.003.0017
- Subject:
- Literature, Comics Studies
This book has shown that the cultural history of comic books in America is not limited to the history of publishers. Instead, cultural products correspond to a public that uses them in a variety of ...
More
This book has shown that the cultural history of comic books in America is not limited to the history of publishers. Instead, cultural products correspond to a public that uses them in a variety of ways. Since the 1950s, the comic book industry has witnessed a transformation of its readers. The appearance of “graphic novels” finally allowed for the emergence of works that are sold in bookstores, where “real” books are. In addition to helping eradicate much of the stigma that comic books have endured as products primarily destined for boys enduring an extended adolescence, graphic novels enabled comics to shift toward the field of “adult culture” and inscribed the medium into a commercial life that was unrelated to the monthly periodicity of comic books. Comic books saw the rise of the superhero genre that was embedded in American popular culture since the end of the 1930s. The cultural legitimation of American comics proved beneficial to the heirs of underground comics.Less
This book has shown that the cultural history of comic books in America is not limited to the history of publishers. Instead, cultural products correspond to a public that uses them in a variety of ways. Since the 1950s, the comic book industry has witnessed a transformation of its readers. The appearance of “graphic novels” finally allowed for the emergence of works that are sold in bookstores, where “real” books are. In addition to helping eradicate much of the stigma that comic books have endured as products primarily destined for boys enduring an extended adolescence, graphic novels enabled comics to shift toward the field of “adult culture” and inscribed the medium into a commercial life that was unrelated to the monthly periodicity of comic books. Comic books saw the rise of the superhero genre that was embedded in American popular culture since the end of the 1930s. The cultural legitimation of American comics proved beneficial to the heirs of underground comics.
