American comics: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

I don’t know, if I close the Courier and sell coffee, will the pattern condensed by the imprint also look like coffee?

Carrying the hot coffee in his hand, he came to his desk and sat down, thinking a little absently.

Of course, the idea of ​​closing the newspaper office and switching directly to selling coffee may be a bit exaggerated.

But changing the composition of the Courier and diverting its content away from hatred of Hoover became an urgent problem for Colin.

Only if this situation is changed.

What kind of reporting direction should be chosen after the change will be the focus of the next content of The Courier.

Especially considering the particularity of [Faith], Colin was a little confused for a while.

…

Pat pat pat——

Inside the Courier newspaper office, the rhythmic sound of keyboards continued to sound.

The typesetting workers of this era were basically manual workers. If they wanted to complete the typesetting of "The Courier" before the weekly publication day, Old John did not have enough time.

However, old John, who was sitting in front of the typesetting machine and working hard, would never have dreamed of it.

At this moment, what the boss Colin was thinking about was to once again change the news development route established by The Courier.

Through hate marketing, methods such as establishing hate objects and dividing audience groups are used.

The newspaper has finally improved, and the circulation and sales of "The Courier" have increased from hundreds or thousands of copies in the lowest period to about 7,000. Especially with the spread of the song, the newspaper's circulation last week It almost exceeded tens of thousands of copies.

It set a record for the highest circulation in the history of The Courier.

To this day, Old John can still recall the scene when the old rotary printing press was smoking.

This was a scene he had never seen since he started working at The Courier.

It also represents the popularity of the Courier.

For a local tabloid like The Courier, this was a big deal, especially during the special period of the Great Depression.

It is foreseeable that once Colin comes up with the idea of ​​​​changing the "Courier" report.

Old John will definitely be the first to object.

Even though he was the one who thought the report was too ruthless.

…

"... Winthrop Kellogg, an associate professor at Indiana University and a well-known zoologist, stopped a five-year animal experiment. It is reported that Winthrop had launched a reverse experiment nine months ago. The purpose It’s for experiments—if the young animals are raised by humans, will their intelligence and habits be closer to humans?”

"In order to complete this experiment, Winthrop personally went to the zoo to select a female baby gorilla that was only 7 and a half months old, named her "Guya", and named her "Guya" with her 10-month-old son Donald. Brother and sister, raise them personally.”

"During the entire experiment, Winthrop strictly followed the experimental specifications. From the first day "Gu Ya" came to his home, he and his wife Lu La strictly began to measure various data: the weight of the two children , blood pressure, height, etc., and test their natural reactions to the outside world..."

At his desk, Colin flipped through the old newspapers in front of him, trying to find some inspiration.

However, unfortunately.

Most of the news content published in old newspapers was of little help to him.

Looking away from the report on the chimpanzee adoption experiment, Colin flipped the newspaper in his hand and continued reading.

“Bonnie and Clyde—the most desperate couple ever!”

"...According to the intelligence provided by the police, there are currently at least four robberies of small businesses and banks related to this pair of male and female thieves. They have repeatedly escaped from prison and are very dangerous criminals. Anyone who discovers the whereabouts of the two men People, please don’t act rashly..."

Male and female thieves - Bonnie and Clyde

Many newspapers published wanted reports about the couple.

As a case that emerged during the Great Depression, the story of "Bonnie and Clyde" was spread through mass media and given an artificial meaning. Even in 1967, the story of the two was filmed into the movie "The Male and Female Robbers", which tells the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow who met and fell in love during the Great Depression, and worked together to steal, kill, and get involved in gangs. , the process of being imprisoned and escaping several times.

However, from Colin's perspective, he understood clearly.

The so-called "feat" of "Bonnie and Clyde" is actually an amplification effect produced by the media's over-exaggeration, making them gain a public image that far exceeds their own abilities.

Even after Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot and killed by police, their death scenes attracted a large number of people to watch. Fanatics tried to take whatever they could from Bonnie and Clyde as a souvenir. Some took away a corner of Bonnie's blood-stained dress, and others collected a bundle of her hair.

According to the coroner, there was chaos when he arrived and someone even planned to cut off Clyde's ear.

When their bodies were returned to Dallas, news of their deaths spread, causing a nationwide sensation.

A few hours later, tens of thousands of people poured into this small town with a population of only 2,000 people, wanting to see the remains of a generation of male and female robbers. As a result, the price of beer in the local bar nearly doubled, usually 15 cents a bottle. The beer now sold for 25 cents.

Obviously, joining in the fun is the same thing at home and abroad.

In some ways, overseas people are even more enthusiastic and crazy about this.

Of course, the report on "Bonnie and Clyde" is not the focus of Colin's attention.

In fact, as far as he knows, the "career" of this pair of thieves did not last too long, and the media's rush to report it became a death warrant for the two.

In 1934, just two years after the report came out, the desperate couple was caught and shot to death.

Even after death, they could not be buried together as they wished before their death, but were buried separately in two different cemeteries.

On the contrary, what he cares about is the amplification effect of the media on the whole thing.

People in the Great Depression had limited channels to obtain information.

In addition to television and radio, there were paper newspapers. Even because of the gap between the rich and the poor, most of the middle and lower classes read newspaper reports the most.

It is precisely because of this that the communication power of mass media has increased unprecedentedly in this era.

In fact, the people of this period, especially the homeless and unemployed people.

The most common way to pass the time is to read news and books in the library.

Even though their main purpose of staying in the library is to stay in the warm environment that can shelter them from the wind and rain.