WSJ
During a segment shown early in “Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse,” an interviewer submits that the three most resonant works of art rooted in the Holocaust have been Primo Levi’s “If This Is a Man,” Claude Lanzmann’s nine-plus-hour documentary “Shoah,” and Art Spiegelman’s “Maus,” which depicted Nazis as cats and, controversially, Jews as mice. Was that in bad taste? “The Holocaust was in bad taste,” says Mr. Spiegelman.
It’s as close to churlish as the subject gets during this “American Masters” treatment of an artist who reimagined the possibilities of the comic book, along with his relationship with his Auschwitz-survivor father and the Holocaust itself. First published as a book in 1986, “Maus” has followed Mr. Spiegelman for almost 40 years—he portrays it as the shadow of a giant rodent, stalking him—but throughout this film by Molly Bernstein and Philip Dolin he is almost shockingly candid about the most harrowing subject matter. And unlike many artists put under the documentary microscope, he has no reservations about addressing influences, meanings, interpretations or the cosmic weight of “Maus.” When it comes to Jewish guilt, he double-dips: He’s not only the child of survivors but became enormously successful by telling their history. More
The program is available for the next month online. Watch
“Maus” and its sequel Maus II are tough reads, but well worth the effort.
I hate Maus intensely. Making innocent animals take the guilt of human evil is almost as bad as the Holocaust itself. And trying to explain a serious human failing in a comic book format cheapens the whole damned thing. It’s an abomination.
If I ever run into that SOB Spiegelman, I would be inclined to punch the asshole in the face, cut his heart out, if he has such a thing, then stomp on it.
I watched all but the last 10 or so minutes. Up to that point the story was worth watching. The final message of the show seemed to be that the Nazis burning books in the street is the same as parents not wanting their children exposed to awful material in school libraries. Apparently, Tennessee authorities decided Maus was too much for children, which set off the book-burning narrative. Maus is not too much for high school kids, but possibly too much for younger kids. I applaud the book Maus and am disgusted by the idiotic book-burning/banning narrative that PBS and the commie-nazi left is using Maus to push, and I wish people would recognize how they are being used and reject that stupid narrative wherever it is pushed.
Yes, I should have put a cavoite in the post not to bother with the last 20 minutes or so. I decided it was better to allow PBS and Speigelman to spout off and remind us all how the 1st amendment defense their right to call those they don’t like “Nazis.” – Dr. Tar