Concerns regarding the impact of comics on youth
Concerns regarding the impact of comics on youth have grown in recent years. While detractors claim that comics are bad for kids, those who support comics point out their benefits. The goal of Alexis Tan and Kermit Scruggs' paper, "Does Exposure to Comic Book Violence Lead to Aggression in Children," is to evaluate the effect that these comics have on today's kids. According to the information in the article, 90% of American children routinely read comic books. (Scruggs). This is obviously a large margin that needs to be honored. This indicates that most kids enjoy the books for what they have to give. However, the article elucidates that most of the comic books are pervasive since they champion violence. The authors hypothesize that comic books lead to violence or greater aggression of the readers. Nonetheless, their research affirmed that comic books do not invite physical or verbal aggression. As such, contrary to what critics say, comic books do not negatively affect the kids.
Positive effects of comic books on children
Comic books have positive effects on children, particularly in finding solutions. In other words, the books equip children with mechanisms of finding the courage to deal with real-life situations. Kids identify with superheroes and strive to emulate them. The superheroes permit the children to dare and be brave (Huntington). Critics have a misconstrued perception that by emulating superheroes, kids are encouraged to fight or be physically aggressive. On the contrary, it is worth noting that the society influences character. A kid can be violent because of the situation in the family among other aspects. As Tan and Scruggs imply, comic books have little to no effect on the children's negative traits; instead, they champion braveness (Scruggs). Also, when kids are taught the right way, they have the propensity of emulating the positive aspects.
Instrumental role of comic books in teaching children
The comic books are instrumental since they teach kids to recognize their limits and vulnerabilities as constituents of uniqueness. Instead of being lost in the fantasy world, the children are encouraged to stay grounded via different characters. The readers also learn from the superheroes, since without their costumes, they are real individuals facing the same challenges experienced in the real world (Mintz). It is, therefore, quite misleading to deem the books as preaching a negative attitude to the kids. Just like any other source of entertainment, the books serve this purpose adequately. It is also worth noting that reading comic books improves the children's reading skills while still entertaining them. As compared to the other sources of entertainment, like video games, comic books have more positive impacts (Moresi). For instance, video games are associated with the heightened levels of obesity since kids spend too much time at the computer.
Comparing the influence of comic books and violent movies
Associating comic books to heightened levels of violence and aggressive behavior in learning institutions is misleading. There are many other sources influencing children to have these features, chief among them being violent movies (Kraska). Therefore, critics must consider barring the kids from watching such films, rather than preventing them from reading comics.
Promoting positive aspects through comic scripts
Overall, the comic scripts promote positive aspects like morals and generosity. Normally, the superheroes are meant to help the society by safeguarding them from evil individuals. As such, kids can observe what is right and wrong; hence, strive to emulate the better characters. Nonetheless, there is a likelihood of these kids getting negative influence from the books through the evil characters. Instead of critics focusing on eliminating them, they should assist children to comprehend the positive aspects of these books.
Works Cited
Huntington, Chris. "A Superhero Who Looks Like My Son." 13 June 2013. The New York Times. 5 October 2017. .
Kraska, Jake. "The psychology of comic books: Why we worship superheroes." 3 August 2015. 5 October 2017.
Mintz, Corey. "What do superheroes teach our children?" 5 July 2017. 5 October 2017. .
Moresi, Francesca. "Superheroes: how do they influence our children?" 28 April 2015. 5 October 2017. .
Scruggs, Alexis S. Tan and Kertnit Joseph. "Does Exposure to Comic Book Violence Lead to Agression in Children?" (n.d.): 579-583.
