I was surprised to see an actual photo of Vladek toward the end of Maus, especially in a cleaned/fitted prisoner's uniform. That fact they he took the photo in the uniform kind of hints to either a slight sense of humor that was never extinguished or his desire to have solid evidence in order to remember what those uniforms looked like should his memory fade later on in life. That fact that he took it for Anja, who obviously knows what the camps and the uniforms looked like because of her own experiences, makes me think it was the former but who can say?
I was surprised to see a real photo of Vladek none the less. Maybe it's because after almost two complete volumes I was so used to seeing him as a mouse. To throw that out there - "Hey, look, remember this is a real person we're talking about here" was slightly jarring and gave me pause. I suppose that was Art's intention and since he has a history of fusing both drawn and photographic images [as discussed in Comic Book Confidential] I know I shouldn't be surprised.
It certainly had the feel of a modern "period piece" photo; something you'd find at a tourist stop or a theme park. The fact that it did conjure those feelings was striking. Not only is this Art pushing out as image of his father to us as the audience but we (or at least I) was forced to really roll the image around in my mind. I found myself actually thinking through the line of thought that: "This looks like a fake period piece photo but it's not. It's not just mice, it's people. It is rooted in reality. It's not just a comic book full of fantastic fantasy but a retelling of someone's journey through intense trauma."
If this wasn't what Art was aiming for it's still the message that came across for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment