By Calla Inman, Staff Writer
Last week, cartoonist Art Spiegelman presented “What The %@&*! Happened to Comics” at the Reston Community Center's CenterStage, about a month after the controversial banning of his graphic novel MAUS in one Tennessee county’s middle schools.
Spiegelman has had a long career in making comics, especially in relation to social commentary. MAUS itself began as a chapter-by-chapter publication in a magazine that supported underground comic artists. When it was eventually decided that the story would be published as a book, it was so inflammatory that it was rejected by over 30 publishers before finally being accepted.
To say MAUS’ impact was groundbreaking would be an understatement. MAUS paved a road towards a more open dialogue in media, allowing more stories to be told about the Holocaust and other difficult topics.
At his presentation in Reston, Spiegelman expressed his disappointment with the banning of MAUS. While he didn’t originally intend for it to be used in school curriculums, he recognized the usefulness of the story to students’ education.
Weeks ago, McMinn County school board officials had voted to ban the book, arguing that the language used was inappropriate for a school setting. The school board insisted that their students should not be consuming media that contains such offensive language. The board also claimed that there was a depiction of nudity in the book that was also inappropriate for students to be exposed to. The scene in question concerns a panel corner depiction of the artist’s mother in a bathtub, following her suicide.
Regardless of the school boards’ reasons, several members of the Jewish community have spoken against the decision. MAUS serves as a memoir detailing the experiences of one Holocaust survivor. Critics of the decision have argued that educating people on the horrors of the Holocaust is necessary to avoid it happening again, no matter how hard it is to digest. Spiegelman held a similar position, believing that people just wanted a “softer, fluffier, kinder Holocaust.”
The story of MAUS follows Spiegelman’s father as he endures persecution, intercut with time-jumps back to when Spiegelman was first writing the book, as he tries to make sense of the scrambled bits of stories his father had told him. This strategy makes the book relatable to a lot of people, because most of us are, as Spiegelman suggested, “trying to understand these events from an outside perspective.” Additionally, the graphic novel format makes the book more accessible to language learners and students who are intimidated by heavy books. Simply put, it is easier for everyone to read.
Plus, unlike a lot of Holocaust stories, it is not a story about heroism or happily-ever-afters. The characters have hard lives even after the Holocaust is over, which is something that many survivors experienced, but is often glossed over in media. Spiegelman explained this phenomenon of WWII stories when he said “the past hangs over the future.” Just because the war and the camps and the Nazis were gone does not mean their effects on people’s lives disappeared. Their actions still influence the world today.
HHS English teachers do not currently include MAUS in their curriculums, but they have in the past (as a choice memoir for sophomores), and it is available at our school library. HHS librarian Kim Dare said: “I was sad to hear of McMinn County School Board’s decision to remove MAUS from instruction. Teen students should have opportunities to learn about the past from books like this one, and to grow their critical thinking skills through discussions and reflections.”
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