A little something
Maus is a book that at first glance might seem offensive to some, a comic book that centers its story on the holocaust is bound to turn some heads. And while those heads take a look the first thing they are bound to notice that the people of the times are represented by animals. Many a person probably has returned the books to where they found it and move onto something a little more traditional. A shame. Art Spiegelman’s work in Maus is profound on the most mature of levels.
He uses the mouse to represent the Jewish community. He did this to show that the Jewish people where the meek people of Germany, and of Europe. His use of Cats as Germans is interesting because cats prey on mice, which is what the Germans did all throughout WWII. A post entitled “Super Gumby” uses a similar technique to describe aspects of the War in Iraq and Afghanistan. Old Blue takes a minute to talk about the flexible Gumby as a motif for the current war being waged in which he is fighting. Also in the post he uses pictures to help tell a story which is very much like a graphic novel. His whole point revolves around the point that the American army has become flexible to the extent that it is hardly even an army anymore but more of a policing force. In his post he says that in today’s army that flexibility is required to follow orders and do what needs to be done even if it is inconvenient. While the post is very tongue in cheek it legitimately describes an experience because not only does he have to follow the orders of his superiors but he also needs to be able to work with the local Afghans, which to an American who grew up in a completely different culture that is not willing to change could be very frustrating. And as a solder it is too exhausting to always focus on the violence and obscenity that surrounds them at all time: sometimes it is ok to enjoy the view.
In both Maus and Super Gumby, the authors decided to take a preconceive concept and use it to tell a story. While Maus is not light hearted, and Super Gumby is not dark they both constitute adult reading because there are concepts in there that children would find confusing (adults find them confusing too, just adults tend to understand that very few things are cut and dry). It is those pictures that bring the stories together, and make them what they are.
Filed by whitepe at April 16th, 2008 under Uncategorized
