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Originally Posted by rubber soul
I read Maus. It's maybe the deepest graphic novel I ever read. My Grandmother was a Polish Jew who, fortunately, missed the Holocaust (her family emigrated to Canada in 1914). Still, it's a book that deeply affects me and I'm pretty much a fan of Spiegelman these days.
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I think the approach Art Spiegelman takes to talking about the Jews in WWII is very clever. Telling his father's story, while simultaneously telling the story of himself interviewing his father about what happened back then - it just adds so many layers of character and gravity to the sad events that of course inevitably transpire.
I also also admire how Spiegelman does not merely portray the Nazi's as one note monsters with no humanity, or the jews as these angelic creatures with no real human faults. Instead, he dares tage a nuanced and realistic approach that doesn't let us lie to ourselves about what genocide really is and how it happens.
I really hate Spielberg's schmaltzy, simplistic approach to such important subject matter in Shchindler's List - a movie I honestly consider to be awful. I watched that movie for the first time the same month where I read Maus for the first time, so Spielberg's inane, dishonest telling of a similar story will always ring hollow to me.
Maus stares right into the human soul in a way Spielberg would never dare to.
It's a great book, but not always fun to read. Back when I first read it, I remember at a certain point in the book being so upset that I had to close the book and go for a walk to calm down.
Don't show school children Schindler's List. Have them read Maus. It's funny, poignant, terrifying, sad, depressing, heartwarming and humane. Spielberg is just a fraud that approaches a movie about the friggin' Holocaust the same way he would if he was made to direct a Lassie movie.
Sorry about turning this into a Spielberg rant
