Library Association Supports Recent Criticism Of Comics

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27397, 9 July 1954, Page 3

Library Association Supports Recent Criticism Of Comics

Publication of the report on comics by the inter-departmental committee mentioned by the Minister of Education (Mr R. M. Algie) in a letter to the Canterbury Housewives’ Union will be sought by the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Library Association. The branch also gave general approval at a meeting on Wednesday evening to the objections to certain comics expressed by the Housewives* Union.

The Library Association heard a panel of four speakers on the subject and then there was a discussion. “Comics just aren’t comic any longer,” said Councillor L. Christie, chairman of the Christchurch City Council’s library committee, who presided. Others claimed that voluntary action was ineffective and could never be adequate. Mrs Elsie Locke, representing the Housewives’ Union, said that, as the mother of four children, she was shocked by the flood of comics glorifying crime and implying that violence was natural. Even more obnoxious, she said, were the frequent racial discriminations through many bad characters being portrayed as foreigners. “Our striving for understanding among the nations is thus being constantly undermined,” Mrs Locke added. The Housewives’ Union was not satisfied with the Minister’s reply that voluntary action was adequate protection in the meantime, Mrs Locke said. Parents, teachers, churches, and booksellers could give considerable guidance, but that did not safeguard the children of careless homes. Compulsory precautions were made against physical danger, health hazards, and other matters, yet little was done in the comics field to protect mental and

moral health. Most people were cautious about anything smacking of censorship, Mrs Locke said, but comics were fully analagous to films, all of which were certificated and some barred to children. _ , , The Australian and New Zealand Governments could co-operate in the production of worthwhile literature in the comic type of presentation, Mrs Locke said. New Zealand now had a splendid school journal. In place of the spurious and deceiving tales of the comics, there could be wholesome and exciting accounts of modern research and adventure. Educational Considerations

Comics of the old “Chick’s Own ’ < and “Rainbow” type could be a use- 1 ful intermediary in early reading and 1 in arousing the interest of slow ■ learners, said Mr H. R. Hooker, of the ’ Christchurch Teachers’ College. Other comics were not good but were re- ; latively harmless. This was a negative ; criterion, however. These productions had unimaginative treatment, were not developmental, and had little that was of aesthetic value in style or illustration. They could be regarded as a passing phase before the greater enjoyment of other literature. A third class of comics was definitely harmful, and should not be available to children, Mr Hooker said. These were poor in most aspects of production. They had bad grammar, mangled spelling, and an abundance of slang, The horror and violence of many scenes were sufficient to cause in a child disturbed sleep, obsessions, unhealthy fantasy, and even emotional unbalance. “The child is confronted with situations he isn’t adjusted to meet,” Mr Hooker said. Another consideration, seldom mentioned, was that this kind of reading might make other material seem insipid, he said. It was like expecting a child fed on well-spiced tit-bits to relish a plain but nutritious diet. A child had relatively little on which to base his standards of human nature and relationships, and the desensitising effects of certain comics could affect

attitudes to low codes of conduct. Was there to be passive acceptance through indifference to the situation or a move for some form of enlightened control? Mr Hooker asked. Bookseller Explains Distribution

The distribution of most comics in New Zealand was in the hands of one firm, with headquarters in Australia, which had said emphatically that it would not accept any responsibility for the control of comics, said Mr E. J.< Ward, president of the Canterbury Booksellers’ Association and presidentelect of the national Booksellers’ Association. He recalled recommendations of the 1951 booksellers’ conference “from which we had high hopes that something would happen.” Unless a publication was obscence, indecent, or subversive, importation

was allowed, Mr Ward said. The conference had asked members to refuse to stock material in bad taste. But it was difficult, especially for the small retailer, who found wanted periodicals being purveyed by the milk bar, dairy, or tobacconist round the corner. He was regularly supplied with certain new lines “for sale or return,” and could not refuse delivery or he would miss good-class material. Some booksellers had been shocked to find what they were selling. They just did not have the time to examine all the

publications received. Officially the booksellers did not favour censorship in the field of literature “but when is a comic a comic, and not a menace?” Mr Ward asked. Librarian’s Opinions Librarians, like teachers, were educationists working with a wider public but a more limited medium, said Mr G. Turner, of the Canterbury Public Library. Their function was permissive, rather than coercive, but he thought they had positive attitudes. They disliked censorship, and felt that its application in New Zealand tended to be on the nineteenthcentury pattern of suppressing sex rather than violence. Literary work of quality did not ex-

clude violence, but the writer must be masterful, Mr Turner Said. Care c should be taken against loose talk * about comics being a lone cause of J delinquency. They might contribute, J and they might also be responsible for i even wider ramifications. Mr S. G. Gower, a primary school headmaster, said that just ‘as social security had been introduced because some failed to make provisions for themselves, equally far-reaching legislation was desirable on certain kinds of literature. “I see nothing for it but a complete ban as the answer to our low-grade comics problem,” he said. Teachers and parents should know the material in the various library services on which children could be weaned gradually from comics to better literature. ' . .. . , Recent American investigations into comics were reviewed by Mr G. McArthur, of the Country Library Service. These showed that on an average the American child bought 10 to 12 comics a month and then traded them for many others so that in a month he was likely to see at least 300 scenes of beating, shooting, strangling, torture, or bloodshed. The report estimated that most children who were six years old in 1938 had now absorbed 18,000 scenes of violence. Miss M. V. Kennedy, librarian at the Christchurch Teachers’ College, said she would be interested to know •'how much New Zealand money goes into the importation of this rubbish. Mr R. N. O’Reilly, City Librarian, moved the resolution asking for the publication of the inter-departmental committee’s report, and Mr Turner moved that support be given the Housewives’ Union m Its objections to ■ comics. ■