In the long and colourful history of censorship, many classics have been the subjects of burnings or bannings. Following is a selective timeline of some of these interesting instances:
35: The Roman emperor Caligula opposed the reading of The Odyssey by Homer, written more than 300 years before. He thought it was dangerous because it expressed Greek ideas of freedom.
1497–98: Savonarola, a Florentine religious fanatic with a large following, was one of the most notorious and powerful of all censors. In these years, he instigated great “bonfires of the vanities” which destroyed books and paintings by some of the greatest artists of Florence. Ironically, in May of 1498 another great bonfire was lit—this time under Savonarola who hung from a cross. With him were burned all his writings, sermons, essays, and pamphlets.
1525: Six thousand copies of William Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament were printed in Cologne, Germany, and smuggled into England - and then burned by the English church. Church authorities were determined that the Bible would be available only in Latin.
1559: For hundreds of years, the Roman Catholic Church listed books that were prohibited to its members; but in this year, Pope Paul IV established the Librorum Prohibitorum. For more than 400 years this was the definitive list of books that Roman Catholics were told not to read. It was one of the most powerful censorship tools in the world.
1597: The original version of Shakespeare’s Richard II contained a scene in which the king was deposed from his throne. Queen Elizabeth I was so angry that she ordered the scene removed from all copies of the play.
1720: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe was placed on the Index Librorum by the Spanish Catholic Church.
1859: Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was published, outlining the theory of evolution. The book was banned from the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, where Darwin had been a student.
1864–1959: Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables was placed on the Index Librorum.
35: The Roman emperor Caligula opposed the reading of The Odyssey by Homer, written more than 300 years before. He thought it was dangerous because it expressed Greek ideas of freedom.
1497–98: Savonarola, a Florentine religious fanatic with a large following, was one of the most notorious and powerful of all censors. In these years, he instigated great “bonfires of the vanities” which destroyed books and paintings by some of the greatest artists of Florence. Ironically, in May of 1498 another great bonfire was lit—this time under Savonarola who hung from a cross. With him were burned all his writings, sermons, essays, and pamphlets.
1525: Six thousand copies of William Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament were printed in Cologne, Germany, and smuggled into England - and then burned by the English church. Church authorities were determined that the Bible would be available only in Latin.
1559: For hundreds of years, the Roman Catholic Church listed books that were prohibited to its members; but in this year, Pope Paul IV established the Librorum Prohibitorum. For more than 400 years this was the definitive list of books that Roman Catholics were told not to read. It was one of the most powerful censorship tools in the world.
1597: The original version of Shakespeare’s Richard II contained a scene in which the king was deposed from his throne. Queen Elizabeth I was so angry that she ordered the scene removed from all copies of the play.
1720: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe was placed on the Index Librorum by the Spanish Catholic Church.
1859: Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was published, outlining the theory of evolution. The book was banned from the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, where Darwin had been a student.
1864–1959: Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables was placed on the Index Librorum.
1929: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was banned in the Soviet Union because of “occultism.”
1931: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was banned by the governor of Hunan province in China because, he said, animals should not use human language and it was disastrous to put animals and humans on the same level.
1954: Mickey Mouse comics were banned in East Berlin because Mickey was said to be an “anti-Red rebel.”
1959: After protests by the White Citizens’ Council, The Rabbits’ Wedding, a picture book for children, was put on the reserved shelf in Alabama public libraries because it was thought to promote racial integration.
1960: D.H. Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover was the subject of a trial in England, in which Penguin Books was prosecuted for publishing an obscene book. Penguin won the case, and the book was allowed to be sold in England.
1980s: During its examination of school learning materials, the London County Council in England banned the use of Beatrix Potter’s children’s classics The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny from all London schools. The reason: the stories portrayed only “middle-class rabbits.”
1983: Members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee called for the rejection of The Diary of Anne Frank because it was “a real downer.”
1931: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was banned by the governor of Hunan province in China because, he said, animals should not use human language and it was disastrous to put animals and humans on the same level.
1954: Mickey Mouse comics were banned in East Berlin because Mickey was said to be an “anti-Red rebel.”
1959: After protests by the White Citizens’ Council, The Rabbits’ Wedding, a picture book for children, was put on the reserved shelf in Alabama public libraries because it was thought to promote racial integration.
1960: D.H. Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover was the subject of a trial in England, in which Penguin Books was prosecuted for publishing an obscene book. Penguin won the case, and the book was allowed to be sold in England.
1980s: During its examination of school learning materials, the London County Council in England banned the use of Beatrix Potter’s children’s classics The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny from all London schools. The reason: the stories portrayed only “middle-class rabbits.”
1983: Members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee called for the rejection of The Diary of Anne Frank because it was “a real downer.”
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| Public comic book burning in Binghamton, New York |
Of interest also is the mention of the burning of comic books in the USA, in the late 1940s.
Comic Books gained popularity in the 1940s, due to the introduction of superheroes like Superman. With this came media exposure and scrutiny of the entire industry.
Comic Books gained popularity in the 1940s, due to the introduction of superheroes like Superman. With this came media exposure and scrutiny of the entire industry.
Here is an excerpt of an editorial from the Chicago Daily News book reviewer Sterling North that was printed in May 8th, 1940.
"Badly drawn, badly written, and badly printed - a strain on the young eyes and young nervous systems - the effects of these pulp-paper nightmares is that of a violent stimulant. Their crude blacks and reds spoils a child's natural sense of colour; their hypodermic injection of sex and murder make the child impatient with better, though quieter, stories. Unless we want a coming generation even more ferocious than the present one, parents and teachers throughout America must band together to break the `comic' magazine." (Bjerg, G 2006)
In 1948 critics of this new and popular form of entertainment found an articulate voice in Dr. Fredric Wertham, a German-born psychiatrist, who blamed comic books for the delinquent behaviour of youngsters.
Dr. Wertham published a widely read interview in Collier’s Magazine entitled, ‘Horror in the Nursery’, where he claimed that all juvenile delinquents read comics and therefore comics were the sole reason for juvenile delinquency. This article, along with others caused a stir of dissent across America and large comic book burnings occurred in such places as Spencer, West Virginia, and Binghamton, New York, and the movement then spread to Cape Girardeau. Here the comic book gathering was led by Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, church groups, and parents. Hundreds of comic books were collected, brought to St. Mary’s School and placed in large boxes in the hallways. On the afternoon of February 24, 1949, the comic books went up in smoke as several hundred students in Cape Girardeau pledged to never again purchase or read objectionable magazines or comic books.
Wertham's criticisms of comic books helped spark a U.S. Senate Investigation into the relationship between comic books and juvenile delinquents. Dr. Wertham, was himself, called to testify at the hearings, as were other juvenile delinquent experts, representatives of the major comic companies, some of their advertisers and distributors, and the representatives from National Cartoonist Society.
The Senate committee did not fully endorse Dr. Wertham's theories about the effect of comic books on children, but did agree that comic books might have an unhealthy effect on those kids that were already emotionally disturbed or morally delinquent. But because they didn't know whether comics had this effect or not, the committee decided in favour of self-policing by the comic publishers.
As a result, the comic companies created the Comic Magazine Association of America (CMAA) and then they created the Comics Code Authority (CCA) on October 26th, 1954.
The CCA included that "in every instance good shall triumph over evil" and discouraged "instances of law enforcement officers dying as a result of a criminal's activities." Specific restrictions were placed on the portrayal of kidnapping and concealed weaponss. Depictions of "excessive violence" were forbidden, as were "lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations." Vampires, werewolves, ghouls and zombies could not be portrayed. In addition, comics could not use the words "horror" or "terror" in their titles.
Although the CCA had no official control over publishers, most distributors refused to carry comics that did not carry the seal. Once their stamp was large and easy for all to see on a comic book, but over the years the stamp became smaller and smaller. In 2001, Marvel Comics withdrew from the CCA in favour of its own ratings system, designating appropriate age groups. In January 2011, DC Comics announced that it would discontinue participation, adopting a rating system similar to Marvel's. A day later, Archie Comics, the only other publisher still participating in the Code, announced it also was discontinuing it, rendering the Code defunct.
Notes:
I found the instance of comic book burning while I was researching something else, and thought it would be interesting, considering the recent resurgence in comics and graphic novels. Most of this post was researched though websites, as there is not a lot of published material on this subject. However I did find an interesting and useful book called Censorship by Mark Paxton.
References
References
Bannings and Burnings in History, Freedom to Read, viewed 22 May, 2011,
<http://www.freedomtoread.ca/links_and_resources/bannings_and_burnings.asp>
Bjerg, G 2006, The Man Who Changed Comic Books Forever, DamnInteresting, viewed 22 May, 2011,
fingle85 2007, comic book censorship, 3 November, viewed 22 May 2011,
<http://www.freedomtoread.ca/links_and_resources/bannings_and_burnings.asp>
Bjerg, G 2006, The Man Who Changed Comic Books Forever, DamnInteresting, viewed 22 May, 2011,
<http://www.damninteresting.com/the-man-who-changed-comic-books-forever>
'Comic book burning'[image], Comic Book Resources, viewed 25 May, 2011,
'Comic book burning'[image], Comic Book Resources, viewed 25 May, 2011,
<http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/11/26/comic-book-legends-revealed-235/#>
Coville, J, The Comic Book Villain, Dr. Fredric Wertham, M.D., Integrative Arts 10,
Coville, J, The Comic Book Villain, Dr. Fredric Wertham, M.D., Integrative Arts 10,
fingle85 2007, comic book censorship, 3 November, viewed 22 May 2011,
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8oCrc-siHU>
Paxton, M 2004, Censorship, Greenwood Reference, Santa Barbara, Calif.
Paxton, M 2004, Censorship, Greenwood Reference, Santa Barbara, Calif.
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