The Selective Lens of Silent Film and Graphic Novels
“More I don’t need to tell you. We were both very happy, and lived happy, happy ever after” (Maus II, 136)
These words are spoken by Vladek Spiegelman at the end of Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A Survivor’s Tale as he concluded his story of surviving the Holocaust. They are spoken right after Vladek is reunited with his wife Anja. Much of Vladek’s tale centered around his desire to be with his wife Anja, both during the Holocaust and after she died. Spiegelman displays the importance of Anja and Vladek’s relationship as Vladek verbally mentions his desire to be with Anja throughout the book and physically escapes prison and Auschwitz to return to her. However, Spiegelman did not only use repetition of words to highlight Vladek and Anja’s relationship. In order to visually emphasize the pivotal importance of Anja and Vladek’s relationship and the serious nature of the Holocaust, Art Spiegelman utilizes common silent film themes: the iris effect and dramatic visuals paired with silence.
Iris Effect
The iris effect has many names. It can be referred to as a matte, iris in, iris out, the pinhole zoom or a circle vignette (Koshy). No matter the name, the iris effect is when a matte blocks a certain amount of the light in a frame, drawing the viewer’s attention to the object of the frame. Not surprisingly, the New York Film Academy describes an iris out as “similar to an iris of the eye contracting” (Film Glossary).
After it was developed, the iris effect was mainly used in silent films as a transition or an added way to draw attention to what the filmmakers viewed as important. Without the capability to zoom in or out of an image, the iris effect was the best way to highlight it in silent film (Srinivasan).
Silent Film and Tragedy
Silent film was popular during the early 20th century before there was technology to pair audio with film. In the mid 1920s, the technology to create “talkies” was developed and films paired with audio became increasingly popular (Hasumi 319). While films and videos are now essentially synonymous with “talkies,” there is still a place for silent film in media and culture.
One way that silent film has been preserved is through the filming of tragedy. The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center were filmed with digital cameras that were capable of recording sound, but the silence was deafening as viewers watched the two hijacked planes circle the skyscrapers. In the same way, videos of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II were horrifically silent (Hasumi 327). No sound could capture the weight of the tragedy in either situation. The dramatic visuals spoke for themselves.
Silent Film Themes in “Maus”
The nature of silent film forces the audience to focus on the visual nature of the film they are watching. In a similar fashion, comic books enhance the visual nature of a narrative. While silent film and graphic narratives can both heighten the visual senses in ways that films and novels cannot, these mediums are often not taken seriously as means of communication. Comic books are associated with neon colored super heroes and grumpy Garfields. Silent films are viewed as irregular beacons of Charlie Chaplin slapstick humor, or just as primitive steps towards modern day, sophisticated film (Hasumi 317).
In Maus, Art Spiegelman challenges the trivial perception of comic books through his serious subject matter and drawing style. World tragedy calls for representation in tangible, visual mediums that capture their horror and seriousness. Spiegelman’s choice to represent the Holocaust through comics is not irreverent, but instead allows him to deepen the senses that only visual cues can portray. Using the comic form does not downplay the weight of the Holocaust, but, like the dramatic imagery of silent film, is a way to control and emphasize what is important to Vladek and Art.
Spiegelman borrows themes from silent film to “zoom in” on important aspects of Vladek’s story.
Spiegelman places the iris effect strategically throughout the two volumes to accentuate what really matters to Vladek’s tale. The first time the iris effect is used is on the Table of Contents page. The white circle surrounding the two dancing mice mimics both the iris effect of silent film and a spotlight pointed at them. While it is not a perfect reproduction of a circle vignette, the same effect is produced. Even amidst the page numbers and book title, the interaction between Anja and Vladek is what stands out. The fact that Spiegelman chose to illustrate their entire bodies is an important deviation from the original circle vignette impacting the entire focus of Maus. Both Anja and Vladek’s dancing and moving bodies overlap the entire contents box that outlines the rest of the book. This further illustrates the idea that Anja and Vladek’s relationship permeates the entire story of Maus, enduring all change and circumstance. While the Holocaust experience is only told from Vladek’s point of view, Anja influences every aspect of his tale. This sets the tone for the whole graphic novel.
The idea that Anja influences every aspect of Vladek’s tale is confirmed through Vladek and Artie’s narrative. Artie begins by asking his father about Anja. When he asks his father to tell his life story, he says, “I want to hear it. Start with mom… tell me how you met” (Maus I, 8). At the end of Maus II, Vladek concludes his tale when he is reunited with Anja, saying “More I don’t need to tell you. We were both very happy, and lived happy, happy ever after” (Maus II, 136). Vladek’s story begins and ends with how he related to his first wife.
Parallel Reunions
Spiegelman continues to use the iris effect to highlight important moments that Vladek experienced. The most striking iris effects were the parallel reunions that Anja and Vladek experienced. Spiegelman chose to illustrate their reunions in almost the same way, with very few changes.
Both of these reunions are illustrated in notably similar ways. In the first frame, one mouse enters through a doorway into a room full of people. In the second frame, only Anja and Vladek are drawn in the frame, and their embrace is highlighted by a circle vignette. The contrast that Spiegelman creates between the two different frames and within the circle vignette itself draws attention to the couple’s interaction and emotion. While there are people in the room that are also rejoicing at the return of Vladek, from his perspective he and Anja are the only ones that matter. Spiegelman even clarifies in the second reunion that everybody cried with them, and even so all the other people in the room fade away behind the iris effect. These two reunions were depicted years apart, in separate books and after drastically different experiences, but they illustrate that what stood out to Vladek throughout his retelling of his tale and to Art as he listened to his father’s tale was the joyful reunion of two people who loved each other.
Where Art places his depiction of the reunions illustrates this pervasive joy. Art drew Vladek’s return from prison in Maus I in the middle of the book. In the first reunion, the iris effect serves as simply a transition that highlights the joy Anja and Vladek felt in that moment despite the uncertainty of a happy future. Four frames after their hug, Vladek clarified the emotions he felt when he was with his wife and child when he said, “Even though everything was very tough– and it was really very tough– we were happy only to be together” (Maus I, 67).
Spiegelman drew Vladek and Anja’s second reunion at the conclusion of Maus II. The bold contrast of white against black immediately draws the reader’s eye to the frame where Anja and Vladek embrace. Instead of a transition, this use of the iris effect is an “iris out,” used to complete Vladek’s story. As Art parodies his earlier drawing of reunion, he also echoes the joyful sentiment that defies all circumstances.
The recurring emphasis on joyful reunion with Anja may seem a somewhat surprising place to finish Vladek’s tale. Readers know that Anja kills herself in America even though she had survived the Holocaust and was living with her husband and child. Yet Vladek in his story chose to focus on the joyful times he had with his wife, perhaps as a way of coping with his otherwise negative past. He rarely speaks ill of Anja, and highlights their cheerful times. Even if his memories of Anja were seen through rose colored glasses, Art honors Vladek’s perception when he emphasizes their joy and concludes their story on a positive note. Through the medium of comics and the use of the iris effect, Art Spiegelman reproduces this selective remembrance of the horrific events that took place during the Holocaust. He illustrated many different aspects of the Holocaust, but he chose to highlight and conclude with the joy of his father’s reunion.
Sources:
“Film Glossary.” NYFA.edu. New York Film Academy, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
Hasumi, Shigehiko. “Fiction and the `Unrepresentable’: All Movies Are but Variants on the Silent Film.” Theory, Culture & Society 26.2–3 (2009): 316–29. SAGE Journals. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
Koshy, Yohann. “A Short History of the Pinhole Zoom.” Canvas by Grolsch. Grolsch, 9 July 2014. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus I: a Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986. Print.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus II: a Survivor’s tale: And Here My Troubles Began. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986. Print.
Srinivasan, Srikanth. “Outtakes: Iris.” The Hindu. The Hindu, 27 Aug. 2011. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
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