The media of the film the Nazis used is the message that Hersonski is delivering the audience. It is the way propaganda film is created that is part of the story.
Graphic novels use art to depict the "real" world. Just as a viewer does not mistake a Hollywood movie for reality, the viewer usually does not mistake a graphic novel as depicting real life. However, Maus is meant to be taken as a substitute for photos, films, and other primary source material. The audience is expected to read Maus for what it is, an autobiographical report of what it is like to be the son of a survivor. As a graphic novel, Maus fuses different modes of communication to allow the audience to connect with the reality of trauma.
Both Maus and Film Unfinished use frame narratives as a means to reconnect with the audience periodically. This allows the audience to remain emotionally and intellectually engaged. The frame narrative of Maus functions differently from that of Film Unfinished. In Film Unfinished, the frame narrative is about discovering the hidden film reel, which provides a genuine portrayal of the Nazi propaganda machine. The frame narrative shows that the present continually recreates the past, as new material is discovered or new voices are heard. Thus, Maus and other modern stories related to the Holocaust are relevant and will continue to be so. It is important to retell stories, because...
The past, the Nazi
trauma and Holocaust, continues to shape Jewish consciousness and identity. Spiegelman in particular explores this concept of Jewish consciousness and
identity in Maus. The past is relevant always, as people in the present connect with their roots through the stories of their family members. Their family members are part of a larger community, which is also kept together by
storytelling. It is cyclical: the interface between past and present. In Film Unfinished, the cyclical nature of time and the relationship between past and present is also explored. This is why the film reel is an appropriate symbol to use for the cover of the film. The film reel is a wheel. It represents the cyclical nature of time, as a film only appears to run one-directionally. In fact, a film can be played backwards, stopped, forwarded and reversed. The film can be edited and chopped up to achieve an author's goals -- whether those goals are to produce a
documentary about Nazi propaganda or to produce an actual piece of propaganda. In this same way, one can thumb through Maus and encounter any moment in time from the frame of the present.
Works Cited
Hersonski, Yael. A Film Unfinished. [Feature Film]. Oscilliscope, 2010.
Kluger, Ruth. Still Alive. Feminist, 2003.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus. Pantheon, 1991.
