1981 Fredric Wertham Interview Footage discussing Superman

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  • Опубліковано 26 чер 2021
  • My book, Understanding Superhero Comic Books available at a.co/d/8ZSTMh8 & mcfarlandbooks.com/product/un....
    Dr Fredric Wertham interview from 1981 BBC special The Comic Strip Hero discusses Superman, and the reasons for the character, and the superhero genre itself, from his point of view, are problematic for children. Snippets of the interview are compiled here into one experience. Was he right or wrong? Comment below!
    #wertham #Superman #DCComics #JerrySiegel #JoeShuster
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  • Розваги

КОМЕНТАРІ • 73

  • @Donomarkable
    @Donomarkable 2 роки тому +23

    That final shot of Superman smiling as someone bashes his head with a tree trunk accompanying Wertham's "for Violence!" is absolutely hilarious

  • @PrototypeOnDemand
    @PrototypeOnDemand 3 роки тому +10

    now I see where they got the idea for Hugo Strange

  • @ComicCollectorGeek
    @ComicCollectorGeek 2 роки тому +27

    He couldn't see past his own ideology.

    • @phayzyre1052
      @phayzyre1052 6 місяців тому +1

      He couldn’t see past his own nose!

    • @creativecatproductions
      @creativecatproductions 3 місяці тому +1

      It was an angle for his psychiatric career. He needed an angle to make his research, books, and opinions marketable and monetizable. I sincerely doubt he believed any of this nonsense. All that matters is that it made him rich and, indeed, it really did.

  • @AceMoonshot
    @AceMoonshot Рік тому +8

    I remember Al Capp talking to him. He pointed out that yes, there were indeed some "bad" comics. But Wertham used that minuscule sampling to tar the entire comic industry. Then Capp said he had done his own research. That over the preceding 10 years, in NYC alone, over 800 medical doctors had been charged with manslaughter. So if he used the Wertham's logic, all doctors must commit manslaughter.

  • @AndrewLuke
    @AndrewLuke 3 роки тому +13

    'Then we have the case of his pal, Jimmy Olsen. He was a Ginger!'
    Thanks for uploading. Werthrams pretty selective about when Superman is imaginary and when he's not.

  • @notmyname5591
    @notmyname5591 3 роки тому +13

    The one who destroyed Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman. Comics in general.

    • @edfurnez6134
      @edfurnez6134 3 роки тому +5

      Actually those three comics continued through the comics code, unlike others

  • @thelostintranslation157
    @thelostintranslation157 2 місяці тому +2

    The original old man yelling at clouds.

  • @RogerFusselman
    @RogerFusselman 3 роки тому +11

    So many people in comics today use Wertham-like arguments when condemning Wertham's own version of the same arguments. I went to rotten panels at comics conventions where superheroes were described as adolescent male power fantasies, a version of the same sneer Wertham gives in the video. People like Joel Schumacher interpret Batman in the same way that Wertham did. Wertham's whole approach was to view superheroics through the lens of contemporary politics, writing his own politics upon a template of what these characters are or ought to be. Arguably, the same thing happens today. All the sneers against superheroes seem to think they should be real world, and that whatever isn't realistic can be used to condemn or criticize the character. Not many people become knife-wielding murderers when they read about the Knights of the Round Table. Your brain is allowed to take concrete images symbolically. When you do, you realize that Superman is an American symbol of immigrant values, someone who became stronger and more powerful by adopting a new home. It's perhaps more appropriate not to constrain heroes by the inadequacies of the real world but to elevate the real world from our own understanding of heroism. At the end of the day, that's what answers Dr. Wertham and his inheritors.

  • @UrinationNation
    @UrinationNation 3 роки тому +15

    It's great to hear his idiocy in his own words.

    • @edfurnez6134
      @edfurnez6134 3 роки тому +2

      He is a scientist with an informed opinion

    • @belgiumcomics2537
      @belgiumcomics2537 2 роки тому +6

      @@edfurnez6134 I love science but i have 0 respect for Wertham as a scientist.

    • @Madbandit77
      @Madbandit77 Рік тому +2

      @@edfurnez6134 uninformed.

    • @dusk1234567890
      @dusk1234567890 Рік тому

      Alan Moore pretty much says the same thing as Wertham.

  • @chuckwhite3033
    @chuckwhite3033 3 роки тому +13

    That’s it. I’m burning all my Superman books to fight fascism. What oxymoronic nonsense he just uttered.

  • @Krang100
    @Krang100 Рік тому +3

    While Doctor Fredric Wertham was a great psychiatrist, he had prejudices to the comics.
    As in any medium, the subject of the comic could be good or bad. Is unfair to define all the comics as bad, because one comic has a bad subject. The same thing is about Tv shows, music, etc.
    In 1954 Doctor Wertham had a great influence to the point to almost removed the comic book industry. According to him, comics were bad influence (In 1930 or late 1920, the alcohol drink was forbidden because it was regarded to be bad influence).
    Fortunately some comics were able to stay (sadly horror and crime comics were removed).
    Thanks to Stan Lee to gave as AMS 96 - 98 (Harry Osborn's drugs issues) saves the comics industry.

    • @ColonelFrontline1152
      @ColonelFrontline1152 Рік тому +1

      .
      S T A N L E E
      The Man Who Saved The Comic Book Industry.

    • @Madbandit77
      @Madbandit77 Рік тому +1

      Wertham was a quack.

    • @johnpenguinthe3rd13
      @johnpenguinthe3rd13 7 місяців тому +2

      Wertham wasn't even a great psychiatrist, he was really horrible at it. I'm taking a guess you read the poorly researched Wikipedia page on him which makes him sounds greater than he really was? He was a HORRIBLE psychiatrist who had no damn clue what he was doing (blaming comic books for juvenile delinquency is just one example of this.Instead of looking at the root of the problem, he blamed comics, something his clients were using a a COPING MECHANISM to escape reality. It wasn't the comics that were harming those kids). I can go on about all the horrible crap that Wertham did, but I'l stop here. All I can say is that don't trust Wikipedia as a source (something which a lot of UA-camrs use when making videos about famous people). Dig deeper while researching him and you will see that Wertham wasn't a good psychiatrist and overall he was NOT an honest person and was NOT a nice guy.

  • @theragoooverlord5021
    @theragoooverlord5021 2 місяці тому

    Turned out to be right

  • @TheRealLegoDocOck
    @TheRealLegoDocOck 6 місяців тому

    Uberman

  • @andynystrom1519
    @andynystrom1519 3 роки тому +15

    The irony of him comparing Superman to Nazism is that Siegel and Shuster were Jewish. I'll grant in the early years Superman did have a might makes right aspect to him but by 1981 using power responsibly was part of his character.

    • @CosmoShidan
      @CosmoShidan 2 роки тому

      Even if Superman’s creators were Jewish, they still drew from white supremacist characters like Tarzan and John Carter. It is possible to see Siegel and Shuster adopting fascist undertones unintentionally.

    • @CosmoShidan
      @CosmoShidan 2 роки тому

      @Connor I did say that they adopted fascistic undertones unintentionally. The fact that they used Superman as a stand-in for Roosevelt, a liberal, of whom would desire law and order, rather than the overthrow of government, (the latter of which is socialist), makes him a preserver of the status quo. This is especially as Supes never tries to dethrone governments or tear down the stock market. Ergo, being a liberal, it makes Supes a fascist in this sense.

    • @CosmoShidan
      @CosmoShidan 2 роки тому

      @@thewkovacs316 John Carter is a white supremacist who is far more powerful than all the colorful persons on Mars, and when you look at the Bourroughs character as one of Superman's inspiration, it's pretty telling.

    • @CosmoShidan
      @CosmoShidan 2 роки тому

      @@thewkovacs316 Indeed it can be interpreted that way, because Star Wars is about rich white people fighting over a throne.

    • @CosmoShidan
      @CosmoShidan 2 роки тому

      @@thewkovacs316 John Carter is confederate soldier. His background entails white supremacy as the Confederate States of America's goal was to maintain white rule over persons of color. I mean, Burroughs was a bigot, as he resented Native Americans and blacks. This could be more evident in his Tarzan stories in which Tarzan is called the "lord of the jungle" and is more powerful than the black men of Africa, which are more indications of white supremacism. Now when you look at how Superman is a white strongman using aggressive tactics to resolve issues, that can be pretty telling.

  • @BobbyMoore2-mp8wb
    @BobbyMoore2-mp8wb 6 місяців тому +1

    🙄🙄

  • @tonygriego6382
    @tonygriego6382 Рік тому +3

    Kind of funny the way modern DC has gone out of its way to validate Wertham's criticisms on their characters.

  • @364dragonrider
    @364dragonrider 2 роки тому +8

    This is incredibly disrespectful given that superman was CREATED by two jewish men!

    • @ComicBookHistorians
      @ComicBookHistorians  2 роки тому +4

      Wertham was Jewish as well

    • @364dragonrider
      @364dragonrider 2 роки тому +7

      @@ComicBookHistorians if anything that feels even worse then.

    • @CosmoShidan
      @CosmoShidan Рік тому +1

      @@364dragonrider Dr. Chris Galaver made a video where he asks if superheroes are white supremacists.

    • @Spectre2434
      @Spectre2434 Рік тому

      It's definitely a complex issue.

  • @ChromeFamily
    @ChromeFamily 2 роки тому +3

    Now Superman is gay in the comics…

    • @ThanosDestroyeryearsago
      @ThanosDestroyeryearsago 2 роки тому +9

      Not Superman, his son.
      Get it right bruh

    • @SWWonders
      @SWWonders Рік тому +1

      @@ThanosDestroyeryearsago and Batman is bisexual

    • @zombierobot8769
      @zombierobot8769 10 місяців тому

      ​@@SWWondersI'm glad he likes bicycles. I always thought batman would look good with a bicycle.

  • @xxMorgen_Ronny_Doy
    @xxMorgen_Ronny_Doy 2 місяці тому

    i really hate him!

  • @SanSan-kf5qr
    @SanSan-kf5qr Рік тому +1

    WERTHAM WAS RIGHT

    • @phayzyre1052
      @phayzyre1052 6 місяців тому +1

      He was a stupid old fool