The Effectiveness of the CCA’s Fuzzy Embrace

In 1954, the December 24 issue of the New York Times headline read:  NEW’ COMIC BOOKS TO BE OUT IN WEEK; First ‘Approved’ Issues Put More Clothing on Heroines and Tone Down Violence. It called out the new reign of the Comics Code Authority, a group who set out to ensure comics’ content wouldn’t warp the malleable minds of young readers. The guidelines they managed ruled the content of most comic books from the 50s through the 90s – but did it actually work?

In the 50s, comic books were sold all over the place and were marketed toward the American youth almost exclusively. Horror and crime comics were incredibly popular and easily accessible. These comics both embraced violence with the fervor of a great white shark embracing a seal pup. And those pups’ parents were not happy about it.

A guy named Frederic Wertham studied the content in these books and wrote about the effects of violence in media (with special attention on comic books) on children in his book, Seduction of the Innocent. Once that book became popular, so did comic book burnings.

Boo.

To be fair, comics gave him a lot to draw from: depictions of violence, drug use and sex were overtly shown in numerous titles. And much of it was romanticized and made to look fun for the children reading them. (And his views on women being drawn absurdly had some merit.) His thesis was that these images would make children want to turn to a life of drug-soaked crime sprees in brothels (okay those weren’t his exact words). It’s similar to the folks who believe that children playing violent video games and listening to violent music will want to be violent – the theory has evolved with the media, but the idea is the same.

All this inspired a Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, where Wertham served as an expert witness. His request was to prohibit anyone under 15 getting their hands on comics, since they were a cause of juvenile crime. (The testing of this theory, I believe, involved Wertham asking if degenerates had read any comics, and since comics were prevalent in society, they’d reply in the affirmative. Therefor, reading comics = underage crime.) The subcommittee recommended that, though comics can’t actually be blamed for crime, publishers should dial back the “adult stuff” on their own.

And they did. Publishers created the Comics Code Authority to prevent the government deciding they needed to censor them. In 1950 a group, the Cincinnati Parent’s Committee, had put out ratings on comic books and published them annually, but there hadn’t been anything done on this scale before. The CCA (calling them “The Authority” sounds to ominous) came up with a set of guidelines, and any book that met those guidelines received their seal of approval.

BAM.

Of course a seal on its own doesn’t do a much other than warm the cockles of mothers’ hearts. But most distributors decided to not sell any comics that didn’t carry the seal. Once that came into play, the publishers fell into line.

To get the seal, comics had to follow a fabulous set of rules, including:

• Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals.
• Policemen, judges, Government officials and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.
• Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly, nor so as to injure the sensibilities of the reader.
• Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited.
• Special precautions to avoid references to physical afflictions or deformities shall be taken.
• All characters shall be depicted in dress reasonably acceptable to society.
• Females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities.
• Respect for parents, the moral code, and for honorable behavior shall be fostered. A sympathetic understanding of the problems of love is not a license for morbid distortion.
• The treatment of live-romance stories shall emphasize the value of the home and the sanctity of marriage.
• Passion or romantic interest shall never be treated in such a way as to stimulate the lower and baser emotions.

It’s wrapping that violent horror comic in a nice warm blanket made of rainbow dreams. But not like, gay rainbow dreams. Good, God-fearing, wholesome rainbow dreams.

So, did it work?

Yes: it kept government agencies from censoring the comic book industry on their own. That was the main reason it was formed, so bravo, CCA. And it did ensure that the books could still be sold to children and set parents’ minds at ease that their pre-teen wouldn’t see a gruesome image and then decide to set out on a killing spree. When moms know they won’t be questioned about homicide on the news, they’re more apt to buy their kids a comic book.

But no: Have you read Sin City? Granted, the rules were relaxed in the 70s and done away with in the early 2000s, but reading things like Preacher and The Walking Dead, makes it clear that these standards didn’t hold up. And there are fascinating stories to be told, like The Killing Joke, wherein it makes the Joker, one of the all-time baddest bad guys, feel sympathetic.

I can see why they created the Comics Code Authority, and that it started out with good intentions. (Though Wertham himself hated it, and thought it was too watered down to be effective. It’s probably best he didn’t live to see the Grand Theft Auto video games.) But thank goodness it’s gone, and there are a plethora of un-censored comics that we can all enjoy.