Week 7: Maus and Barefoot Gen

Reading "Maus", I thought it was interesting that the main characters were mice, and other characters were different animals. It seemed like the Jewish people were mice, while the Germans were cats, the Polish were pigs, and so on. I wasn't exactly sure why these specific animals were used except maybe as a stereotype, which is somewhat what it is and somewhat symbolism. Apparently the main characters are mice because it plays off the stereotype of Jews as being pests or vermin and the Germans are cats because they feed off the mice. I like stories that bring in symbolism like this because it adds a lot of underlying meanings and messages, which really brings more context to the story.

I also like the simple style that was done for the story because it can get across a more complex subject in a easier way for many different people to understand. "Maus" is based on the story of Spiegelman's father, and this story really tells us how it was during the Holocaust. Instead of just hearing the overall story of the Holocaust, we have an actual experience of someone who went through it.

Watching "Barefoot Gen" I found it to be extremely sad. It was interesting though to see an animated movie on the bombing of Hiroshima. It really puts things into perspective and I really liked the characters, so seeing what happened made it even harder to watch. It is a bit older of a movie and I think it still holds up because at first I thought it was a little weird with the voice acting, but I think it makes sense for the time. I researched more about "Barefoot Gen" and even though the movie ended where it did, there was more story to it in the manga so I definitely want to check it out and see what else happens.

Both these stories, (although one is less gruesome then the other), do a really good job at showing us a historical moment in time, and make us connect with these characters.