CMS 321: Comics and Moral Panics
José Alaniz
Winter 2025
According to sociologist Stanley Cohen, the term “moral panic” decribes a phenomenon in which a “condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests.” Over the course of their more than 100-year modern history, comics, too, have gotten embroiled in moral panics episodes. This course examines several such cases from the 20th and 21st centuries. What makes certain comics “a threat to societal values and interests,” at least to some people? How do such panics play out and what relation do they have to free expression, censorship and anxieties over protecting children? How can we relate the current wave of book bans in the US to previous anti-comics crusades? Why are comics in particular so often targeted by such movements? Is there anything about comics themselves as an art form that makes them particularly susceptible to “moral panic”-type critiques?
All materials in English.