Stereotypes and the Ethics of Representation

Cultural appropriation has always been a problem with popular publication and literate media, both comic and non. Discrimination against other cultures is often described as being outright and obvious, and in many cases such is true, but representation in media can also be a tool of racism. Accidental or otherwise.

Older comics, such as Little Nemo in Slumberland, some older Theodore Geisel political cartoons, and even the Archie comics all are examples of bad racial representation in media. Though, granted, their examples range from lack of representation to negative representation.

 Little Nemo in Slumber Land - Negative Representation and Lack of Representation

 Theodore Geisel - Negative Representation

Archie Comics - Lack of Representation

Recently graphic media and comics have taken to criticizing and amending the early 20th century trends with cultural representation in comics. With the start of the Underground movement slowly segueing into the appearance of more graphic novels, African Americans, people of Asian descent, and even people from religious-based cultures, such as the Jewish and Muslim peoples, are being represented through fact and history rather than sensationalism or stereotypes. Examples of comics that have helped bring about this change are works by Craig Thompson, James Strum, John Lewis, and Gene Luen Lang.

 Craig Thompson - Habibi

 James Sturm - Market Day

 John Lewis - March

Gene Luen Lang - American Born Chinese

Whether it's calling out cultural appropriation racism, to simply representing the culture in a respective manner, comics are coming closer and closer to representing more than just straight white men in media.