aesthetic maus

After randomly going through Google pages, I have found something! Whether or not anyone has used this is a mystery, and I will gladly leave it for the audience to solve. Kuddos for mysteries! (whatever that means... ) And now, I will continue this blog after this commercial break:

[Maus was featured in the Simpsons?! wha?!]



Art Spiegelman has abs? wha?!



Anyways, sorry for that randomness. I would have to say though, that was no commercial break...

Okay then, back to work. So yeah, after searching, I came across Robert C. Harvey's book, The Art of the Comic Book: an Aesthetic History. There are some pages missing, and I did not exactly read the whole thing. (sorry, it's a Google preview) So, from what I read, this book has many insights as to how cartoons are emerged and developed; as Harvey words it, this book gives the analysis of what a medium’s aesthetic history is. He explains that cartoons or mediums can have a narrative that approaches the blending of words and pictures, creating “meaning.” That is along the lines of what he talks about in the beginning, but as you can see, there are MANY pages in this document. I, again, did not read and accumulate all the info that was said, but I can say, he uses many lens to prove his point. Well, when Harvey does talk about Maus, he begins by giving his analysis upon Spiegelman’s choice of narrative in both book one and two. He analyzes Spiegelman’s narrative voice and states how its purpose was directed at the audience; how it was meant to make the audience respond in certain ways. He also mentions how, because Spiegelman spilt his storytelling into two, it made people expect things. He goes on to explain more about Maus’ representation with the cat v.s. mice, and how the racist aspect of the Holocaust drama eliminated individuality and brought the feelings of humanity to its readers, partly blinding us from his approach to storytell. But somewhere here, the preview stops, and so, that is all I have. In the end, I think maybe with this analysis of Maus, Harvey provides us with examples of how some cartoons are made from things/events/topics that attract our pure emotions and sensations, like with the Holocaust.  aesthetic