Week 7 Maus


Week 7

            Maus
            There is definitely a lot of symbolism in Maus, but I do not want to go over it in details, I will try to focus more on how the war change Artie’s father, Vladek. Even Vladek appears as a hateful old man in the book, but I believe that is not his false. In fact, I can see how deep the war has influence him. And doesn’t like those fairy tales we read before, that is no such a thing called happened ending for the war. Even the war end, its influence still roots deeply in Vladek. He doesn’t trust anybody, knows how to take advantages of people’s sympathy and very self-centered. All these sounds bad, but I can’t deny the fact that these are what it takes to survival from the war. So I guess all the good people died first during the war age and those who struggle to survive learn how to be selfish and lied in order to survived. That is what I believe, the ugliest side of the war. War doesn’t just kill people, it is far more than bunch number to show you how many resources were wasted, life were token, it has the power to shape people’s life. And I believe that is the core author tried to show in this comic, the Inevitable tragedy named war.

            Here are some thoughts I have for Barefoot Gen. Since I am a big fan of Japanese drama, literature and movie, I understand how good Japanese screenwriters are at hiding “hope” in their miserable work. For example, every times something horrible happen to Gen’s life, there is always hope for him after, like the birth of tomoko(the baby) after the atomic bomb, the thief who looks like his dead brother. The entire film is filled with these up and down and there is always hope no matter what happened. HOWEVER, since this film is so subject and filled with so much up and down, that I as an audience was shocked of how tough Gen’s mental status is. As a kid, he seems way too mature, wise and determined. I’m not saying that it is a bad thing, I’m just try to put myself in his position and I will definitely go crazy and have a mental breakdown. Therefore, I start to question the director if he purposely manipulates audience’s emotion in a very clumsy way (I mean, they all did, the only difference is how good they are at manipulating people’s mind). After all, I know war is bad, terrible and full of tragedies, but I hope audience can just learn that and still be upbeat about their own life instead of be so depressed. (I mean after all, it is only 8:30 am in the morning, what a wonderful way to start a day! (sarcasm)).


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