Waltz With Bashir

Today in class we watched the movie "Waltz With Bashir." Overall I think the animation was done very well. As was discussed in class I would probably compare it with 1980s war movies like "Apocalypse Now," or "Full Metal Jacket." The only problem really was in certain parts of the movie he left the audience wondering exactly what was being represented. One scene in particular is the scene where him and the other boys are walking out of the water naked toward the buildings being bombed.
"Waltz With Bashir," compared to the other graphic novels we read in class like "Maus," was far more graphic and shocking. In "Maus" Speigelman uses mice and other animals to in a way mask some of the graphic nature of what really happened and made a novel that would appeal more to younger audiences. "Waltz With Bashir" had nudity, violence, and pornography in it which would not be something to expose children to and makes "Waltz With Bashir" a movie geared more to 18 years or older audiences. The movie also shows how traumatic experiences like the Lebanon War can affect a person physcologically. And how the mind can suppress certain events to the point that can't remember the events even if they want to recall them. It also shows how in war soldiers have the ability to cause great horrors on innocent lives ad not think twice about the orders they are given and will rationalize these orders by simply saying they were just following orders. So when the use of Nazi came up I think it was in correct context and used in a truthful sense.

Maus I

Well I week or so ago I had read the first Maus novel and I thought Spegielman did a wonderful job narrating writing the novel as a whole. I think he did a great job showing the issues that are brought up being a son of a Jewish Holocost survivor and how difficult it really was growing up in such an environment. I have a hard time though feeling for his father though. His first wife and second wife were both in the same circumstances as he was and they didn't seem as bitter about it as he was. I think part of the way he is because the lost of his first wife and he really doesn't want to express what he really went through or tries to suppress it all together. The thing I found really unique was when the comic book that was written about his father was published it was done using humans as the characters. I don't really know why he chose that route but I did think while reading that part was, wow if it was all done in human form the story would have been so much more graphic and possibly scary that it wouldn't have been suitable for younger people to read. Bit overall it was a great book and once I started reading it was really hard to put down.

Jewish Comic Author's Writing Based on Jewish Tradition

I think when looking at Jewish comics and the authors you can also get a good sense of the Jewish tradition and history of the Jewish people as a whole. First thing to consider is examining the book, "A Contract With God." My first thought was why would a Jewish person even make a contract with God, when the Jewish tradition of toiling and suffering is a common theme and through these struggles you learn the true meaning of God's love.
One example of this the bible book of Job. Job has everything taken from him and has to endure suffering to the extreme and through that suffering he proved himself faithful to God and in the end he was rewarded with riches and twice of what he had.
In my opinion being Jewish and making a contract with God is almost going against what it means to be Jewish, which is to earn God's favor and blessings one has to suffer and toil to earn his blessings. So in a way the character is setting himself up for failure in the Jewish sense by making this contract with God. It says in my opinion that he does not want to accept the suffering one wants to attain in the Jewish sense and only wants the good things without the work of earning them through proving your faith.