Curiosities

HOLIDAY EDITION VIDEO: SOUTH MT PHX, AZ

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:38:58 PST

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I realize it may not seem like the below video is in celebration of Thanksgiving 2011... But it is. I'll leave the rest open for interpretation.

Also, this is the second time I have used Joanna Newsom's On a Good Day. It has never been the original version curiously enough. In case you haven't caught on, the song means a lot to me.

The first time I used it was in a MINICONCEPTDOC called Zenith. For that short the great Theo Langason used parts of the song in a remix/sampled/mashup. I made a request to him to use the song if he could. It is gorgeous and was beyond my expectations when I received it. You can watch that here:

Here is Ms. Newsom performing the song on Letterman. It's quite lovely. I must have watched this at least four dozen times:

And finally, a version covered by Robin Pecknold is used in today's holiday short doc, SOUTH MT PHX, AZ:

Animal Songs

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 08:08:50 PST

[Left: Goat illustration by Carla Sonheim]

So... Last year I made something for One Day On Earth 10.10.10. Something I'm quite proud of. It was well received by the filmmakers and they expressed an interest in using my footage in their final documentary. I hope it makes the final cut! It would be a really nice honor. They are running the campaign again this year, and I suppose they have another opportunity for 12.12.12. Then it's going to be a long, long time before they can do it again. You can watch my 10.10.10 entry here:

I didn't think I was going to make something this year, but a strange convergence happened:

1. I was thinking I needed a haircut and a song popped into my head. It's called Turkey Vulture. It features Will Oldham singing before Palace, before Bonnie Prince Billy, before a lot of things. It was also a collaboration from Bill Callahan from Smog. The 7" is under the name The Sundowners and is called "Goat Songs". It possesses all the rawness, urgency, carelessness, irreverence, attitude, sincerity, and naivety that drew me to Will Oldham's music. I loved it so much then, I still do now. That was probably a dozen years ago. Things aren't the same. He doesn't shock me, strike me.... fill me like he used to. [Right: 7" sleeve for The Sundowners "Goat Songs" EP]

2. By incredible coincidence two turkey vultures were eating a dead opossum outside my door this morning. Wild, man. Those things are massive. I took footage. Forgive the wonkiness. I was running and used a telephoto lens so it's all warbly and messy. But it still gives you an opportunity to look that guy in the eyes. Do it. Look him in the eyes. What do you see?

3. I wanted to do a silly dance today. {I needed to get my nervous energies out before the start of the night's performance of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot}

4. I thought.... "Maybe I should quickly film something in the spirit of One Day On Earth 11.11.11.

5. I wanted to share these strange songs and images with YOU!

So here is probably the oddest thing I have ever put online:

Animal Songs

WATCH HD VERSION HERE.

Diagram for Delinquents Update #20: The Countenance is the Portrait of the Soul

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 08:20:24 PDT

1.) Yes, yes, yes. It has been a while since the last update. So here's an explanation:

For the last month I have been working on a play and I will be for the next two months as well.

Each year I collaborate on a production with my friend and playwright/director/actor Paul Bernstein. He is consistently pushing the boundaries of theater and as part of that he is always looking for ways to integrate video and projection into his live shows. That's were I come in. I design, create, and install the video installation in his shows... and it takes time. So for the next two months, updates will come every three weeks so I can concentrate on the show he is producing at Rutgers University-Camden: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis.

2.) Who is Dr. Fredric Wertham?

Certainly he is no simple man. Loved, hated. Hailed, slighted. Every time I look at his work something new takes form. And the take away never seems to be foggy. I either disagree or agree. Perhaps this polarizing effect is what makes him most complicated. Our "rational humanity" cannot resolve such fuzzy logic. Our instinct is to protect our children, but it is also to protect what we have named our "inalienable rights." Is this a distinctly American attribute?

Who is Dr. Fredric Wertham?

One gainful and unique way to "see" someone is to examine them through another's eyes.

When the film crew and I explored Wertham's archives we found a number of portraits of Wertham that range from minimalist to quite rich. They are fascinating.

Who is Dr. Fredric Wertham?

Discovering the little parts of Wertham's personal life was some of the best fun we had at the Library of Congress.

The portraits of himself were among many other images of original artwork that Wertham collected.

He was a lover and avid collector of art. Some of it was quite abstract. I find this intriguing as Wertham had a particular dislike for the notion of comics as art. He thought they were worthless, that they had no artistic merit at all. For a man that could find the beauty in the abstract is it such a stretch to find that same beauty in the cartooning of comic books?

Who is Dr. Fredric Wertham?

Hopefully these images can provide you with some, perhaps even new, portrait of the man's soul:

And as a special treat for you, dear reader, I offer a still pulled from one of the animated sequences that will be in our documentary, Diagram for Delinquents: Fredric Wertham and the Evolution of Comic Books.

Who is Dr. Fredric Wertham?

Who is Dr. Fredric Wertham?

Let me leave you with a selection from his 1962 book A Sign for Cain: An Exploration of Human Violence.

"The great question before mankind is: Can we abolish violence without violence? The problem is not philosophically abstract man against abstract violence; it is man against man. Violence is a matter of the relations between people. It will be a long and hard struggle to banish it. Eventually, I believe, this can and will be accomplished. The story writer Vladimir Korolenko, a courageous opponent of violence, described the ultimate goal like this: 'Violence and oppression will disappear, the nations will come together in festivals of brotherhood, and never again will human blood be shed by human hands.'"

Diagram for Delinquents Update #19: For Good

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 05:42:32 PDT

One question looming over our documentary, and it's certainly a controversial one, especially for longtime comics readers like myself, is: Was Wertham right?

A simple question indeed, but one that has many more questions packed up in it:

Were his efforts in earnest?
Were they realized in the best way?
Did he understand comics?
Did he perform ethical, honest research?
Were his scientific methods valid?
What was really going on in America that played a role in the increase in juvenile delinquency?
What was happening in the business of comics behind closed doors?
Was the decline in comic book sales the industry's or Wertham's fault? Or neither?

These are only the tip of the comics heap. Our documentary must answer these and many more questions if we are to gain a richer understanding of this time in comics history.

But... there is no denying that Wertham was right about some very important issues in American history. The impact of which has made us a better, fuller nation. [At Left: Louis Redding, local attorney in the Delaware cases, with Thurgood Marshal]

For instance, Fredric Wertham gave testimony that was used in Delaware's Bulah v. Gebhart and Belton v. Gebhart cases to end segregation. Wertham's testimony and the court's decision to end segregation in Delaware was also used in the Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka decision. [At right: Delaware's decision]

[At left: The students represented in Brown v. BOE] Let's hear Dr. Bart Beaty, author of Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture, discuss Dr. Wertham's role in the dismantlement of segregation in U.S. schools and how his efforts in that social injustice compares to his efforts and testimony to end the selling of violent and crime comics to the children of the United states:

Diagram for Delinquents Update #18: Grimmness

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:14:13 PDT

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In April of 1963 two men sat down to discuss the controversial topic of "violence in the media."

One man had dedicated his life to the study and eradication of it. The other manipulated it to get at the core of the human experience of fear.

These two men, both intriguing minds of the first half of the twentieth century, civilly sparred on the appropriateness of violence in the media and where responsibility for its filtering lies.

Both expatriates, they made lasting impressions on their new home: the United States.

Alfred Hitchcock and Dr. Fredric Wertham.

The back and forth between the experts is gentlemanly, but forceful. Passionate and intellectual. Neither yielding to the other's strong opinion, but reasonable enough to hear and respect it.

Here is a glimpse of what happened on that day:

Many "thank you's" to Stephen O'Day, the great completest and archivist, for the audio recording.

Diagram for Delinquents Update #17: Testimony

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:13:41 PDT

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1.) This week's Diagram for Delinquents promo card is greatly inspired. I like its eeriness, and I plan to use the handwritten font in at least one more promo.

2.) I'm no different than anyone that is trying to make something of value. I struggle along in the process, striving for authenticity, sincerity, originality, trying to create something that will make some kind of contribution... to history, society, humanity.

As I make Diagram for Delinquents I am constantly trying to set it apart. Apart from the books written about comics of the era and Dr. Fredric Wertham; apart from the documentaries that have mentioned Wertham, the Comics Code Authority, and their impact on the medium.

What I hope to do is present a varied set of perspectives on Wertham and the era. Perspectives that haven't been presented in the past in one place. In Diagram for Delinquents you will hear/see arguments that both criticize and praise Fredric Wertham. You will be presented with stories that come from inside the history as well as frame the history from the outside with that advantageous tool known as hindsight.

I want to present what happened in those early days of comics and I want to show how those events shaped the comics we read today.

Finally, I want to use comics as an example to present the complicated relationship between media and its audience.

And then, the history is yours, and you will make sense of it in your own way. You will have to make decisions. You will be responsible to interpret the material, as we all are in this way with history and art.

One of my oldest friends, James Clark, who writes an excellent Dungeons and Dragons blog called A Dungeon Master's Tale, sums up what I hope to achieve in the film. He writes:

"The sneak peaks via the blog have me very interested in the film and what looks to be shaping up to be a rather complex and nuanced take on Wertham's work specifically and more broadly the idea that our media shapes us in ways we don't anticipate and may not want to admit."

3.) Al Feldstein, Bill Gaines, and all those at EC Comics, they also labored to create new and innovative art. And they did... for a time.

But as Mr. Feldstein recounts, the moment arrived when the wind stopped moving their creative sails, and it came time to find a new direction, a new source.

I'll let Mr. Feldstein tell us about that:

VIEW HD VERSION ON RAEMMONSJR'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

MINICONCEPTDOC #54: SPECIAL EDITION: TRAVELOGUE

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 16:43:16 PDT

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This is the second MCD SPECIAL EDITION. The last one came back in February and was a holiday edition. If you haven't seen it, please check it out: MINICONCEPTDOC #53: SPECIAL HOLIDAY EDITION: (HEART EMOTICON)

I have just a few notes on today's MINICONCEPTDOC.

I get so sentimental with these MCD's... They're like little chicks hopping around at my feet. Or goslings, staying close in tow.

This new MCD is special in a few ways:

1. It marks my first time to the true west. I look forward to returning. It had a profound impact on me.

2. It showcases some very special music.

3. It commemorates the storm that is currently baring down on my home state of New Jersey.

1.) My travels to the West included stops in Billings, Gardiner, and Livingston, Montana. The latter half of this MCD places us in Yellowstone from Gardiner to Old Faithful in the Wyoming portion of the country's first National Park.

In Livingston I quickly became enamored with the "Americaness" of the town. I mean, portions of the classic cinematic homage to Montana, A River Runs Through It, were filmed there.

But even more so, I was captured by the beauty of its "places". "Places" that are marked in the tradition of hand-painted, bulbed and neon signs. These signs, for me, mark another time. To see layers of former paintings fighting through years of updated advertisements and businesses is like witnessing history overcome itself.

2.) The music in this MCD is special in a couple of ways. The first selection was created by British musician William Yates under the name memotone. I discovered his work on http://freemusicarchive.org/. It's an excellent site that musicians use to allow their work to be downloaded at no expense. The site allows the artist to set the usage rights for each song and many songs allow Creative Commons usage, which is a great thing for filmmakers, DJ's and other artists interested in remixing and mashing.

The second track, Irene, comes from the American icon in folk/blues music Huddie William Ledbetter, also known as Leadbelly or Lead Belly. I've always had a special connection to Lead Belly as we share a birthday: January 20th. Though, there is some confusion as to his actual birthday (it could be the 23rd), I like to think we share the day.

I think the choice for the song is obvious. I suppose I am caught up in hurricane fever just like everyone else!

There are several recordings of the song, with various listings as well: Irene; Goodnight Irene; Irene, Goodnight, Irene. This particular version, Irene, has a quicker tempo than most and comes with accompaniment. It was recorded in 1944.

Before we move on to the show, let me leave you with the words that Norman Maclean sends us off with at the end of his novella which lends its name to the film mentioned above. They are at once inspiring, thoughtful, philosophic, and spiritual; and the images and songs I put together in this piece try to aspire to those words, full well knowing I could never match them:

"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

I am haunted by waters."

LARGER VERSION AVAILABLE AT MINICONCEPTDOCS CHANNEL, HERE.

Diagram for Delinquents Update #16: All Factors

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 07:24:33 PDT

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I apologize for my anemic entries of late. Filming on the picture has been in full swing and the Fall semester is starting very soon and I have been preparing for that (Teaching an exciting new course on the Creative Economy!). Also, please extend this apology to this week's update, for it will be lean as well.

It does, however, come with another video teaser. So at least there is a multimedia aspect.

This week's video teaser contains some excellent footage from our interview with James Reibman as well as a selection from a curious episode of Confidential File. CF was a documentary/news tabloid style television program that ran from 1953 to 1958. If you haven't seen this and aren't already a "fan", I'm sure you will like its depiction of what reading horror and crime comics may lead to. Doesn't it harken back to your own childhood days with the fellas?

I am hoping to, in forthcoming updates, start teasing out other types of media that are going to be used in the film much like this episode of Confidential File.

But back to this week's video teaser.

My purpose for posting this clip is to motivate you to do one thing: Read Seduction of the Innocent.

If you are a comics fan, if you are interested in history, media or cultural studies it is a must read.

The argument against Wertham and the book have become so simplified over the years. The book's thesis, to those that haven't read it, has become a hand-me-down diluted hate message. Even if you just examine the complexity of the relationship between message and era, the contextual value of that alone is rich enough to sustain a reading.

But more than that, to argue against the book, you should read the book. If you do, you will, I can almost guarantee, come away with conflicted thoughts about what is being written between the cover. What those thoughts are... I will leave for you to discover.

There are a few ways you can read Seduction of the Innocent these days. For a long time, it wasn't so easy to get your hands on this controversial book. In the past your were lucky if a library near you had a copy. Now you have four readily available options.

1. You can buy yourself an original copy with the dust jacket at a not so modest price on EBAY here. It's BUYNOW for $1,062.50!

2. You can buy a handsome hardbound copy with a forward by today's guest star Dr. James Reibman here. The forward is loaded with excellent and insightful biographical information on Wertham.

3. If you are web savvy... And I know you are... You can download a PDF of the entire book online.

4. You can read Seduction of the Innocent online. This online version is peppered with illustrations not used in the print version but inserted by the online editor/host. The online version can be found at http://www.dreadfuldays.net/soti.html. It's great for doing fast searches to locate topics to cross reference in the printed version!

The crew leaves to interview Al Feldstein on Monday. Needless to say we are excited beyond words!

Now... on to the show. Please watch All Factors:

Diagram for Delinquents Update #15: Collective Nightmare to Collector's Dream

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 07:32:56 PDT

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1.) Here is a strange, but intriguing Diagram for Delinquent promo inspired by and ripped from a classic ad YOU may have seen in those old comic books. Dangerous stuff, kiddies! Dangerous! Twelve years dungeon!

2.) We have another clip this week. This comes from Jim Trombetta, author of The Horror! The Horror! It was a lot of fun interviewing Jim. He has a great, and unique, perspective on things and when you give him the ball, he runs with it! I know it was fun for me and the crew to listen to Jim and to really just follow wherever he wanted to take us in the conversation.

3.) Also, don't forgot... We have a big week coming up. On Tuesday we will be interviewing James Reibman and on Wednesday we will be with David Hajdu. Big ideas, and big days for the picture.

Diagram for Delinquents Update #14: Amounting to No(Some)thing

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 07:34:46 PDT

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1.) I have another entry to present this week for the Diagram for Delinquents promo card contest. This entry harkens back to an earlier blog update wherein I discussed the use of psychiatric tests by Wertham on children. In that post I embedded an actual Rorschach blot test that we found in Wertham's papers at the Library of Congress. Check out that post here: Diagram for Delinquents Update #5: Drag Me to Hell, Baby.

It's a long post, and one of my favorites for its winding but connected (at least I think so) narrative.

2.) Alas... we have returned. The crew has returned from our L.A. adventure where we interviewed five great subjects that will certainly make compelling contributions to the documentary.

We began with Broadcast Thought at Meltdown Comics, followed them with Jim Trombetta, and cleaned up with Mark Evanier, then headed to the UCLA Film and Television Archive to view footage that we will acquire for the picture. I must say, my socks have been knocked off by what I saw there!

This week's update teaser is a little excerpt from comics writer, journalist, and historian Mark Evanier.

The inspiration for this clip is Wertham's thoughts on the life and legacy of comics. In Seduction of the Innocent Wertham makes this particularly erroneous prediction:

"I have known many adults who have treasured throughout their lives some of the books they read as children. I have never come across any adult or adolescent who had outgrown comic-book reading who would ever dream of keeping any of these 'books' for any sentimental or other reason."

Again, I have responded to this particular statement in an earlier blog post. It's another of my favorites. The title comes from what is perhaps my favorite "Werthism". Check out: Diagram for Delinquents Update #6: Kafka for the Kiddies.

Mark has a simple, but elegant response to Wertham's above remarks:

3.) Next on the crew's agenda:

In ten days we will be sitting down for two important interviews.

First up is James E. Reibman in Philadelphia. That will be followed on the next day with the David Hajdu interview. These two men both play an important role in chronicling Wertham and the period of comics that our film begins in. I am excited for these interviews as I am looking forward to exploring and capturing the thoughts and perspectives of each!

Diagram for Delinquents Update #13: What?

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 20:26:39 PDT

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This week's update is coming from our hotel room in sunny Los Angeles! Because of the slow internet connection and our busy shooting schedule, it's going to be a short entry.

As a little wrap-up -- our interview with Dr. Bart Beaty went smashingly. We talked with Bart for three hours about all things Wertham.

Tomorrow we are excited to be shooting at Meltdown Comics on Sunset Blvd!

Next, we have our first submission for the Diagram for Delinquents fan art propmotional card contest. This week's submission comes from Francesco Gambino. Take a look at his promo card:

I'm excited that we have our first entry and I look forward to more in the future. Remember, there will be prizes awarded to the top entries!

Now.... On to the big announcement film supporters, backers, and readers...

We have scheduled an interview on August 23rd with none other than the legendary Al Feldstein!

Need I say more? With Mr. Feldstein we are going to get the insider, front-line perspective that is so essential.

From Mr. Feldstein's website:

"Al Feldstein is a Montana Artist, residing on a 270 acre ranch south of Livingston and north of Yellowstone National Park, where he practices his Fine Art. His brilliant and detailed acrylic canvasses, which include Western Art, Landscape Art, Wildlife Art, Sci-Fi Art and Fantasy Art, give no clue to his nefarious past.

Born in New York City, Al Feldstein studied painting at the High School of Music and Art, and the Art Students League under a scholarship. After school and summers, he worked in a studio servicing the comic book industry. During World War ll, he was a Special Services artist. Upon his discharge, he returned to the comic book industry, packaging magazines for publishers.

At E.C. Comics, he created, wrote, illustrated and edited a popular line of titles which are now collectors' items. These included horror, such as Tales from the Crypt, science-fiction and suspense, among others. In 1955, he became editor of MAD Magazine, one of E.C.'s titles. He took the magazine's circulation from 375,000 to a high of almost 3 million by gathering a staff of talented artist and writers; supervising every phase of its operation, editing and re-writing every word; designing layouts and creating the format that led to MAD's success, including adopting and christening its trademark, the freckle-faced, grinning Alfred E. Neuman.

In 1984, Al retired from MAD, and returned to his first love, painting. He later moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and spent three years painting the Tetons and their wildlife, placing two paintings in the Top 100 Arts for the Parks.

In 1999, Al was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts degree by Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, and again won a place in the Top 100 Arts for the Parks competition.

In 2003, at the San Diego ComiCon, Al was inducted into "The Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame."
Al is represented by numerous galleries in the Northwest. He has participated in juried shows where he has received many awards"

So, in the immortal words of my childhood hero..." What, me worry?"

Diagram for Delinquents Update #12: Undercovers

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:30:02 PDT

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Once again, we begin with another Diagram for Delinquents promotional card. Top prize to the reader that collects them all!! This week's is another minimalist promo, but has a starkness and color I appreciate. I heightened the ever present and always charming 4CP process in those old rags. Gotta love those dots! The more I look at this promo, the one I think, "This is the one." Thoughts? Also, if YOU would like to create your own Diagram for Delinquents promo, please send them to raemmonsjr@gmail.com and we'll display them here. A prize to each contributor!

What a weekend, readers! We had a truly wonderful time meeting (in-person) and filming our subjects this weekend.

First, large, large thanks go to Dr. Steven Kirsh and his family for allowing us to visit, chat, and film. They were gracious beyond any expectations. As we filmed we were immediately struck by Steve's comfort with the camera and his conversational and compelling style. What he has to bring to the film will go a long way. To demonstrate that, I decided to create another video promo with an ecxerpt from his interview. It's called, Undercovers. (See below)

Second, WE HAD A STROKE OF LUCK. Just as I was lamenting that I had no success in contacting anyone involved in the comic book burnings in the late 40's I made contact.

Only three days before our departure I was able to schedule an interview with Vincent Hawley, who was at the Binghamton burnings at St. Pattrick's Academy. He was kind enough to let us visit his vacation home and he talked about that cold day in December of 1948. There is nothing like capturing a first person point of view when one is trying to track down a moment in history. That's where life resides in history, through the individual, his story, his life, his recollections.

Our time in Binghamton was also greatly aided by Gerry Smith, Broome County Historian at the Broome County Public Library and Camille Muscatello, of the Development & Alumni Affairs Office of the Catholic Schools of Broome County. They gave much of their time to us and their leads and information have already and will continue to make contributions to Diagram for Delinquents.

And now for the newest video promo for Diagram for Delinquents: Fredric Wertham and the Evolution of Comic Books:

Undercovers

VIEW HD VERSION ON RAEMMONSJR'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Coming this weekend: Our interview with Bart Beaty, author of Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture. We can't wait to begin this important and essential interview for our picture.

Diagram for Delinquents Update #11: COMMUNITY

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 08:23:22 PDT

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Let me first open with another new promo card I made. I kind of like this one. It has more color than the previous promos and I like the presence of the hand in the image. For me, it really evokes the tactile experience of reading comic books. The feel of the pages, turning them, examining them, pouring over them, it can't be replicated. That has always been a special part of reading comics for me.

I prefer the experience with the comics of my childhood. The ones printed on newspaper pulp. The pages of today's comics are slick and sheen. Don't get me wrong, they're quite beautiful, but nothing feels like the old paper.

The crew is excited to be traveling to upstate New York this week to interview Dr. Steven J. Kirsh at SUNY Geneseo. Dr. Kirsh will be featured in the film discussing media, violence, youth.

He has a two-fold contribution to the film.

Dr. Kirsh will provide a critical look at the research on media and the youth. And even more specifically, he has written about the work of Dr. Fredric Wertham, so he will be commenting on him and sepcificially Seduction of the Innocent. I am greatly looking forward to hearing what he has to say.

For the past week I have been trying to get another interview in the hopes to announce it today, but things have been proving difficult.

To be more specific, I have been trying to locate someone that was around during the comic burnings of the late 40's/early 50'sm, specifically in New York state (Auburn and Binghamton). Every time I get a good lead, I get no response or a dead end. I'm starting to wonder if it's going to happen or not.

So... since I haven't been able to locate anyone yet, I made this video promo. It's a bit sensational, but I think it conveys some of the hysteria of that period. It's called, COMMUNITY:

VIEW HD VERSION ON RAEMMONSJR'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Diagram for Delinquents Update #10: America's Pastime

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:51:14 PDT

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I have some great news to announce this week.

First, the crew and I are traveling to visit Broadcast Thought in Los Angeles. This group of three physicians will play an important part in the film's segment on media, violence, and children.

The Broadcast Thought website does an excellent job describing who they are and what they do, so please visit it here. In brief (from their website):

"Broadcast Thought is a group of three physicians, specializing in forensic, child and adolescent, and adult psychiatry, who provide expert consultation to the media and entertainment industries. At Broadcast Thought, we are both medical professionals and fans of film, television, comic books, and other mass media. We add new dimensions to portrayals of mental illness, evolve perceptions of mental health matters, and advance popular media in innovative directions. Broadcast Thought’s goal is to provide “Accuracy in Entertainment and Entertainment in Accuracy.”

Second, two very important names in comics history have agreed to appear in the film. When the crew travels to L.A. in the first week of August to interview the doctors of Broadcast Thought, we will also be visiting with Mark Evanier and Jim Trombetta.

We are thrilled by this opportunity. Both men have made substantial contributions to the field of comics. Mark Evanier is a comics creator, historian, and journalist. He brings another element to the story as well. As a youngster, Mr. Evanier was involved in the world of fanzines and had a very interesting correspondence with Dr. Wertham! You can read about it in his book Wertham was Right!.

Jim Trombetta has compiled a compelling anthology of those early horror comics that are so important to my story. Also, in his book, The Horror The Horror, Mr. Trombetta provides a very lucid analysis of the time period that surrounds these creepy comics.

So, needless to say we are looking forward to a fruitful trip out west as we gather more material for the picture.

Finally, I have another teaser clip from the film. If the below clip doesn't make your comics taste buds water you may be more similar to the walking corpses that appeared in many a comic book page than you thought!

It was so special to spend time with Stephen O'Day. When he opened his collection to us, it was as if history had opened its chest to reveal its beating heart. It was real, tactile; it was the pulp that gathered time on its pages and let us hold it. Material history is living history. It's organic. It gives you arms to the past. And that is not lost to us documentary filmmakers.

In seeing those "all in color for a dime" original comic books and holding them next to Dr. Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent we were transported to the day that Wertham observed them for himself. Without being trite... it was magical.

Enough talk. Observe:

VIEW HD VERSION ON RAEMMONSJR'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Once again, that concludes this week's update. It is our hope that with each week your excitement and interest builds for the film, just as it does for us!

As we say around the DfD office: MORE IN A WEEK!

Diagram for Delinquents Update #9: This is Only a Test. A Test of the Emergency Broadcast Syst...

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:47:21 PDT

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So, we have returned from our fruitful trip to interview Stephen O'Day. Stephen was kind enough to answer all our questions as well as open his collection to us. Needless to say, it is remarkable.

From our interview I have the first sample of footage from the film. As filming progresses I will post clips in various stages of rough or final edit.

This is a clip of Stephen mentioning some of the other pieces of literature that criticized comics concurrently with Dr. Wertham.

I did some lighting and color grading to experiment with the what will be the look of the final interviews. As you can see I will be using backdrops for this picture, a first for me.

The technique: spray-painted garden weed prevention liner! The colors for subsequent backdrops will increase in their boldness as they are meant to represent the bold colors used in the comics.

Excerpt of Stephen O'Day:

VIEW HD VERSION ON RAEMMONSJR'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

ANNOUNCEMENT: David Hajdu has agreed to participate in the film and it appears we will be meeting with him in mid-July. We are most excited by this, as his work is very important to the film. Mr. Hajdu's Ten-Cent Plague will be the backbone for the narrative.

More in a week!

Diagram for Delinquents Update #8: You've Been Seduced

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 08:20:16 PDT

I created another promo for Diagram for Delinquents. As I become inspired by things I encounter during the filmmaking process I will use those to create promos. I will post them here and see "what sticks" as they say. Here is the latest:

The crew has an exciting few days coming up on June 27 to the 29th. We will be travelling to interview Mr. Stephen O'Day. He runs the invaluable and fascinating site: seductionoftheinnocent.org. Stephen will be chatting with us about his work and his thoughts on Fredric Wertham and Seduction of the Innocent. What he has unearthed and created so far is an incredible and utterly necessary archive of one of the most important periods of comics history.

To grasp the full depth of what Stephen has done, you must visit seductionoftheinnocent.org.

It was a serendipitous run-in I had to meet Stephen as we were both doing research at the Library of Congress pouring through Wertham's Papers. We are excited to sit down with him and to see, in-person, the materials he has gathered.

Stephen has been in the trenches doing the arduous research in tracking down the comic books that Wertham quotes and uses illustrations from but did not cite. As you can guess, as a researcher, this is a highly problematic issue with the book.

Also, currently, Producer Mike Phillips is hard at working trying to capture important interview subjects for the film. We are hoping to sit down with David Hajdu, author of The Ten-Cent Plague as well as Jim Trombetta, author of The Horror! The Horror!: Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read!

Hopefully, after Stephen's interview this week, the blog will start intermixing some footage with these picture updates.

Finally, an animation team is currently creating the first sample of the animated court scenes. I hope to share some of that with you soon!

More in a week!

Diagram for Delinquents Update #7: The Reboot (Comic book reference. As in character, continuity, or universe. But you knew that.)

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:58:04 PDT

Dear Backers, Believers, & The Curious (Soon to be Recruited to the Cause):

Let me begin by again thanking the Kickstarter funders for your support and belief in our film, Diagram for Delinquents: Fredric Wertham and the Evolution of Comic Books. This film is not possible without your generosity. It is now OUR film.

It was overwhelming to witness the outpour of pledges and words that you have given us and I look forward to hearing from you and sharing with you as the picture develops.

Now that the funds are in place it is my goal to make a compelling, fair, and thorough piece which examines comics of the 50’s, the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, Dr. Fredric Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent, the Comics Code, media and its effects on society, and the current state of comic books.

Production will begin with interviews this July. As those are proceeding, animation and post-production teams will also begin the initial stages of the animated sequences for the film. Also, archival footage and images will be gathered and analyzed.

This is an exciting time and I will use my blog (robertemmons.blogspot.com) and the film’s space at Kickstarter.com and Sequart.org (or fredricwertham.com) to post updates on the production process through the post-production stage.

So from here on out, look for updates every weekend. It may be a small kernel of information, a piece of art, music, or animation, it may be a clip from the film, it may be a status update, or an extensive write-up of an important discovery or some progress in the film. The important thing is to keep your eyes on the updates! I always look forward to your thoughts, suggestions, or insights.

Two exciting interviews have been solidified for July.

From July 22 to the 24^th a small production crew and I will be visiting the SUNY Geneseo campus to interview Dr. Steven Kirsh, author of Media And Youth: A Developmental Perspective and Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence: A Critical Look at the Research. Dr. Kirsh is important to the film for two reasons. One, he has examined and commented on Dr. Wertham’s research and practices in his own books; and two, he has conducted important research and surveys on violence, media and youth, which will play a significant role in the latter half of the documentary.

This traveling shoot will be followed by another important interview.

The producers will be bringing Dr. Bart Beaty to Philadelphia from Calgary to interview him on July 30^th. If you recall from earlier blogs, Dr. Beaty has written the very important book Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture which is a re-examination of Dr. Wertham and his book Seduction of the Innocent. As you can assume Dr. Beaty’s research is essential to the film and my goal of capturing the many and diverse views of Dr. Wertham and his ideas.

Finally, I have made a couple of new promos for the film. One was made a couple of weeks back and you may have seen it on my Facebook page (above). The other was made just this morning. Thoughts?

Sincerely,

The Filmmakers (of which you are now included!!)

Diagram for Delinquents Update #6: Kafka for the Kiddies

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:37:27 PDT

1. Diagram for Delinquents News

First off... I apologize for the delay in this installment of the Diagram For Delinquents Update. I was working on a couple of film projects. One was work related and the other was a collaborative project with my friend and colleague Paul Bernstein. We have a piece in a group exhibition comprised of the Fine Art faculty at Rutgers University-Camden. Our piece is called Other Distants (promotional image at left). The exhibition, “Effacing Boundaries: Recent Work by Rutgers–Camden Department of Fine Arts Faculty," runs from March 14 to April 23. The reception is on April 14th from 3:00 to 5:00PM. There will also be a series of panel discussions with the artists. Here are the details: http://news.rutgers.edu/medrel/news-releases/2011/03/professors-on-displa-20110309.

Now, on to D.f.D. # 6.

One of the foundational discussions of our film is violence and its effects on children. This is what set Dr. Wertham in motion, it's one of the major discussions led in the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency of 1954, and it's been an ongoing discussion in America for about 70 years. I want to spend some time with this and look at some of the issues that will arise in our film.

The big question: What impact does media violence have on children?

I just finished re-reading the Seduction of the Innocent chapter "The Wrong Twist: The Effects of Comic Books on Children." I paralled this reading with contemporary investigations of the effects of comic books on children. Particularly I read works by child psychologist Steven J. Kirsh. After these readings I contacted Dr. Kirsh and he has agreed to appear in the film. (Excellent news!) Here, I will present to you what has been written. I will only interject in minor ways as I am interested in your thoughts. I will say that I have a love/hate relationship with this particular chapter. While there are some things that I just don't agree with, it also contains what I believe to be the most powerful piece of writing that Wertham has done.

Actually, before we move on to that I am going to get tangential for a moment. I'm going to start with something a little outside of the main topic of this entry, but I have to put it out there. Early in the chapter Wertham writes:

"I have found the effect of comic books to be first of all anti-educational. They interfere with education in the larger sense. For a child, education is not merely a question of learning, but is a part of mental health. They do not "learn" only in school; they learn also during play, from entertainment and in social life with adults and with other children. To take large chunks of time out of a child's life - time during which he is not positively, that is, educationally, occupied - means to interfere with his healthful mental growth. To make a sharp distinction between entertainment and learning is poor pedagogy, and even worse psychology. A great deal of learning comes in the form of entertainment, and a great deal of entertainment painlessly teaches important things. By no stretch of critical standards can the text in crime comics qualify as literature, or their drawings as art. Considering the enormous amount of time spent by children on crime comic books, their gain is nil. They do not learn how to read a serious book or magazine. They do not gain a true picture of the West from the "Westerns." They do not learn about any normal aspects of sex, love or life. I have known many adults who have treasured throughout their lives some of the books they read as children. I have never come across any adult nor adolescent who had outgrown comic-book reading who would ever dream of keeping any of these "books" for any sentimental or other reason. In other words, children spend a large amount of their time and money on these publications and have nothing positive to show for it. And since almost all good children's reading has some educational value, crime comics by their very nature are not only non-educational; they are anti-educational. They fail to teach anything that might be useful to a child; they do suggest many things that are harmful." (page 88-89)

I think Wertham is definitely on the mark about environment, social activity, play, and education.

But, he begins by calling comics "anti-educational". Of course, this is influenced by the comics he was focusing on: crime, horror, and other types that he deemed worthless. A part of me wishes he could be here today and see the diverse range of comics being published at levels of sophistication that match any high literature or art. (I suppose this is another area of debate for some!) Comics can educate. When I had my recent "Graphic Novel as Social History" seminar read Persepolis, Stitches, and Fun Home they were impacted. These books caused real emotional reactions. They showed, they taught. Yes, they entertained, but more than that they provided those students with a unique perspective into places and ideas they may or may not have had experience with before. These books caused discussion and debate. They stimulated thought. I wish he could have been there to see this and participate in the discussion.

Also, in the above passage Wertham writes, " I have known many adults who have treasured throughout their lives some of the books they read as children. I have never come across any adult nor adolescent who had outgrown comic-book reading who would ever dream of keeping any of these "books" for any sentimental or other reason."

Au contraire, mon frère. Need I even respond to this? (At right. Excalibur #1, 1988. I still have the issue. It's protected and stored away with every other issue in the series. I remember the day I read it. I look back on it with great fondness and sentiment. I treasure it and I can't wait to pass it on someday.)

Ok. Back to media violence and children.

As I've stated previously, Wertham was trying to do "good work" here. How much can we despise a man who is trying to prevent inappropriate material from getting into the hands of children? The problem is in the execution and the results.

For example, read this quite lucid and convincing argument Wertham makes:

"Since comic books may have such diverse effects on children, from distortion of human values to nightmares and violent games, one must make clear to oneself what psychological mechanisms are involved. The influence consists in a continuation or repetition of the contents of the stories in life, either in thought or in action. The simplest mechanism is just plain imitation."

Of course. Makes sense. I've seen this. I'm sure you've seen or heard this. Jane is watching television and sees Jerry bop Tom on the head with a hammer, so she bops the family cat on the head as well. The results are not the same... most of the time.

Wertham's example goes like this:

"In California a very handsome six-year-old boy on his way home from school one day trudged to the top of a steep cliff. An ardent comic-book reader, he had translated his reading into practice and made for himself a flying cape or magic cloak. Taking a brisk run he jumped off the cliff to fly as his comic book heroes did. Seriously injured, he told his mother, "Mama, I almost did fly!" A few days later he died from the injuries he had received."

That's it. No knowledge of the child's background, mental health status, family life... nothing. No citation on where this story was obtained. It plays out like pure hyperbole. It's almost too perfect for the argument. That line: "Mama, I almost did fly!" Am I suggesting that Wertham fabricated or embellished the example? I'm trying not too, but if I am to take his argument seriously I need to see the actual evidence.

Now on to the statement that I find most compelling by Wertham. The reason for this is because at its base it is about many of the same things that interest me, specifically social responsibility. Ethics. Wertham writes about the mind's awareness of the body, the mental picture of the "body image." He believes that there is also a mental self-knowledge in the form an "ethical image." It's eloquent. Powerful. I believe in that. Wetham expresses this concept in the face of the unpopularity of the discussion of ethics in psychiatric and psychoanalytical literature. It is brave of him. He writes it, because he believes it. He calls the crime comics problem a "moral disarmament."

"It is an influence on character, on attitude, on the higher functions of social responsibility, on super ego formation and on the intuitive feeling for right and wrong. To put it more concretely, it consists chiefly in a blunting of the finer feelings of conscience, of mercy, of sympathy for other people's suffering..." (91).

I really feel where he is going with this. I'm in line with this. One can understand what the repeated exposure of inappropriate and harmful material can do to the mind. Would we argue with the existence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? Environmental factors influence us.

In the modern arena of studying the effects of media violence on children, the antiquated use of juvenile delinquency is dropped for the more appropriate study of aggression in youth. This works. There are levels of aggression. There are various stages, signs, and outcomes. It can be internal and external. Physical and emotional. It covers the complexity the study demands.

I had a moment of enlightenment while reading Dr. Steven Hirsch. He reiterates a fundamental of comics that is pure "language of comics 101." It wasn't until he placed this fundamental in context with media violence and it effects on children that I realized how important it could be in the role of understanding comics, violence, and children.

Hirsh paraphrases what comics scholar and creator Scott McCloud eloquently demonstrates in his ground-breaking book Understanding Comics. McCloud elucidates one of the fundamentals of HOW comics are read. A fundamental function of the reader in comics is to "fill in the blanks" as it were. McCloud explains in his special way (click each page to enlarge):

Kirsh summarizes McCloud nicely for his observation. "Thus, when reading a comic book, children and adolescents are required to engage their imagination and visualize the elements in the story that were not graphically portrayed. Moreover, when reading a comic book, youth can self-regulate the intake of information. As such, children and adolescents can spend as much time as they like reading dialogue and viewing graphic images, thus affording youth a detailed encoding of violent material." (Media and Youth, Steven J. Kirsh, 196)

This encoding will be made up of experience and imagination. As you are already assuming, I'm sure, this can be good and bad depending on the experiences of the individual.

In his book Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence, Kirsh investigates the question: "Do comic books affect aggressive behavior in youth?"

After studying Wertham's research, Kirsh reports, "Wertham's 'findings' are reported as narrative anecdotes or data-less correlations... In fact, when looked at closely, Wertham's research does not meet the criteria for scientific research." (143)

The implication is what can we do with this material if it does not meet the criteria for scientific research.

Kirsh follows Wertham's research by surveying the modern scientific research conducted on the effects of violent comic books on children. There isn't much, and what exists is far from definitive. In the end, he is left to summarize that, "As the previous review of the literature revealed, there is little evidence to support the contention that reading violent comic books influences aggressive behavior or feelings. However, there is evidence that violent comic books influence social information processing." (149)

Kirsh defines social information processing as, "the processing of information (e.g., attention to, memory for) related to social relationships (e.g., peer relationships, parent-child relationships). For instance, determining whether or not an act of transgression, such as being pushed into a wall, was done on purpose or not requires that cues to the cause be detected and processed and that a judgment be made." (146-147)

So we still seem to be left with the question: Do comic books affect aggressive behavior in youth?

Wertham ends this chapter with a definitive list of the bad effects of crime comics on children:

"The general lesson we have deduced from our large case material is that the bad effects of crime comic books exist potentially for all children and may be exerted along these lines:

1) The comic-book format is an invitation to illiteracy.
2) Crime comic books create an atmosphere of cruelty and deceit.
3) They create a readiness for temptation.
4) They stimulate unwholesome fantasies.
5) They suggest criminal or sexually abnormal ideas.
6) They furnish the rationalization for them, which may be ethically even more harmful than the impulse.
7) They suggest the forms a delinquent impulse may take and supply details of technique.
8) They may tip the scales toward maladjustment or delinquency.

Crime comics are an agent with harmful potentialities. They bring about a mass conditioning of children, with different effects in the individual case. A child is not a simple unit which exists outside of its living social ties. Comic books themselves may be the virus, or the cause of a lack of resistance to the social virus of a harmful environment." (118)

It's a big debate. The stakes are high, so it's worth our time and attention. This is what I could never fault Wertham on. The two sides of this argument have been long presenting "evidence" to support their claims of comics effects on children, either positive or negative. Many of the comics publishers in Wertham's day would parade experts and the like before readers and officials to testify on behalf of the positive aspects of comics.

Below is an excellent example from the Marvel Comics publication Crime Fighters. This issue appeared in March of 1949 and it contains a letter from The Editors of the Marvel Comic Group.

The letter begins with a mention of "a Dr. Wertham." They have no idea the world of hurt he is about to lay on them! The next paragraph begins with a staggering statistic: "93% of all young people (from 8 to 16 years of age) read comics. The veracity of this statement is debatable, but its inclusion is important for their argument is about majority. And they believe the majority of comic book readers are dandy and well-adjusted. And to prove it they quote a letter from a 14 year old comics reader. Here, check it out for yourself (click to enlarge):

The answer might not be apparent yet, but that doesn't mean there isn't a call for some preventative medicine... right?

Finally, I have to share this hilarious bit that Wertham throws out to his readers.

During a segment on how comics can cause nightmares, Wertham relates the following anecdote:

"'You know,' the boy said, 'what I really like is the Blue Beetle[a figure in a very violent crime comic book]. I read that many times. That's what I dreamed about. I don't have it at home; I get it at another boy's house.'

'Who is the Blue Beetle?'

'He is like Superman. He is a beetle, but he changes into Superman and afterwards he changes into a beetle again. When he's Superman he knocks them out. Superman knocks them out with his fist. They fall down on the floor.'

'If you say it is like Superman, how do you know it is?'

'I read the Superman stories. He catches them. Superman knocks the guys out.' (106)
It is not difficult to understand that a child stimulated to fantasies about violent and sadistic adventures and about a man who changes into an insect gets frightened. Kafka for the kiddies!"

Now that's rich! Only a psychiatrist could drop a Metamorphosis reference in a book about comics and juvenile delinquency. I mean, how many of the readers picked up on this? Classic.

2. It Came From the Archives!!!
Today I have for you a special letter that illustrates the beginning of Dr. Wertham's connection with Estes Kefauver and the soon to be Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency.

What is so fascinating about this is the roots of the investigation. Kefauver explains to Wertham that the problem of juvenile delinquency has been made aware to them through their current investigation of organized crime. It's the Committee's concern that crime comics may be leading children to criminal activity.

(click to enlarge)

3. Be a Part of Getting Diagram for Delinquents Made
Getting a film produced is difficult and requires the aid of many. Fortunately, using new and creative fund-raising ventures, the internet has made the process all the more achievable.

If you've found the glimpse above intriguing, than help us bring you the rest of the story by visiting our Kickstarter site (See Kickstarter widget and the promotional video below). There, you can pledge a donation to the film and pre-order your own copy today! There are many exciting incentives to donate at various levels. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Until next post,
Robert

Diagram for Delinquents Update #5: Drag Me to Hell, Baby

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 13:37:37 PST

1. Diagram for Delinquents News
For today's post, let's examine the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good:

I Think I have demonstrated, by quoting his work extensively, that Dr. Wertham's intentions were to protect children. Can we argue the merits of this cause?

His spirited monologue, which I refer to as the "Let the children live!" speech, in last week's blog clearly examples what he wants for children.

Below is another example of his altruistic vision of the innocent child.

After a lengthy explanation on the use of the Rorschach test (in which he nobly reiterates, as with all tests, the Rorschach cannot be used alone, but must be used in conjunction with clinical and other methods when diagnosing and treating a patient) Wertham reacts to a notion derived from the examination.

"The Rorschach Test is a valid scientific method. I was one of the first psychiatrists to use it in this country and published research on it over twenty years ago. In my experience with children and adults I have found it a revealing auxiliary method. But in recent years it has been too often used uncritically, interpreted with the bias of a purely biological determinism, leaving out all social influence, and given by psychologists with either faulty clinical orientation, or with no clinical orientation at all. Under these circumstances, the Rorschach Test like any other wrongly applied scientific method has given wrong results. It has been used, for example, to bolster the conception of more or less fixed psychological-biological phases of childhood development. And this is a conception which has caused parents whose children do not conform to textbooks a great deal of anxiety. It has led psychologists to socially unrealistic generalizations. A recent text on children's Rorschach responses describes as the "essence" of the average normal seven-year-old child a most abnormal preoccupation with morbidity, mutilation, pain, decay, blood and violence. But that is not the normal essence of the average American child, nor of any other child! You cannot draw true conclusions from any test if you ignore the broad educational, social and cultural influences on the child, his family and his street. These influences, of which comic books are just one (although a very potent one), favor, condone, purvey and glorify violence. The violent meaning of the Rorschach responses is not the norm for the age of seven; unfortunately it seems to be becoming the norm for a civilization of adults" ( SOTI 56).

The Bad:
Recently I have immersed myself in contemporary readings and research on childhood, media, and violence. I have some experience with it, and I certainly had my opinions about the much discussed, argued, and polarizing topic. However, I am trying to expand my view on the subject and gain a multi-frame perspective. I hope to gain a wider, clearer view of contemporary opinion, thereby giving me a richer understanding of Wertham's ideas.

My hope is that I can have a better grasp on what, at the moment, seems completely implausible and irresponsible. (see anecdote below)

Take for instance the following example provided by Wertham in SOTI:

"A boy of ten was referred to the Clinic after he had been accused of pushing a younger boy into the water so that the small boy drowned. Another boy had seen him do it, but since he himself denied it the authorities felt it was one boy's word against another and the case was dismissed as "accidental death." The Clinic was asked to give the suspected boy emotional guidance...

He was a voracious comic-book reader...

He was known to be a bully. He had bullied the boy who was drowned to such an extent that the boy's mother had gone to the authorities to ask for protection for her boy. Steeped in crime-comics lore, his attitude was a mixture of bravado and evasiveness. Nothing indicated that he had any feelings of guilt. The [Word] Association Test showed a definite blocking to key words such as drowning, water, little boy and pushing. After careful study of the whole case we came to the conclusion that the little boy would not have drowned if our boy had not pushed him in, and that our patient would not have been pushed to the murder if his mind had not been imbued with readiness for violence and murder by his continuous comic-book reading" (58-59).

That is, if ever there were, a definitive statement. That's heavy stuff. And, honestly, I need more. This statement DEMANDS that Wertham provide the evidence of the "careful study" the clinic conducted.

I am left to my own devices on determining the validity of this statement. If I am to be a responsible reader, media consumer, thinker, then I must seek out multiple interpretations of comics' influence on behavior. Right?

Then there is the following example which, to my reasoning, borders on the absurd:

"To advise a child not to read a comic book works only if you can explain to him your reasons. For example, a ten-year-old girl from a cultivated and literate home asked me why I thought it was harmful to read Wonder Woman (a crime comic which we have found to be one of the most harmful). She saw in her home many good books and I took that as a starting point, explaining to her what good stories and novels are. I told her: Supposing you get used to eating sandwiches made with very strong seasonings, with onions and peppers and highly spiced mustard. You will lose your taste for simple bread and butter and for finer food. The same is true of reading strong comic books. If later on you want to read a good novel it may describe how a young boy and girl sit together and watch the rain falling. They talk about themselves and the pages of the book describe what their innermost little thoughts are. This is what is called literature. But you will never be able to appreciate that if in comic-book fashion you expect that at any minute someone will appear and pitch both of them out of the window.

In this case the girl understood, and the advice worked" (64-65).

Ummm... Huh?

The Ugly:
At the end of the day though, I am in total agreement with the good doctor on the question of: Do I want my five and seven year old daughters reading and seeing images about murdered women, severed heads, popped eyeballs, rape, robbery, sadism, grotesque monsters, and many other wonders of the horrible?

No.

Would I be disturbed if I learned my daughters read the following comic that Wertham describes in SOTI:

"A thirteen-year-old boy told me once that he saw in a comic book a picture of gangsters tying two living men to their car and dragging them to death on their faces over a rough road. He could not remember which comic book it was in but said it was one of the most popular ones. [True Crime v1#2 and again in v2#1]

At first I did not believe him and thought that this must be his own spinning-out of a cruel fantasy, perhaps stimulated by something similar. What he had told me about was one of the cruel, primitive, bloody rites which did exist in prehistoric times, but disappeared at the dawn of history. In Homer's Iliad, Achilles, after slaying Hector, ties the dead body to his chariot and triumphantly races around the city of Troy. Homer described with repugnance and pity the bloody rite of dragging a dead body behind a war chariot - repressing the earlier, still bloodier one of dragging a living captive to his death."

[Homer's story is indeed a grisly one of anger, humiliation, and violence. And it is also one that has been depicted much over the centuries. It is timeless, a classic. The fascination for violence runs long and deep and the questions of who and what does it serve is an ongoing debate that travels through SOTI and right up to today's violence in video games debate.]

[Depictions of Achilles dragging Hector's corpse behind his chariot. (click to enlarge)]

"Could a popular comic book for children, I asked myself, return to pre-Homeric savagery to stimulate children's fantasy to such barbaric cruelty?

Later the boy remembered that he had swapped this comic book along with other choice ones with another boy, and he brought it to me. Underneath the title a little enclosed inscription reads: "Every word is true!" Then comes the picture of a car that is speeding away. Two men are tied by their feet to the rear bumper and lie face down. One has his hands tied be hind his back and the lower part of his face is dragging in the road. The other man's hands are not tied and his arms are stretched out. The text in the balloons indicates that three men in the car are talking:

"A couple more miles oughta do th' trick!"

"It better! These #-"**!! GRAVEL ROADS are tough on tires!"

"But ya gotta admit, there's nothing like 'em for ERASING FACES!"

Next to these balloons is a huge leering face, eyes wide and gloating and mouth showing upper and lower teeth in a big grin:

"SUPERB! Even Big Phil will admire this job - if he lives long enough to identify the MEAT!"

The boy who brought me the comic book explained to me that of course these men were still alive: "They may have been roughed up a little, but they are being killed by being dragged to death on their stomachs and faces." You can see that very plainly, he pointed out to me, from the carefully drawn fact that they both desperately try to hold up their heads - the one with outstretched hands still succeeding at it, the other still jerking his head up but now failing to do so enough to keep his face off the gravel road. "Corpses," my young expert explained, "couldn't do that."

Two years later this story was reprinted. This time the story was promoted from the middle of the book to first place, and the dragging-to-death illustration was the frontispiece" (81-82).

Yes. Yes, I would be highly disturbed and distraught if my daughters saw that comic.

And so ultimately, what it all comes down to is, how am I going to handle this. How can I protect them? Therein lies the conundrum. We'll save that for the film.

2. A Curiosity (Homage to this Blog's title)
In my reading of Wertham's various books and articles I have come to the conclusion that he was not a fan/user/believer of the serial, or Oxford comma. Perhaps it was the European in him.Would he have been a Vampire Weekend fan? If only we knew.

3. It Came From the Archives!!!
Wertham kept a tremendous amount of correspondence; what he received and copies of what he sent in return.

Here is a postcard I find particularly amusing. I needn't say much on its behalf. It speaks for itself:

4. Be a Part of Getting Diagram for Delinquents Made

Getting a film produced is difficult and requires the aid of many. Fortunately, using new and creative fund-raising ventures, the internet has made the process all the more achievable.

Until next week,
Robert

Diagram for Delinquents Update #4: Fredric Wertham, Shape Shifter?

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 07:27:25 PST

1. Diagram for Delinquents News
I'd like to continue to look at provenance again this week.

While in the archives we photographed a micro-portion of the amount of newspaper clippings that Wertham had collected on comics, crime, juvenile delinquency, and violence. I wish we had the time to capture all of it.

We were lucky to have found the original article that served as a source illustration for both Wertham's November, 1953 Ladies' Home Journal article called "What Parents Don't Know about Comic Books," and later again in 1954 in Seduction of the Innocent.

It was exhilarating to come across this heavily used piece of inspiration!

The source (click to enlarge):

The "Diagram Gang's" map was first cited in "What Parents Don't Know about Comic Books."

Much of the article is later reiterated in SOTI, and there are a few points I would like to share with you as I am very interested in hearing your thoughts.The article is essentially a microcosm of the main arguments in SOTI. So my concerns and supports are just about the same for the article as the book.

As I have mentioned in the past, I am very uncomfortable with much of Wertham's comics writing because of its overwrought delivery, which comes off as completely alarmist. Almost to the point of paranoid. This alarmist delivery begins to lack credibility as there are no sources cited for Wertham's claims and examples. Perhaps this is a modern or academic perspective, but nonetheless, it's what I have trouble with most. For example, in the following statement from "What Parents Don't Know About Comic Books," does anything strike you as troubling about what's being said here:

"In the spring of 1951 a teen-ager driving a stolen car tried to run down a policeman who had stepped out of his radio car to arrest him. People wondered at such cold-blooded brutality. How can a young boy get such an idea? For comic-book readers this is a lesson of the elementary grades, described and illustrated over and over again. For instance, in a comic book on the stands in hundreds of thousands of copies at that very time:

'That was the cold-blooded way he ran down and killed one guy! And only a few minutes before that he robbed a jewelry store!'" (click at left to enlarge)

Further, I almost cannot picture this outrageous scene outside of a silent film that Wertham describes:

"Some comic books teach how to steal from the youngest tots. You pick them up bodily, hold them upside down and shake them so that coins will fall out of their pockets. Not only do I know from boys that they have learned this and practiced it, but similar cases have been reported... where children... 'turned boys upside down to get pennies from their pockets.'"

I'm sorry, but this seems like a lot of effort when you can threaten a smaller child or just reach in to their pockets yourself to pull the money out.

But then, Wertham leaps into an earnest, altruistic, and passionate, albeit slightly overwrought appeal for what he wants for children. It is hard to argue with, and I am emotionally moved by his words:

"Set the children free! Give them a chance! Don't inculcate them with your ugly passions when they have hardly learned to read. Don't teach them all the violence, the shrewdness, the hardness of your own life. Don't spoil the spontaneity of their dreams. Don't lead them halfway to delinquency and when they get there clap them up into your reformatories for what is now euphemistically called group living.

They want to play games of adventure and fun, not your games with weapons and wars and killing. They want to learn how the world goes, what people do who achieve something or discover something. They want to grow up into men and women. Set the children free!"

And finally, Wertham often demonstrates ideas of such a progressive nature he is nothing short of a pioneer of his time:

"In reaction of my proposals I found an interesting fact. People are always ready to censor sex. But they have not yet learned the role of temptation, propaganda, seduction and indoctrination in the field of crime and violence."

And later he writes:

"Mental health is just as important as physical health. Its protection should be based on the same kind of scientific clinical thinking as public health."

Are these not continued problems, EVEN to this day?

It was a great pleasure to find the pre-press image of the "Diagram Gang's" map in the Wertham archives (above right. click to enlarge). As I mentioned in previous posts, to hold objects that Wertham held, studied, and wrote, is such a tactile and exhilarating historical experience.

The "Diagram Gang's" map is used in an example of what comic books "teach" children. Wertham juxtaposes the map with a similar illustration from the DC comic published Gang Busters #3 (left. click to enlarge). (Thank you Stephen O'Day of seductionoftheinnocent.org for confirmation on this!)

Wertham's usage of the image is summed up in a caption on an illustration page in Seduction of the Innocent. It describes, what he feels, all the images contained on that page represent. It reads, "MODERN JUVENILE DELINQUENCY INVOLVES KNOWLEDGE OF TECHNIQUE." (image below. click to enlarge.)

IN SOTI Wertham describes "knowledge of technique." He goes on to cite some nefarious examples of learned techniques. However, the below examples are tame compared to some of the more grisly examples used in violent cases he claims that were influenced by comics.

"Juvenile delinquency is not just a prank nor an 'emotional illness.' The modern and more serious forms of delinquency involve knowledge of technique. By showing the technique, comic books also suggest the content. The moral lesson is that innocence doesn't pay.

A very experienced youth counselor in the course of group therapy in an institution asked two groups of delinquent boys whether and what they had learned about delinquency from comic books. From the first group, composed of nine boys from thirteen to fifteen, everyone said that he had received helpful suggestions from comic books:

1) 'Now listen to this. If you see a bathroom window lit up you know someone is at home. If it's still lit next day, no one is at home. They leave the key in the mailbox, under mats or in corners. If you see a milk bottle and a note in it, the note gives you a pretty good idea of the house. If you keep up with the notes, you know everything. Another thing: after a bride and groom get married they have a lot of presents they keep in the house, so the only thing you have to do is get two tickets to a show like Oklahoma, cost about $5.50 apiece. You send them to the bride and groom and they're pretty sure to go. On most tickets they have a date, so that you know when they go. When they're gone, you go in and take your time and help yourself. As smart as I am, I never thought of this. I got it all from the comics.'

2) 'I got my bad ideas from the comics, stabbing, robbing, stealing guns and all that stuff. In a comic book I read two kids rob a store and steal guns and get away and grow up to be bank robbers. So I did the same thing - only I didn't grow up to be a bank robber - yet!'

3) 'I read about a perfect robbery and used parts of it. This was in a crime comic magazine and it said these three men were still at large and didn't get caught, so I figured I could pull the same stuff.'"

As Wertham puts it: "By teaching the technique, comic books also teach the content."

2. It Came From the Archives!!!
Dr. Wertham saw many patients. They ranged in age, gender, race, and class. His archives were vast. We concentrated mainly on his papers on comics, but we came across a lot of material that pertained to many different aspects of his psychiatric practice.

One curious method he used was the Mosaic Test. While this practice won't make it's way into my film, my one regret now is that we didn't photograph more of it, simply because it is so fascinating.

Wertham wrote a chapter in the book Projective Psychology edited by Lawrence Edwin Abt & Leopold Bellak in 1950. The chapter is titled, "The Mosaic Test: Technique and Psychopathological Deductions."

The test was first developed by Margaret Lowenfeld as "a valuable aid in estimating emotional stability," and was adapted and heavily used by Wertham.

The test uses three dimensional and colored squares, diamonds, triangles, and oblong circles.

Wertham describes the procedure:

"The test should be explained to the subject in a friendly manner, first in general and then specifically... In other words, it is important to have the subject start out in as good a frame of mind as possible,
on the one hand taking it not too lightly, on the other not too fearfully.

The subject is shown the pieces in a box. The examiner takes out a sample of each shape and shows it to the subject, and then a sample of each color, explaining that all the shapes come in every color, and every color in each shape...

After the subject has been shown what material he can work with, he is asked to make anything he wants to on the board before which he is sitting in a comfortable position....

The examiner should look on while the subject makes the design, but his watching should be very unobtrusive; and he should do something else (like reading) at the same time, so the patient can feel free. The verbal responses of the patient while he is making the design at least the significant ones should be taken down and entered on the chart.

Sometimes subjects want to destroy a half-finished or almost completely finished design. The examiner should not permit the individual to obliterate his original design completely. He can, however, permit him to change the design and to add to it.

When the subject has finished his design, the examiner should ask in general terms what he was thinking of when he was making it: What does it represent? What did he want to make? What does it look like? What was in his mind? Does he like it? What does he think of it?...

When the design is completed, a life-size record is made of it on paper."

The chapter's next section explains the analysis of results. The most intriguing, to me, is the following explanation:

"My method of interpreting mosaics is far more limited and at the same time felt to be more valid. In thousands of cases it has been found that mosaics represent certain basic or dominant processes corresponding to definite clinical entities or reaction types. Certain mental diseases are clearly and definitely revealed by the Mosaic Test. This has been verified in schizophrenia, for example, in hundreds of cases. I have never seen a patient suffering from a clear-cut case of schizophrenia make a normal design, nor have I ever seen a definitely normal person make a clear-cut schizophrenic design." (click left image to enlarge example of schizophrenic Mosaic Test)

It is completely incredible to me that so much can be drawn from such a simple exercise. In the section titled: "Diagnostic Interpretations," Wertham breaks down the diagnostic categories:

Normals, Schizophrenics, Paraphrenic (paranoid psychoses, paranoia, the paraphrenia of Kraepelin, and the more strictly so-called schizophrenic paranoid psychoses), Organic Brain Disease, Mental Deficiency, Manic-depressive psychosis or Manic states, Depressive states, Disorders of consciousness, Epilepsy, Psychopathic personalities, Psychoneurosis...

All of that from some little colored shapes... It's difficult for me to even comprehend the possibility of an accurate diagnosis. But, I am no scientist.

I photographed one particular Mosaic Test in Wertham's archives that captured my imagination. Who was this boy? Why was he there? What was "wrong" with him? Was he angry? Was he happy? Where is he now?

The test result (below. click to enlarge), titled: "The Olden Days" also contains a small description by the boy. "The man is imprisoned with chains."

Perhaps the most compelling part is the transcription of the test's results, which were paper-clipped to the back. The diagnosis is terse and the accompanying note is horrific.

"The mosaic definitely shows that he is not a schizophrenic."

"This boy had twenty shock therapys a year ago in Bellevue."

This small note, though matter-of-fact in its delivery, seems to possess indignation for the unnecessary treatment.

I found no evidence of the race of this particular patient, but at Wertham's Lafargue Clinic in Harlem they particularly battled the misdiagnoses of African-American patients that led to mistreatment, specifically electroconvulsive shock therapy or ECT.

By coincidence, as I was gathering material for this blog post, comics scholar, Leonard Rifas, sent me an article he recently read. Written by medical historian Dennis Doyle, "Where the Need is Greatest': Social Psychiatry and Race-Blind Universalism in Harlem's Lafargue Clinic, 1946-1958." appears in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 83:4, Winter, 2009. (Thank you Leonard.)

The essay is a detailed investigation of the philosophies and practices at the Lafargue Clinic.

The article, along with a host of new discoveries and insights, details the improper prescribing of electroshock therapy to black patients, due to misdiagnosed cases of schizophrenia in facilities outside of Lafargue.

Doyle writes:

At Lafargue, "the race-blind universalism was an integral component of the matrix of ideas and assumptions informing the social psychiatrist. A patient’s blackness was clinically acknowledged only as a physical indicator of the extra emotional stress that might be socially imposed on him or her. Thus an awareness of the social fact of blackness, in combination with the clinic’s devotion to universalism, generally shaped how Lafargue’s staff understood, diagnosed, and treated patients.

In fact, this dual devotion made Lafargue’s psychiatrists confident that they diagnosed and treated black Harlem patients with more accuracy than anyone else could provide. In particular, Hilde Mosse contended that many of her young black male patients at Lafargue had been misdiagnosed elsewhere as schizophrenic. In the March 1958 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Dr. Mosse made the powerful charge that Bellevue and New York’s state mental hospitals had overdiagnosed schizophrenia among '[c]hildren in trouble for many reasons.' Analyzing sixty cases of Lafargue children an outside clinic had diagnosed as schizophrenic, she concluded that for 'practically all of them the diagnosis was wrong.' She argued that most of these children simply had behavior problems and were not schizophrenic... However, in her article, Mosse carefully resisted making the outright claim that racial discrimination had caused this mislabeling of urban black children. Still, she implied as much, concluding her article with the warning that the overdiagnosis of childhood schizophrenia was 'a threat to children living in a socially difficult milieu.' As far as her experience indicated, a poor black child ensnared within the court system was likely to be sent to a public institution and misdiagnosed as some sort of psychotic. Psychosis was, as it is now, a diagnosis that had been disproportionately applied to African Americans... Of course, Mosse believed that Lafargue’s antiracist clinicans would have been far more likely to seek and provide socially contextualized diagnoses. Mosse suggested that as long as Bellevue’s staff remained blind to the social realities that these children had to face, they would never be able to accurately assign meaning to their behavior.

Given this general awareness of black Harlem’s 'cultural pattern,' Mosse felt that the Lafargue staff was much less likely than the average clinic to overdiagnose psychosis in African Americans. An internal memorandum cowritten by Mosse asserted as late as 1956 that 'when we diagnose psychosis we mean it.' Mosse was overly cautious with this label because she believed that such a misdiagnosis could actually be 'dangerous' for black patients. Typically, long-term institutionalization and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) followed whenever a black Harlemite was diagnosed as schizophrenic. Mosse’s first Lafargue patient had been given ten ECT treatments at another clinic. Having diagnosed the patient as depressed, Mosse felt that “[s]hock treatment was certainly contraindicated and harmful.” Mosse was personally disheartened that “symptoms are frequently misinterpreted. This has serious consequences . . .'

In several Lafargue cases, the allegedly misdiagnosed patients had been given ECT. Mosse suspected that each patient’s personality and affect had been damaged by the unnecessary shock treatments. Mosse’s 1956 article in the American Journal of Psychiatry really can best be understood, then, as an attempt to spare some African American patients such a fate by at least changing some clinicians’ minds."

This is stunning evidence of Wertham, Mosse, and their associates at Lafargue as advocates and caregivers for the underrepresented, the disenfranchised, the discriminated, the casted-off.

Wertham was certainly on the same mission when he set out to protect ALL children from inappropriate and violent comics. But the question is, why has he become one of the most infamous and villainized historical figures in the story of comics. That's what we hope to present.

Additional research, insight, and conversation provided by R.H. Langan. Thanks Bob!

MINICONCEPTDOC #53: SPECIAL HOLIDAY EDITION: ST. VALENTINE'S DAY

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:26:20 PST

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In one way, I'm not much of a romantic. But in many other ways I am very much a romantic. I'm complicated, just like everyone else. I've been a bit skeptical about Valentine's Day, and have never really celebrated it in a big way.

Yesterday I wanted to test a vintage lens on my AF100, so I thought I would do a MINICONCEPTDOC. It's a been a while since I put myself to the test. Then I thought, why not make a special holiday addition.

Hmmm.... How to "MINICONCEPTDOC" Valentine's Day? That was the question. As would often happen in the past, the idea came to me when I was out for my run.

Just to clarify: I didn't make this to be cynical or sarcastic, or dark. I am not trying to be ironic. I really think the idea is a representation of love. Forever and ever and ever.

I hope you appreciate my perspective and I hope you enjoy the short. If you live in Germany, unfortunately YOUTUBE has restricted access. No love for Deutschland.

LARGER VERSION AVAILABLE AT MINICONCEPTDOCS CHANNEL, HERE

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EMILIO CARRANZA FLIES AGAIN

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 09:35:07 PST

A wonderful thing happened to me recently.

I have had a lot of luck with people getting the DVD for De Luxe. Usually they are train historians or enthusiasts... people that have been subscribers of this special interest topic. Someone recently, after watching De Luxe, got a copy of Goodwill: The Flight of Emilio Carranza.

I took this as the biggest compliment! This individual watched one of my pictures because of his special interest and was impressed enough that he wanted to see another one of my documentaries. I am, yes, easy to please and flattered... in the humblest of ways of course.

This sparked my interest in looking at material I had stocked away from Goodwill. It was always my intention to create a deluxe version of Goodwill with extra content. My own personal Criterion Collection version if you will.

Here is an excerpt from Goodwill:

Excerpt from Goodwill: The Flight of Emilio Carranza from Robert A. Emmons Jr. on Vimeo.

So, I went to the archives and labeled and exported some clips to share with you Emilio Carranza and New Jersey history fans.

1.) First up is the ever present "deleted scenes" clips.

The original version of Goodwill was actually ninety minutes long, just as De Luxe is. However, after watching it a few times, and at the wise suggestions of close screeners (and to try to get a sixty minute version for an interested NJN producer), it was too long. I/NJN wanted to cut it down to an hour. However, no matter what I tried I couldn't do it. Well... not without completely changing the film's approach. If I would have dropped myself as the narrator and that angle of the story, which is my personal journey in making the film, it would have been possible to make an hour long program. But I had grown fond of this particular approach to tell the story and I couldn't part ways with it. Plus, I would have had to find a new narrator and that would have taken lots of time and money. (An early attempt at that approach didn't go too well. SEE BELOW.) I could only whittle it down to seventy-five minutes. I'm happy with that.

I had to cut a few scenes, but I am only going to present a couple here. Actually, what I have here is a deleted scene and a scene that was never used. So the second clip isn't fully polished because it never made it to a final edit. But I think it's interesting nonetheless.

2.) Voice Over Narrator Test

Now this is a real gem! As I mentioned above in the beginning I struggled with the film's approach. How was I going to construct this narrative? For the most part it operated like a traditional historical documentary, like any you would see on the History Channel. After the interviewing process there were holes in the story that needed filling. There are only really two ways to connect those dots:

a. Shoot more interviews or footage that tell the missing parts of the story.

or

b. Write narration that fills in the missing information.

Considering that half the picture's interviews were shot in Mexico and I had already made multiple trips there and exhausted the budget... Narration was the choice! By the way, it took three year to make this picture. Three long, hard years of research and filming.

As I edited and resolved to using narration I sent out pieces of the script to voice over artists. I wanted someone that evoked Mexico. At first I shot big. I wrote to the agents of the Mexican-American comedian and actors Paul Rodriguez, George Lopez, and Cheech Marin. Mr. Rodriguez's agent responded and sent me his contact email. I was ecstatic! I wrote him and we went back and forth a couple of times. However, we could never make it work. I couldn't raise the extra funds quick enough and he had projects he had to move on to. So close!

After that, I thought I would try something even more ethnic, so I sent script excerpts to Mexican voice over artists that could speak English. The results of that were mind-blowing. An education indeed. It wasn't going to work.

Now as this was happening I was having trouble editing the piece and contructing the historical narrative. I was striving for accuracy, fairness, and trying to represent all of the film's constitunats as best I could. The problem was, at times, there were three different versions or perspectives on the same historical event. This was troubling. I couldn't find THE answer, THE truth in my own research so I presented each perspective as best I could and left it to the audience.

In this process my involvement in the story became richer, deeper. It was important how I came to the story, what I learned during it, and my struggles telling it. So I became the narrator. This worked for me because I now had so much obvious stake in the film. Viewers could see me and hear me. There was no separation between filmmaker and film. Audiences have responded well to it and I feel satistfied with the outcome. So much so I made my next documentary the same way. For my current film, Diagram for Delinquents, I don't think I am going to use that approach. However, if I learned anything, it's that things change.

3.) Mel Carranza Reading NYT's Funeral Cortege Article

As you may or may not know, Goodwill is a story in two parts. First, it is the biographical tale of the hero Mexican aviator Captain Emilio Carranza. It is also the story of Mt Holly, NJ American Legion Post 11 and their undying commitment to Capt. Carranza. Because they had a hand in the recovery of his body after the crash and they felt a kinship and respect for Carranza, they have memorialized his mission and death every year since that day in 1928. This year marks the 83rd Annual Carranza Memorial Service. That is a commitment, friends. If you haven't been to it, you must. It has become a truly original piece of New Jersey and American history and culture. There is nothing else like it in our country. It is a beautiful day.

As I made Goodwill I returned every year to film the service out in Wharton State Forest. It follows the same format each year, but something amazing always happens. Some years it's a surprise guest or dignitary. Perhaps a family member. Or perhaps someone comes forward with a piece of Carranza's crashed plane, "Excelsior". In 2005, Mel Carranza read an article from the New York Times that described Carranza's funeral cortege in New York City. Mel's reading is everything the memorial service is: dramatic, emotional, evocative, and sincere. Here, for the first time, is that reading:

4.) Mexico City International Airport Aviation Heroes

Every time I have visited Mexico, I am flattered and blown away by the level of respect I am treated with. I love the country. The Carranza family and the Mexican government have been extremely kind to me and have honored me in numerous ways. Goodwill is shown each year to the military aviation school cadets. Is there a bigger honor? Actually, there is. I am the first American to receive the Emilio Carranza Medal as a Messenger of Peace. The medal is typically reserved for citizens who achieve a high amount of flight hours or have demonstrated high acts of goodwill. The award was presented to me by General Gonzalez of the Mexican Air Force. I am still overcome by this honor.

From my very first visit there, it was apparent we were going to have a special relationship. When my crew and I touched down and walked through the terminal we were picked up and whisked away through the airport on a golf cart, bypassing all hold-ups and lines. We felt so important. We were taken to the airport's exhibition hall where they had the busts of Mexico's most famous fliers. We met family members and goverment and military officials. It was overwhelming and a high honor.

Here is a glimpse of the Hall of Aviation Heroes and some of the family and dignitaries we met:

The music you hear in these clips is by the Ages: Jeff Blatcher and Dave Downham. They crafted the film's score. If I didn't have their work, I wouldn't have the film I do. They were an inspiration. Keep your eye out for their new album, coming soon! Also, I have copies of the film's soundtrack. If you're interested email me: raemmonsjr@gmail.com.

I hope you find these Goodwill remnants interesting!

Diagram for Delinquents Update #3: Fredric Wertham, Daredevil (Yipee Ki-Yay!)

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:51:27 PST

1. Diagram for Delinquents News
I am, for the first time, reading Seduction of the Innocent (SOTI) from cover to cover. In the past it's been very piecemeal. In fact, there are some sections I have never read. It's quite fun, especially after reading Beaty's Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture.

The book's fourth chapter is called "The Wrong Twist: The Effects of Comic Books on Children."

It begins with, as all the chapters do, an epigraph.

Chapter IV's epigraph comes from Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana (pictured left. click image to enlarge.) and reads:

"A man who gives a wrong twist to your mind, meddles with you just as truly as if he hit you in the eye; the mark may be less painful, but it's more lasting."

It is a detailed chapter that quite explicitly expresses exactly what Wertham subtitles the section.

What I have been enjoying particularly is seeing the provenance of parts of SOTI. In fact, I think that will also be the focus of next week's blog entry! But returning to this week's... Since the very first time I read it, I was drawn to what Wertham describes as "the injury-to-the-eye motif." I think my interest comes from my personal eye obsession. When I was a sophomore in high-school I suffered a traumatic eye injury that blinded me for some days and put me in the hospital for quite a while longer. I remember talking with the doctor early on and needing all my strength to not vomit as he delivered the following speech:

"Now son, we're going to try all we can to fix your eye up, get your vision back, and make you all better. You see (ironic, huh) what's happened is, in a way when you were hit in the eye, it kind of exploded inside, and now your eye has filled up with blood (That was the freakiest part. When I looked in the mirror, my iris and pupil were flooded with blood, while the white part was fine.) (Here is the vomit inducing part.) We're going to do all we can to get the pressure in your eye down and get that blood out. We're going to try some medicine first and see if that works. However, if it doesn't, we'll have to stick a needle in your eye and drain that blood out. (Cold sweat, numb fingers, internal praying for medicine to work. And, of course, the childhood rhyme repeated itself over and over again in my head: 'Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye'. You can bet I don't use that one anymore.)"

I think you can now better see my fascination with eyes and their delicate nature.

In the chapter, Wertham writes:

"The injury to the eye motif is an outstanding example of the brutal attitude cultivated in comic books - the threat or actual infliction of injury to the eyes of a victim, male or female. This detail, occurring in uncounted instances, shows perhaps the true color of crime comics better than anything else. It has no counterpart in any other literature of the world, for children or for adults.

According to our case material the brutalizing effect of this injury-to-the-eye motif is twofold. In the first place, it causes a blunting of the general sensibility. Children feel in a vague subconscious way that if this kind of thing is permitted then other acts are so much less serious that it cannot be so wrong to indulge in them either.

An eight-year-old girl said to her mother, 'Let's play a game. Someone is coming to see us. I'll stamp on him, knock his eyes out and cut him up.'

But it has also a direct effect. Children have done deliberate harm to the eyes of other children, an occurrence which before the advent of crime comics I had never encountered among the thousands of children I examined. On a number of occasions I have asked juveniles who used homemade zip guns what harm they could do with so little power. I received prompt reply: 'You shoot in the eye. Then it works.'

The children of the early forties pointed out the injury-to-the-eye to us as something horrible. The children of 1954 take it for granted. A generation is being desensitized by these literal horror images.
One comic shows a man slashing another man across the eye balls with a sword. The victim: 'MY EYES! I cannot see!'

In a run-of-the-mill crime comic a man with brass knuckles hits another man (held fast by a third man) in the eyes, one after the other. Dialogue: 'Now his other glimmer, Pete! Only sort of twist the knuckles this time!'

In a Western comic book the "Gouger" is threatening the hero's eye with his thumb, which has a very long and pointed nail. This is called the "killer's manicure." He says: 'YORE EYES ARE GONNA POP LIKE GRAPES WHEN OL' GOUGER GETS HIS HANDS ON YOU!... HERE GO THE PEEPERS!'

In one comic book a gangster gains control over another man's racket and tapes his eyes 'with gauze that has been smeared with an infectious substance!' He says: 'When I get through with ya, ya'll never look at another case of beer again!

When a policeman is blinded, the criminal says: 'Well, he don't have to worry about them eyes no more!'

Girls are frequent victims of the eye motif, as in the typical: "My eyes! My eyes! Don't! PLEASE! I'll tell you anything you want to know, only don't blind me! PLEASE!'"

So, if you recall, the news this week was about provenance. Tracing the origin of an interest is like some kind of archeology. It's a dig. To illustrate the above injury-to-the-eye motif, Wertham includes a comic panel in the book's illustrations section that was particularly horrifying to me (Emmons with book illustration pictured right. click image to enlarge.)

One of the problems with SOTI is its highly anecdotal delivery (See SOTI quote above). One major argument against the book is its lack of scientific evidence. It wasn't systematic; it wasn't empirical. Wertham unabashedly states that the book is built on the clinical method, which is based upon interviewing, studying the patient fully and in context. He wasn't interested in the scientific method used by his peers at the time. He had branded his own method: Social Psychiatry. It was indeed a holistic method to studying patients.

As Wertham builds his argument and cites evidence it feels like a second hand story, hearsay. Along this line, when Wertham discussed parts of comic books, he rarely cites what comic book it came from. In his illustration section, almost none of the images are credited or cited.

The comic panel in the book image above is from True Crime V.1 #2. (click image below to enlarge)

In Wertham's archives I found two instances of the panel used above from True Crime V.1 #2.

[NOTE: Thank you Stephen O'Day for the correction on the issue appearance of the above illustration panel. Stephen is the webmaster of Seductionoftheinnocent.org. The site is an amazing resource for tracing the comics used in Seduction of the Innocent (I was silly not to confirm the source to begin with, with him!). Stephen has graciously agreed to appear in the film when we met at the archives. We are excited to talk with him and pluck all the knowledge and goodies he has!]

The first is a blown-up copy used in an experiment to see how a young boy reacts and comments on the content of the image. (click image below to enlarge)

The second is what appears to be the pre-press copy of the image with instructions on the final size of the sample. What a treat to actually touch this object. Talk about living history! (click image below to enlarge)

Finding these was like stringing together the pieces of a time-puzzle. I was watching the past create a chronology to my present. I was holding history.

2. It Came From the Archives!!!
There's no denying that Wertham was a man of bold ideas and opinions. He was also a man that did all he could to get his message out there. Though many don't know who he is today, he was very much a public figure in the 40's, 50's, and 60's. Of course he wrote for scientific and academic journals, but he was most profilic in the public sphere. Many of his articles were written for magazines read by middle

America. Most of his books were published for that audience as well.

Wertham was interviewed in numerous magazines (another future blog entry). He appeared on radio and, of course, in the burgeoning medium of television.

I found a few curious photographs in his archives that chronicled some of his television appearances. The most interesting of them are photos of televisions as Wertham appeared on the t.v. Can we assume he or his wife took the pictures? I absolutely love the idea of a picture of a picture. It's charming... as a way to capture his appearance in a time before VCR's, DVD-R's, or DVR's.

Here's a sampling.

Wertham on the Mike Douglas Show. The 60's flower background is quite amusing:

Wertham on The Mike Wallace Interview (as photographed on t.v.):

And finally, Wertham on Firing Line (pre-show):

As a special treat for you, dear reader, I now give you a slice of Dr. Wertham in color, and in motion. Here is a short excerpt of him from the above 1967 interview on Firing Line. It's a great clip. The contrast between William F. Buckley Jr.'s intensely serious and "performed" appearance and Wertham's relaxed and passionate testimony is quite stunning. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the doctor seems to have a slight twinkle in his eye, right?

Speaking of a twinkle... there's also this. Yes. That's him STANDING ON A HORSES BACK! (click images to enlarge) And this man said comic books were dangerous!

3. Be a Part of Getting Diagram for Delinquents Made

Getting a film produced is difficult and requires the aid of many. Fortunately, using new and creative fund-raising ventures, the internet has made the process all the more achievable.

Until next week,

Robert

Diagram for Delinquents Update #2: Fredric Wertham Loves Kittens

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:17:35 PST

1.Diagram for Delinquents News
Lest you think that the story of Dr. Wertham is a simple one, that the man is shallow, one dimensional, and composed of only the reputation that he has been assigned within the world of comic books, you only need to read Bart Beaty's text to learn otherwise.

Beaty's book, Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture is as complete a study of Wertham that exists. His intent is obvious. His argument clear. The picture that the comics industry has painted of Wertham is................................................................... wrong. Fortunately we have Beaty to appear in the film to present his argument to you. I just know you can't wait!

Does this mean that Wertham was right?!?! Does it mean he created no strife for the lovers of comics and the industry? Of course not. It only means the contention between Wertham and comics is more complex and nuanced than most of us might have been aware.

For instance, let me throw some information your way that makes it a little harder to simply cast Wertham as a stifling force, a man hellbent on ending creativity, free speech, and ultimately our beloved comics. Please, don't think I am giving him a free pass, but also do not think that I am ignoring his full body of work or that I am not fully investigating his indictment of comics.

Our film, Diagram for Delinquents, is going to present as full a history as we possibly can. The result will hopefully yield just who this Wertham guy really is and how he has made a VERY LONG lasting impact on comic books and the comics industry.

But getting back to what we shall call: The Complications of F.W.........

Let's consider the following details of his life:

a.) Point: Wertham and his work with the underrepresented and disenfranchised. He made REAL progress in the Civil Rights Movement.

His testimony during desegregation hearings in the state of Delaware were cited in their decision to end "separate-but-equal" in schools. He was then cited in Brown v. Board of Education.
He created a mental health clinic in Harlem for African-American children when no one else wanted to help that population. The Lafargue Clinic was opened in 1946, with a little help from Ralph Ellison no less. (SEE IT CAME FROM THE ARCHIVES! BELOW)

b.) Point: Wertham and his cautioning of the American public to not become consumed by the "(Second) Red Scare".

The evidence points to Wertham as a progressive in his thoughts on "commie hunting", a practice we look back on now as Draconian. Of course, in such a time, Wertham had to protect himself from just these types of accusations, so his thoughts were skillfully placed in typically less political contexts.
During his Senate Subcommittee testimony Wertham was asked about the accusations made by Mad magazine positioning the doctor as a communist.

EXCERPT FROM TESTIMONY OF DR. FREDERIC WERTHAM, PSYCHIATRIST, DIRECTOR, LAFARGUE CLINIC, NEW YORK, N. Y. WEDNESDAY APRIL 21st, 1954, AFTERNOON SESSION.

SENATOR KEFAUVER: While you are on that subject, Dr. Wertham, may I see that thing, anybody who opposes comic books is a red?
DR, WERTHAM: Yes; that is part of it.

SENATOR KEFAUVER: I have read a number of your writings. I have read your Seduction of the Innocent. You remember a number of years ago I had several visits with you and you told me about the pressure they tried to apply on you in connection with this. But I noticed here this thing, that anyone who opposes comic books are Communists. The group most anxious to destroy comics are the Communists... This seems to be an effort to tie you up in some way as Red or Communist.

Wertham must have had particular disdain for this accusation which is easily evidenced seven years earlier, hidden away in a literary review of a biography written of Leo Tolstoy that Wertham wrote for The New Republic.

Wertham Writes: "We are living in a time when minds are being deliberately poisoned. The people want peace. But when they read the newspapers they are subtly aroused to suspicion by a continuous stream of insinuations against the country of Tolstoy. All information from Russia is carefully sifted and there is a fierce struggle for survival of the news that is "fittest" to print in this campaign."

c.) Wertham argued for the abolishment of the death penalty. He considered it inhumane, immoral, and terroristic.

Oh... and then there's this:

Again, let me clarify, because I consider the above information in a holistic view of Wertham, doesn't mean I am in agreement with all that has transpired in his career. I am still considering all the evidence, still working the history. And through it all, I keep asking myself the same question. Despite all the seemingly good work Wertham has done, why does his impact on comics feel so wrong to me? I guess, or I hope, the answer will come with the end of our picture.

2. It Came From the Archives!!!

How can we reconcile the following and Wertham's reputation with the comics public and their claims of suppression of freedom of speech?

3. Be a Part of Getting Diagram for Delinquents Made

Getting a film produced is difficult and requires the aid of many. Fortunately, using new and creative fund-raising ventures, the internet has made the process all the more achievable.

Until next week,

Robert

Diagram for Delinquents Update #1

noreply@blogger.com (R. A. Emmons Jr.) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:22:08 PST

Hello All!

1. Diagram for Delinquents News
Let me begin with huge thanks to our first pledges who have put us at just about 25% of our goal all within the first 24 hours of our launch!

I cannot express in this post alone the high level of excitement, joy, and encouragement this gives the filmmakers.

I am going to use this space over the next three months to tell you about the pre-production progress of the film and to share some of the exciting discoveries we have made so far and will continue to make.

Let me begin with some of the participants that will appear in the picture. To tell this story we will be capturing artists, writers, historians, editors, and many others inside and outside the world of comics. So far we are set to interview three individuals that have made huge contributions to comic book studies:

Bart Beaty, author of Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture.

Amy Kiste Nyberg, author of Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code.

Douglas Wolk, author of Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean.

We are so pleased to be working with them as they will bring so much experience and original thought to the discussion and narrative.

2. It Came From the Archives!!!

I am going to use this biweekly section to release some of the more interesting documents we have uncovered in our journey through the Fredric Wertham Papers.

Today I'd like to share a curios letter sent to Senator Estes Kefauver from Dr. Frederic Wertham on September 21, 1954.

Some background: Senator Kefauver (left) was elected to the Senate in 1948 after putting in significant time as a state Representation from the 3rd District of Tennessee. While in the Senate, Kefauver sat on significant committees dealing with monopolies and organized crime.

However, it his time spent on the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency that is the focus of our story, Diagram For Delinquents. The Subcommittee was established and originally chaired in 1953 by NJ Senator Robert Hendrickson (My home state!). The original formation of the bipartisan Subcommittee included Hendrickson, Kefauver, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. of Missouri, and William Langer of North Dakota. Others and various lead counsel came later.

The Subcommittee heard testimonies, in several parts, from experts testifying on the possible causes of juvenile delinquency from television to comic books as well as defenders of targeted culture and media (more on that in later posts!).

One of the experts in the comic book hearings (held on April 21st, 22nd, and June 4th of 1954) was New York psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham.Wertham, who had recently published his indictment of comics, Seduction of the Innocent (which was read with enthusiasm by Kefauver) was an expert witness on the impact that comics made in creating deliquent behavior in children.

(Wertham had spent much time and energy investigating the causes of juvenile delinquency and child gangs well before the hearings that day. This was quite evident as we poured through the hundreds of clipped news articles on gangs, poverty, and delinquency that Wertham had amassed... But that's for a future post!)

The drama of Wertham's and other's testimonies before the Subcommitte and the exchanges with Kefauver will make much of the drama of our film. Again... to be reveled in the future...

So back to today's It Came From the Archives!!!.

I present to you a letter written to Kefauver from Wertham about five months after his testimony. The letter expresses his unhappiness at the direction of some of comic book publishers and who they may or may not have in their "back pockets as well as Kefauver's colleagues regarding the comic book code. Of note are Wertham's description of the situation, the money that is involved in the comic industry, and Wertham's urgency to push Kefauver to complete his intended goal of straightening out this whole comics business.

And so...

(Click on this and above images to enlarge)

3. Be a Part of Getting Diagram for Delinquents Made

Getting a film produced is difficult and requires the aid of many. Fortunately, using new and creative fund-raising ventures, the internet has made the process all the more achievable.

Soon,

Robert