WeeK 7

The Maus series was a little disturbing to read, especially the concept of the Jews being interpreted as mice, and the people of higher power being showed as cats. The story in this comic holds back no fury by showing vividly descriptive was of the hardships that happened during the holocaust and during the world wars. There are some entertaining selections in this comic such as romanticism, and drama. I couldn’t really take some of the concepts seriously due to the fact that the characters were mice. It felt like I was looking at a Tom and Jerry cartoon sequence. I do however; appreciate what the illustrator and writer were getting across by the graphics. The nature of the graphics contained a lot of symbolism and conceptual meanings including the casted shadows and contrast of darkness between characters.

After looking at the cover and reading the prologue I was waiting for the dark parts of the story, which didn’t appear until chapter two which was titled the Honeymoon. This chapter showed the dark side of Jews during the holocaust. The viewer is now introduced to the pigs that are policemen who yell at the mice and torture them. The pigs are also bigger than the mice, which are supposed to pursue dominance. The overall violence was very intense. It was like they were exterminating the mice, which is interpreted for how the Jews were killed in the holocausts. The stories told from Art’s father perspective lead me to see the tragedies in a substantial way.

Week 6: Underground Comics

Underground comics were probably the first xxx source of entertainment to media. The sexual and drug use subtext states how this is no ordinary comic for all age groups. During this week one of the comics I read was the Gay Comics. I had given this comic a chance to see what aspect of homosexuality that it was going to lean towards. It really surprised me that there was even a source of genre towards gays in the media during this time period were we were just getting past civil acts towards race, now we are going into a new era that is becoming more discoverable in society. I fell in love with the comic just after reading the first couple of pages. As a homosexual male, many of the stories in this comic book were relatable and funny to read. All of the stories stayed on the concept nature of gay/lesbian culture and what it’s like to live in our world. Most of the jokes had to do with the hook up scene in gay culture, which justifies how sex with no strings attached was normal and if one were to get attached, more than likely the chances are that they would get ignored. An example of that was Cruise’s introduction to Dirty Old Lovers. The two main characters were in an open relationship and most of the time during the comic, they were drooling over other men in front of each other. This gave the reader a common view of open relationships in the gay community.

One comic that did bring topic to an influential matter in the gay community was the Cy Ross and the S.Q. Syndrome. This comic brought on the issues of being sexually racist, which is even an issue in the gay community today. Out of many the discussions that we hear in the gay community including violence, rejection, and stereotypes, I feel that sexual discrimination should be a more discussion of awareness.