Well... If last week was my favorite reading so far in Lit. of Comics, this week may have been my least favorite. The crude nature of underground comics like Mr. Natural was just not my personal cup of tea. Maybe our professor was onto something when he suggested that our generation is more sensitive to adult material like what was featured in Crumb's work, because of how we were brought up. That being said, I do understand and appreciate the historical significance of underground comics as they tied into the counter culture movement of the 1960s and 70s.
Mr. Natural was very bold to say the least. In the few chapters I read, I found that the short stories within would alternate between being relatively tame and turning it up to a ten on the obscenity scale. However, after listening to the class discussion, I began to question whether this was just dirty entertainment, or some kind of social criticism, drawing attention to different forms of abuse in the world through the actions of Mr. Natural. If the latter is true, this comic is actually a lot more thought provoking than I originally assumed.
I really enjoyed learning about how so many of these comics served as a legitimate means for many marginalized groups (women, LGBT, etc.) to share their personal stories. It is always a wonderful thing when people are able to use art to spread awareness about social problems, and help others to see from a different perspective. Even if I did not enjoy Mr. Natural, overall I am really glad we were able to take time to focus on this era of comics in class, as it was clearly once of the most influential on how society.
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