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“American Popular Culture, Comic Strips, and Globalization in the Early Twentieth Century” by Professor Ian Gordon (NUS)

February 24 @ 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm

In the early twentieth century Richard Outcault’s American comic strip Buster Brown appeared in different forms in countries such as Brazil, Britain, Denmark, France, Italy, and Spain. This article discussed those appearances in light of Outcault’s attempts to preserve his intellectual property rights and his shift of the strip from the New York Herald to the New York American in 1906. Moreover, I discuss the different uses of Buster Brown in these countries. In particular, the paper focuses on Brazil and the development of the character Chiquinho through a process of bricolage. The analysis shows the way that localization that occurs during processes of globalization can produce a distinctive character. Similar in appearance to Buster Brown, Chiquinho was a Brazilian character and strip and not simply a Brazilian edition of Buster Brown.

Bio:
Ian Gordon is an Australian who has been based in Singapore for 26 years. A historian of mass media he has published widely on the political economy of comics, films, and television including Comic Strips and Consumer Culture (Smithsonian, 1998) and Superman: The Persistence of an American Icon (Rutgers, 2017). At the National University of Singapore he served as the Head of the Department of History (2004-06 and 2017-2021) and is currently a Senior Fellow in the Department. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Journal of American History.

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Details

Date:
February 24
Time:
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Event Categories:
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Venue

Faculty Lounge (Run Run Shaw Tower 4.30)