I was doing some reading about the comic strip Joe Palooka that was published in the 1920's and 30's. It was about a boxer who helped people fight the bad guys. Basically a superman-ish comic where the main character was a boxer instead of a kryptonian. I was amused to read the next passage because it reminded me how racist things were back then.
"Fisher originally changed the appearance of Palooka to fit each reigning real-life champ — until the coming of African-American Joe Louis in the 1930s, at which time the image of the cowlicked blond Palooka remained unchanged. "
Mmmm. Breathe that in...
It's one of the contradictions of human nature that an otherwise good person may hold terrible prejudices that he doesn't examine. Sometimes you have to take the bad with the good. (On the other hand, I hate when a historical fiction just conveniently has all the sympathetic characters be implausibly free of the most common attitudes of their time.)
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ReplyDeleteOh -- I like "how it may effect his career", but that should be "affect".
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