Even at a time when romance, horror, and crime genres received the most positive public reception, Atlas (Currently known as Marvel) knew full well the power it possessed to influence easily persuadable American teenage boys, especially in a time of immense fear under the American atmosphere. Recognizing this, Atlas capitalized on the opportunity to provide an exciting, imaginative outlet for them to escape from the realities of the Cold War.
It was clear that Captain America’s primary audience was the male youth across America. Captain America represented so many idealistic aspects of American masculinity and as a patriotic wind gust throughout the United States, teenage boys came to idolize the Captain. His super suit was easily discernible as the stars and stripes of the American flag, and his powerful appearance fed into the mind of the young Americans that looked at him as a role model, the American role model.
It is important to remember that Captain America was a comic book made to be sold, not state sponsored propaganda to be distributed to each child in school. The creators of Captain America, and authors at the time, understood this and fashioned Captain America’s image and the comic’s storylines accordingly. They understood that, just as they did during World War II, they had to address current political situations. Teenage boys were not necessarily interested in the intricacies of the Cold War, but they were deeply intrigued by the themes and bold rhetoric of the Cold War as illustrated through the eyes of Captain America. 
The creators behind Captain America at Atlas formed the perfect equation: Take the current American enemy. Appeal to the target audience by having Captain America fight this enemy on a recognizable American city block. Sell. Unfortunately, although that equation worked well during World War II, the set of anti-Communist, crusader style Captain America comics did not even last a year. As the insecurity accompanying the Red Scare began to subside, so did the sales of Captain America. Nonetheless, Captain America, as any product should be, was directed toward a specific audience, male American youth, that appreciated it for its ability to connect them to the realities of the political world, embrace their patriotic motivations, all while allowing them to harness their creative power and imagination by the simple means of a comic book.
Written by Jacob Cohen
This is a very insightful post! I really liked how you integrated the possibility of comic books being used as propagandas because although they were not distributed systematically to each and every child, as you said, they did leave the lasting effects like one. On that note, I think this might be another good source to look into regarding how the superhero comics in general functions in the American society.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/Captain_America.htm
I agree with this post about the audience being young males. Even though some boys were too young to understand what the true idea was behind the comic, parents who were briefly skimming through their sons' comics or buying them for their kids knew and this helped spread awareness through the country which is what the author wanted.
ReplyDelete