From CSULB & the Skirball
Sometimes it takes a little more than a visualization to really see someone else's point of view. Maybe a picture needs to be drawn. From comics, illustrations, depictions a lot can be learned, as happens with a Long Beach undergrad who won a national essay competition with her scrutiny of superheroes as seen through the eyes of white versus black creators. Heard of the 'Black Panther' or 'Luke Cage,' creations of white comic book artists? Seems these superheroes talk more jive, act more violent and they're focused on serving the white community, observes prize-winning essayist Elise McCutchen. As for 'Icon' and 'Status,' well, these black superheroes created by black comic artists offer a more diverse picture, incorporating African American history, literature and experiences into their existence, even while perpetuating some stereotypes with their bulging bods and angry expressions, she says. Her observations won her $350, a trip to New Orleans and honors from the National Council for Black Studies. Meantime, in Brentwood, just catching up with an eclectic illumination of illustrated texts from the 16th Century to the present, an exhibit of Jewish picture books that rounds up the Haggadot, Art Spiegelman, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Marc Chagall, Maurice Sendak and Lemony Snicket.
Photo: (left) Lisa Brown, 'The Latke Was Suffering So Much That It Leapt Out of the Hot Pan and Out the Window of the Cottage, and Began to Run Screaming Down The Boulevard,' illustration from Lemony Snicket, 'The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming;' (right) Icon, DC ComicsEven for colorful superheroes, a world of difference in black and white
'Monsters and Miracles,' an exhibit of Jewish picture books
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