The contemporary society is immersed in a profusion of transformations, offered mainly by technical developments of information and communication which, amongst other things, is responsible for the ceaseless media usage and people and world’s image shape. These modern technologies redefined fundamental notions like time and space, compelling us to transform our memories, manners to produce our cultures, ways of thinking and seeing our world.

In the most recent studies proposed by Visual Culture, the cognitive potential of the image is discussed, and the abandonment of the old attitude of using them only like sources is defended, for a more wide-ranging treatment of the visuality. The image is then understood as a social representation, production method and/or cultural reproduction that can create symbols of a common reality.

Authors like Rudolf Arnheim, Ulpiano Meneses, Maria Emília Sardelich, Fernando Hernandez, Karry Freddman, amongst others, point out the importance of learning to see and read the visual data, since the visual language is considered more than a way of easing the communication, being also a cultural manifestation from a given society. Thereby, through the studies of aesthetics and forms, the image can now be comprehended as an experience of production and reception, which transforms the generated and received information, altering also its own perception and ways of visualizing it.

Having this idea in mind, this article proposes to analyze the comics, comprehending this visual source as a vehicle for ideologies and conflicts, an important form of cultural manifestation and representation of a certain era and context that, as cultural practice, has participation of the social world. As proposed by Visual Culture, diverging from the old trend, the ideal would be to seek understanding about what the image informs us and how it is done, avoiding any attempts of using it just for illustrating something that is already conceived. In this sense, the research proposes to investigate the visual impact and builds connections between Mafalda – comic strips icon – and the Argentinian educational scenario from the time the character was created (1964-1973). In addition to the school environment representation, the dialog with this documental source is done by articulating historical studies and studies about Visual Culture, acknowledging the source specificities regarding its aesthetical characteristics and as a cultural and artistic production, to suggest readings and interpretations.