In Four Color Teaching, I discuss my experiences with comics and teaching. Today, I will talk about a discussion I had with 5 – 8th graders about diversity.
Every year, I teach “How to Create Superheroes” at a local youth writing conference, and I always begin my sessions with the free-write topic of “Why do you think superheroes are important?” And after five minutes of writing, the middle school students give me the same standard answers that always give and they’re more than a little interesting.
The first is usually, “because they save people’s lives” and I always have to fight the “yeah, but they’re not real” response to this one. But, it’s a start.
I usually get, “because we need to believe in others” which is a nice thought until one realizes that superheroes are fiction and so we have to create people to believe in rather than trust each other.
One student will always answer “because they give little kids someone to look up to” and this year, I told the story of how J. Michael Straczynski tackled a thief at a comic convention because he was near a Superman statue. And, despite not knowing who JMS is, kids seem very impressed by this story.
But this year, I received the most surprising response. One student replied, “We have so many different superheroes because people are all so different.” The conversation then took an unexpected turn as we discussed diversity in comic books. I was there to help kids create superheroes and instead, students began cheering as I named heroes that reflected different diverse backgrounds.
“You should all be reading the new Ms. Marvel,” I said, “She’s a cool, young hero who is Muslim”
From the back, a student shouted, “Really?! That’s awesome! I’M MUSLIM!”
I mentioned that Vibe was Latino and two students high-fived. It didn’t matter that Vibe is a joke to some fans (which is absurd given how good the New 52 version of the character is); two students were excited to be represented in some way.
It’s worth noting that the youth writing conference in question takes place in Springfield, Missouri, and while I love my city, according to the 2010 National Census, it is the 6th whitest city in America. Sometimes, I worry about how diversity will be received by students, but these middle schoolers didn’t disappoint me. They were openly receptive to the idea of heroes from all kinds of backgrounds without any commentary on prejudice.
The next response wasn’t meant to be connected to the issue of diversity, but it inherently was. A student said, “Superheroes are important because they make money.”
When I asked for the student to explain, he said, “They make movies, comic books, video games, and toys about superheroes and that makes a lot of money.”
We didn’t get into the economics of it all because I could have ranted all day and these kids just wanted to create superheroes, but something really struck me. When students entered the room, I told them to write down any superheroes they knew on the marker board. We began our session by having students applaud when they were a fan of a hero. Predictably, students cheered when I read the names of Captain America and Thor, but they cheered equally as loud for Falcon and Black Widow.
It doesn’t amaze me that students are aware of Falcon and Black Widow – Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a successful box office hit and a wonderful movie to boot – what surprises me is that students were so excited to support the characters. For them, a difference in skin color and gender weren’t factors at all; kids found other ways to relate to characters beyond just color and gender.
In short, diversity works because kids are willing to accept anyone who is a compelling character who is given screen time.
This is great sharing, showing teachers the value of cultural connections and comics.
Thanks!
Kevin
Cody,
Fantastic, intelligent & caring teachers like you are what make this event such a success. Thanks for taking the time to make this session so much more than “just drawing cartoons.”
Kim