Maus, a two part graphic novel by Art Speigelman, stands very uniquely amongst the many stories that have been told about the holocaust. While the story does indeed chronicle the survival tale of a survivor, it does it through the lens of his child trying to understand his struggles, and coming to terms with his own difficulties with his father. The conversational back and forth between Art and his father created in me a much more personal connection with the story of the survivor than any that I've experienced through other media portrayals of holocaust survivors.
Though the story could have been told through any medium fairly successfully, as it is a very personal take on a very written about subject, I believe the medium of comics provided the chance for a visual interpretation that would not have been possible in literature, and would have been simplified and dumbed down in film. Using the visual metaphor of mice to represent the European Jews and cats to represent the SS and the German public was something that added a much deeper level of content to a mostly biographical narrative. Seeing the simplified faces of characters almost gave it a surreal quality in contrast with the brutal nature of the situation, which I think is true to the reality of the holocaust. Instead of being shown the brutality of what happened through photographic qualities, which I feel slowly desensitizes viewers to the truth of what happened, creating emotional tug through the simplified anthropomorphic animals allows the readers to stay engaged and stay empathetic to the situation of the characters throughout the story. It isn't overly dramaticized however, and for that I'm glad as I feel that would not have been appropriate for the type of storytelling Art used. The subtlety of describing the situations his father was faced with I think adds more ability to contemplate the effects a survivor would deal with in trying to carry on with their life.
The other point I believe adds a much more dimensional quality to Maus is the aspect of the story told unfiltered and biographically by Art about his constant struggle with his own father while learning about his story. Similar to Blankets, Art expresses his own feelings and emotions though the dialogues he has with his father and wife, occasionally breaking the forth wall. Particularly in part II, I think this puts an interesting perspective on the story. Towards the beginning of part II, Art speaks as the narrator talking directly to the reader as he is creating the second part of Maus. He describes the difficult questions he gets asked about the first volume of Maus after its release, as well as the weight of responsibility and self criticism he goes through in trying to finish the volume. Its obvious that the largely unspoken and untreated effects of the holocaust have leaked through in his father's treatment of Art growing up, and for this they have always had a tense relationship. By asking his father to detail each and every part of his experiences in the war, it both heightens these tensions, and also brings them into an examination by Art. This adds a level of depth that is much more connectable to most people, who for the most part remain detached from the intense suffering that happened in the holocaust. I especially can relate to this aspect of the story, as one of my closest friends has a father who was raised by holocaust survivors. Unfortunately it is common for most survivors to have raised their children in environments of abuse, and as such my friend's father as carried on such a legacy. Though Art's case isn't quite to the level of abuse, it is clearly not a positive relationship he shares with his father, and it is in this brutal honesty that Maus stands apart from many holocaust tales.
I think its fair to say from my response that I thoroughly enjoyed Maus, almost as much as Blankets, though that still sticks in me stronger due to the intense connection I have with the experiences of the characters. Maus is very similar in storytelling to Blankets, however I feel it is a little subtler, and in some ways more complex in the relationships of the characters. It is both frustrating to read because of the obviously frustrated relationship between Art and his father, and very empathetic to the situations of survivors and their attempts to live beyond the struggles of the holocaust. I think it has been critically lauded as long as it has for a reason, and I believe it will forever stand out amongst its medium and as a record of the horrible events that occurred in Germany until 1945.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Blankets
The graphic novel "Blankets" by Craig Thompson is quite possibly one of the most personal and touching works I have ever read. I mean this in the context of all narrative media, and not just comics, which I think is an important distinction. There are things here, as is the case in "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan, that are simply not possible in other mediums of storytelling, and quite honestly enhance the directness of the experience far better than any other medium could. The personal quality of the drawing style, coupled with the hyperbolic, and fairly sparse (in context of the length of the work) word usage make the experience of Craig Thompson's life one that we do not have to adjust to our own experience; it becomes our experience.
To be fair, I am exaggerating a bit. This is only because the nature of the experiences Craig Thompson depicts so closely mimic my own (most obviously in name). I realize many people will not connect with the story as strongly as I did. However, it is impossible to not put yourself in his shoes because there is no barrier between his experience and his medium, or at least there is a diminished barrier. I feel often times novels may present a high barrier between the experiences of the character and the experience of the reader if the language choices are that which the reader is not used to or exposed to. This is obviously a generalization, as plenty of people connect with traditional novels more than other mediums of storytelling, however I feel it is becoming more difficult for people born in newer generations to connect with the characters in classic novels of old because of the great disparity in language, and cultural context. Ideally one would teach said things alongside the reading of the novel, however in most public (and even private) schools this is often left out due to time constraints and budget limitations. As such, I feel new mediums such as graphic novels and interactive mediums such as video games tend to present a more immediate personal connection with younger viewers. The trade off, of course, with mediums like video games and movies is that everything has to be condensed into a consumable amount of information, often restricted by time limits and attention spans. I feel this is where graphic novels fill in the gap between novels and movies, video games, and television. They contain the image-based accessibility and immediacy of movies and television, while allowing for the depth and dimension that is built over time with a novel.
I'm sure all of this is fairly obvious, and fairly treaded ground, but I think this became really apparent to me while reading "Blankets". The personal connection I developed with the story, I feel, would not have been as deep or as meaningful if it had been presented short hand in a movie or video game, and I feel like I wouldn't have been able to experience his wonderful interpretations of the very same experiences I've had in a novel. His struggle with his personal religion, his family, his own self-worth, I think might have come across as trite and more juvenile had it not had such expressive and metaphorical imagery to give it depth. Granted, I did feel it went over the top in some instances. The portion of the book that focused mainly on his relationship with Raina I didn't connect as strongly with, simply because I felt like it felt a little too idealized and not as developed as the rest of the book. Granted I understand his goal was to express how he felt in the moment, and for that I think it was very successful (also it probably doesn't help that I'm homosexual and that automatically creates a barrier in trying to understand that expression of love) but it just didn't feel as genuine or thought out as the rest of the book did.
Since this has basically become an essay, I would just like to summarize by saying the experience of reading "Blankets" was one I will hold dearly as a piece that both proved a medium's possibilities to me as well as creating a greater personal connection than most other pieces of literature or film have in quite a while. So I suppose a thank you is in order for directing this book to me.
To be fair, I am exaggerating a bit. This is only because the nature of the experiences Craig Thompson depicts so closely mimic my own (most obviously in name). I realize many people will not connect with the story as strongly as I did. However, it is impossible to not put yourself in his shoes because there is no barrier between his experience and his medium, or at least there is a diminished barrier. I feel often times novels may present a high barrier between the experiences of the character and the experience of the reader if the language choices are that which the reader is not used to or exposed to. This is obviously a generalization, as plenty of people connect with traditional novels more than other mediums of storytelling, however I feel it is becoming more difficult for people born in newer generations to connect with the characters in classic novels of old because of the great disparity in language, and cultural context. Ideally one would teach said things alongside the reading of the novel, however in most public (and even private) schools this is often left out due to time constraints and budget limitations. As such, I feel new mediums such as graphic novels and interactive mediums such as video games tend to present a more immediate personal connection with younger viewers. The trade off, of course, with mediums like video games and movies is that everything has to be condensed into a consumable amount of information, often restricted by time limits and attention spans. I feel this is where graphic novels fill in the gap between novels and movies, video games, and television. They contain the image-based accessibility and immediacy of movies and television, while allowing for the depth and dimension that is built over time with a novel.
I'm sure all of this is fairly obvious, and fairly treaded ground, but I think this became really apparent to me while reading "Blankets". The personal connection I developed with the story, I feel, would not have been as deep or as meaningful if it had been presented short hand in a movie or video game, and I feel like I wouldn't have been able to experience his wonderful interpretations of the very same experiences I've had in a novel. His struggle with his personal religion, his family, his own self-worth, I think might have come across as trite and more juvenile had it not had such expressive and metaphorical imagery to give it depth. Granted, I did feel it went over the top in some instances. The portion of the book that focused mainly on his relationship with Raina I didn't connect as strongly with, simply because I felt like it felt a little too idealized and not as developed as the rest of the book. Granted I understand his goal was to express how he felt in the moment, and for that I think it was very successful (also it probably doesn't help that I'm homosexual and that automatically creates a barrier in trying to understand that expression of love) but it just didn't feel as genuine or thought out as the rest of the book did.
Since this has basically become an essay, I would just like to summarize by saying the experience of reading "Blankets" was one I will hold dearly as a piece that both proved a medium's possibilities to me as well as creating a greater personal connection than most other pieces of literature or film have in quite a while. So I suppose a thank you is in order for directing this book to me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)