COMICS JOURNAL 11: Maus (Ch 3,4)
Title: Maus: A Survivor's Tale
Author: Art Spiegelman
Pages 41-93: Chapter 3 Prisoner of War, Chapter 4 The Noose Tightens
Comics artists always illustrate cartoony characters instead of drawing realistic-looking characters. This is because when the characters do not have a specific identity, everyone can pretend that he/she is one of the characters that most representative to him/her, mostly the main character. As a result, the readers will be more involved when reading the comics. This technique is called masking. The cartoony characters are not limited to simplified human forms, it can be in animal forms such as mice and cats in Maus by Spiegelman, and in other forms such as a vast and a table. On the contrary, when the character is too specific that the audience cannot attached to the character, the audience participation will be low.
Despite the cartoony character, the background is more realistic and detailed. When the readers entered the comics world and pretended he/she is one of the characters, he/she will see the things from the character's eyes. The detailed background allows readers a sense of reality, thus easier to enter the comics world. Readers participation in comics are better than other art forms because other art forms requires more imagination in order to view things at the same angle as the artist or the characters. Therefore, the combination of cartoony character on realistic background is used by many famous comics including Tintin by Herge, Cerebus by Dave Sim, Nonnonba by Shigeru Mizuki, and Castle in the Sky by Hayao Miyazaki to allow the readers mask themselves and enter the comics world unconsciously.
In Maus, Art Spiegelman illustrated the main characters such as Artie and his father as mice, German soldiers as cats, and maids as pigs. Through masking, readers not only experience the adventure of Artie's father, but also feel the weakness of the people during the Nazi era like mice being ruled and exploited by the Cats. With people's common sense about the relationships and characteristics of these animals, Spiegelman can implicitly and successfully explained how the German soldiers exploited the Jews and the fear of the people toward the soldiers.
Author: Art Spiegelman
Pages 41-93: Chapter 3 Prisoner of War, Chapter 4 The Noose Tightens
Comics artists always illustrate cartoony characters instead of drawing realistic-looking characters. This is because when the characters do not have a specific identity, everyone can pretend that he/she is one of the characters that most representative to him/her, mostly the main character. As a result, the readers will be more involved when reading the comics. This technique is called masking. The cartoony characters are not limited to simplified human forms, it can be in animal forms such as mice and cats in Maus by Spiegelman, and in other forms such as a vast and a table. On the contrary, when the character is too specific that the audience cannot attached to the character, the audience participation will be low.
Despite the cartoony character, the background is more realistic and detailed. When the readers entered the comics world and pretended he/she is one of the characters, he/she will see the things from the character's eyes. The detailed background allows readers a sense of reality, thus easier to enter the comics world. Readers participation in comics are better than other art forms because other art forms requires more imagination in order to view things at the same angle as the artist or the characters. Therefore, the combination of cartoony character on realistic background is used by many famous comics including Tintin by Herge, Cerebus by Dave Sim, Nonnonba by Shigeru Mizuki, and Castle in the Sky by Hayao Miyazaki to allow the readers mask themselves and enter the comics world unconsciously.
(Page 43) McCloud says, "This combination allows readers to mask themselves in a character and safely enter a sensually stimulating world".
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Page 43, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud |
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Page 51, Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman |
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