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Trash, Art, and the Comics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2024

John Dyck Open the ORCID record for John Dyck [Opens in a new window]
John Dyck*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA
*
Email: john.dyck@gmail.com
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Abstract

Many comics are aesthetically trashy: They are immediately grasped and easily available. Historically, this trashiness is lobbed as an aesthetic defect of many comics, a defect for both their production and their appreciation. To defend these comics, some point to non-aesthetic values, like sociality. I argue that there is aesthetic value to these comics, and that it lies precisely in their trashy characteristics: their immediacy and availability. Many comics have these characteristics because many comics are cartooned. The immediacy of cartooning is precisely what makes so many ordinary comics beautiful in an ordinary way.

Keywords

comicsevaluationaesthetic valueartistic valuetrashbad art
Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , First View , pp. 1 - 9
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Canadian Journal of Philosophy Inc.

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