BOBC |
Resource type: Journal Article Language: en: English Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1080/21504857.2012.730310 BibTeX citation key: Barker2012a Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details |
Categories: General Keywords: "Doonesbury", Comic strip, Critique of ideology, Trauma, Trudeau. Garry, USA, War Creators: Barker, Sabin Collection: Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics |
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Abstract |
This paper explores the ideological ramifications of using the theme of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a comic strip. The strip in question is Doonesbury, specifically a story involving the war in Iraq, and the entry-point for talking about ideology is an endorsement written for one of the Doonesbury reprint books by a prominent Republican politician. The essay’s twin questions are: what does it mean for an anti-war strip to focus on PTSD (what ideological work is it doing), and, by extension, what are the implications of the apparent ‘commonsenseness’ of our understanding of the PTSD category?
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