Skip to main content

Are you a Man or a Maus?


That is an interesting question. Are they men or are they Maus? Are they real or are they fiction? Or are they perhaps both? Is the subgenre label of non-fiction graphic novels a misnomer?

I can't speak for others, but I don't believe the label of non-fiction graphic novel is a misnomer. Well at least no more so than some history books. Regardless of whether the characters are drawn as men or mice, it is still only an artist's rendition of the events second hand. The artistic component of the novel cannot be nonfiction for this reason. It is the written portion of the story that is nonfiction. It is in this way that it can be both non-fiction and a novel.

What's the art style can do for nonfiction is allow readers to empathize with the characters. The truth is in the words and the imagination is in the art. Even if it is a highly constructed medium it can still be true because the art is just the artist’s rendition of actual events. I actually think that using a more simplistic style, a more abstract style, for a historical story may actually be better. In understanding comics, McCloud talked in previous chapters about how abstract faces allow you to see more of yourself in the character. So using this more abstract art style may actually allow people to empathize with the storyteller more than if it was photo-realistic.

While Maus is not the most emotive graphic novel I’ve read, it gives a strange sense of being both part of and yet outside of the story. In chapter five of understanding comics Scott McCloud ask the question can “emotions be made visible”? Strangely enough Maus does not take advantage of its medium to depict emotions very much. I did find this scene however both comical and emotive.


Maus, with the exception of a few scenes, shows most of its emotions in the text and body movements of its characters. The author does do a good job setting the moods and tones of each panel with strong black tones. The novel is genius in that the art almost does the bare minimum to depict visual detail. It really is just enough detail that the author doesn't have to explain what's going on in the scene. It does what other forms can’t by making the story more digestible.

Well that's all for tonight everyone. Have a good night and thank you for reading.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Analysis of Aya: Life in Yop City

To begin this week's post, I'd like to first address a few things about the author's duty to his/her readers. When we think of reading material from other countries or cultures, what factors are important to us? What information do we need in order to recognize the significance of the author's work? For me, it's important for the author to find some way to connect to me as a reader. Do we share a common experience? Can I relate your story to mine? This is not to say that a writer's work is rendered unimpressive if they choose not to do this. But I do think it goes without saying that most impressionable works hit us emotionally. I also think that an author should be conscious of the world that they are painting for the reader. Is it true what you're writing? Does it provide some sort of insight into the world as you see it? Are you confirming outside opinions of your culture, or are you breaking the stereotypes that have been placed upon you? That being sai...

Junji Ito and the Art of the Uncanny

As discussed in Chapter 2 of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics , the Japanese style of comic book art holds several notable quirks. While early manga artists tended to favor simplistic, yet distinct styles that paved the way for a number of internationally renowned characters, contemporary manga artists have since favored a hybrid style that juxtaposes the cutesy, rounded characters of yesteryear with the realistic and richly shaded settings that have since become popular. Building on this, McCloud describes a phenomenon in which Japanese comic artists have used realism to objectify--that is, to emphasize the "otherness" of certain characters, objects, or places--elements of their work and further separate these elements from the reader. I have chosen the work of one of my favorite comic artists, Japanese horror icon Junji Ito, to further illustrate McCloud's point. Though McCloud describes this phenomenon in the context of Japanese comic book art, he is usi...

Bringing Africa into the Fold

The comic Aya: Life in Yop City does a fantastic job of illustrating a culture different from the more popular Western variety. For those reading this, have you ever considered Africa in any way that was not influenced by main stream media? No? Well me either. It is sad to say, but my view of Africa was just - more or less - a vast land of chaos and poverty. Why? Because is that not what the media would have us believe? As a western country ourselves - presuming, of course, that you are reading this from the US or some European country - we do not consider other nations to have much value in comparison to our own. Because we have created a Eurocentric view of what society should be, we have disallowed other countries to feel that their own culture is worth portraying in novels or media. For example, most people are lead to believe that Africa is riddled with disease, famine, and "uneducated" people who are in dire need of help. This just isn't true! There are places ...