Week 7

I had never read Maus before, so it was an interesting experience to look at it with fresh eyes.
The analogy of using animal stereotypes in place of humans allows the story to touch on things that would make readers feel uncomfortable if humans were used instead. Zootopia did had the same effect: the controversial story is obviously about us, but using animals instead of human characters makes it more comfortable for the viewers since the reality isn't as blatant.
I thought the perspective was interesting, since the story was being told by the father of a character who is writing his experiences. The story often jumped back and forth between Vladek's past, and what was happening in reality as he told the story.
The story had a gradual escalation of events, and this is where the book fell off for me. In the first volume before Vladek actually gets to Auschwitz, the story feels very flat and not-engaging. It has several deaths, which have the potential to be tragic and evoke sad feelings with the reader, but they are presented in a "telling versus showing" sort of way. If those events were shown and carried out, and even included more dynamics in the characters, it would be more interesting and allow the reader to sympathize with the characters.
Sympathizing with the characters is another point that I want to make, since I found it very difficult to do so. Of course, the Holocaust was one of the most horrible and tragic events in history, so anything involving it should give an audience an unsettling sensation. I felt that it was different in this case, because the reader is pulled out of the action. If the readers are supposed to really sympathize with what the characters are going through, they should be pulled into what's happening instead of being told by the characters. I guess this was done to make the horrific events more subtle, but considering this is about the Holocaust, I would have expected it to be pushed more.
Also, an interesting observation I made was that the drawing quality of this narrative changes dramatically over time. The very beginning of the first volume has clearer and more refined drawings, especially with the style that the mice are drawn in. The drawings become more simplified and graphic-looking over time.