Holocaust and Genres
The Holocaust is one of the most profound, disturbing, and defining events in modern history. As such, stories of the Holocaust have been told by a wide variety of storytellers, and in a wide variety of ways. The treatment of a specific theme such as the Holocaust can be profoundly different both between different and within different genres. As such, this paper describes the treatment of the Holocaust in Elie Wiesel's Night, Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful, Alain Resnais' Night and Fog. Each of these different works provides a unique and important look at the Holocaust, illustrating that different genres and approaches can be effective in conveying an event as important and profound as the Holocaust.
Elie Wiesel's book, Night, tells the semi-autobiographical tale of fourteen-year-old Eliezer Wiesel who is sent to Holocaust concentration camps. Throughout the novel, the author struggles to find meaning in the horror of the events that surround Eliezer. The death camps consume his family, and Eliezer is left with the horrific guilt of survival. He tries desperately to understand how God could have allowed these terrible events.
In Night, the author ultimately fails to make sense of the horrors of the Holocaust. He vividly recreates the terror of life in the camps, and shows countless examples of inhumanity both in the actions of the Germans, and in the actions of many of the prisoners themselves. Eliezer seeks constantly to find meaning and understanding, and ultimately resigns himself to the knowledge that the events of his experience seem to be beyond comprehension. Overall, Night is a disturbing look at how the horrors of the Holocaust, and man's ability to inflict pain and torture on each other can never be truly understood.
Art Spiegelman's book, Maus: A Survivor's Tale, tells the story of his parent's survival in concentration camps in the form of a cartoon narrative. The juxtaposition of the cartoon characters with the Holocaust provides a disturbing and surreal telling of the tale of...
For one, the cover art used for each of these media formats is remarkably -- and perhaps not coincidentally -- similar. Spiegelman's graphic novel cover depicts a large white circle front and center. On this white circle is a Nazi swastika with a cat face at its center. The title "Maus" is written in a bloody red font, and below the white circle are characters -- perhaps Vladek and
The function of myth in social cultures is explored by Mary Barnard in her the Mythmakers in which she investigates the origins of ritual in folklore, history, and metaphor. In addressing such a wide scope of material, she came to the conclusion that the origins of many mythical personas/deities related to a single familiar theme: intoxication (4). Her discoveries became offshoots of CG Jung's definition of mythology: Myths are original revelations of
For example, in the United States, the Civil War occurred less than 150 years ago, and yet different historians provide conflicting perspectives about the causes of the war, why it was lost, and the consequences of the war for America's history. Moreover, it was only after the Civil War and the end of slavery that one began to see widespread, reliable publication about various slave rebellions that had occurred
" (LewAllen). The purpose was to get the viewer to see the Holocaust as a point of reference in evaluating our current society. The actual work is a collaboration between her and her husband, a world renowned photographer. It is composed of a collection of sculpture, photographs and paintings. Judy Chicago's works encompass several post-modern ideas. First, her works often focus on feminist themes and ideals, an idea that has grown
Munich - the place where racial laws and measures against the Jews in Germany were established. Each of these announced the type of extremist, xenophobic policies that the Japanese and the Germans would be using against their enemies in WWII. 11. Total war was a new type of warfare that was introduced in WWII and that relied on the idea that there could be no limits to the way war was carried
Even in shots that might be steady, such as the sheriff is standing and talking to his men, frequent cuts are used in place of slow zooms or pans to shift the eye's focus. Ramero uses scale to great advantage in this sequence to help build a sense of detachment from all the humans character. This detachment of course feeds into the audience's ability to accept the lesson that "we're
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now