Comics as an Introduction to Media Technology: The Finnish Case – Television and Donald Duck in the 1950s and The early 1960s
: Suominen Jaakko, Harviainen J. Tuomas
Publisher: Routledge
: 2019
: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
: 39
: 2
: 384
: 402
: 19
: 0143-9685
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2018.1544197
: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201906172066
This article deals with the relationship between television – a new form of media technology in 1950s Finland – and the introduction of the Donald Duck comic book. The article analyses the three most essential imaginary perspectives on the uses of media technology: interactivity, publicity seeking and tinkering with a television. On one hand, the article introduces the various ways in which the comic book represented and introduced the media format to the Finnish public, and on the other hand, how it actively participated in the contemporary public debate on the meanings of television and its use that took place at that time.