What is the significance of the black and white print in Spiegelman's Maus?
In the book Understanding Comics, the author, Scott McCloud writes: "In black and white, the ideas behind the art are communicated more directly. Meaning transcends form. Art approaches language"(pg. 192). The pictures in Maus are equally as important as the text so I believe Spiegelman didn't want to drown out the meaning with color. He is telling the story of his father's survival and the black and white conveys this idea while also showing the characters as symbols of certain people that is also important to recognize.
What is the significance of Spiegelman's form and style of telling his story in Maus? As mentioned above, the black and white print makes the reader focus on the recount of his father's time during the war without distracting too much with bright,detailed pictures.
I also think it is important to mention that (and this was mentioned in class) the panels for the most part are a consistent in their size and detail. However, there are a few examples where the image is larger and the significance here seems to be that they are important moments from the story. For example; when his father sees the swastika for the first time (pg. 32), as well as when Anja and Vladik arrive at Auschwitz (pg 156). To draw these panels like Spiegelman did was definitely deliberate. By making these bigger and more detailed, the reader is drawn to these images on the page first (or at least that's what they did to me).
The discussion of form and style in Maus brings me to Hayden White's chapter on narrative and reality. Honestly, this chapter was confusing and at first I had no idea how I could relate it to the story. During class discussion today,though, it was mentioned that White may be implying that the morality and meaning grow out of reality. In Maus, the reader finds meaning through the story and the narrator. This begins to become more and more apparent after looking closely at the details of the comic as well as getting to know the central characters.
I promise my posts won't be so boring every time, I'm pretty new to this blog world.
I really like your first section here. I had completely forgotten that part of McCloud's book and am glad that you mentioned it. Do you think there is a way to also apply this to White? Maybe black and white in a moral/meaning sense? I'm not sure if that would work or not, but it could be fun to apply your point to all three. =)
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