Some stories are best told in certain ways, especially if they’re personal.In January 2022, in Tennessee, the McMinn County Board of Education voted to remove the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novelMausfrom its eighth-grade curriculum.This caused an uproar among many audiences and brought new attention to the comic. One question, however, resurfaced. Will there ever be aMausmovie?
Written and drawn by Art Spiegelman, Maus was first published in chapters in Raw Magazine in 1980 and finished in 1991. The raw black and white comic is presented as an autobiographical work, depicting the various interviews and conversations Spiegelman had with his father, Vladek. The comic tells Vladek’s experiences surviving the unspeakable cruelty in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The story also covers sequences about Spiegelman’s mother and her own hardships.Mausdepicts every race as an animal, with all the Jewish characters shown as mice, and the Nazis are depicted as cats.
In the McMinn County board meeting, swear words and nudity were brought up as the primary sources of concern. One board member expressed a disliking to the book’s depiction of real-life Nazi fiendishness, such as the murder of children. The board decision sparked outcries across the country, many readers expressing concern that the decision to remove the book was an attempt at covering up uncomfortable subjects of history.In an interview with CNBC, Spiegelman called the school board “Orwellian” for the decision.
“I also understand that Tennessee is obviously demented. There’s something going on very, very haywire there.”
Maus: The Movie and Resurgence
In spite of the ban, the attention caused a resurgence in readers. Copies ofMauswere soon flying off the shelves, be they for donations or for private collections.The Complete Maus, which contained both volumes of the comic, reached the top slot on Amazon’s best-seller list. Of course, the thought of adaptations were soon fluttering around, and Spiegelman was willing to speak up on the subject.
According to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Spiegelman has been approached at least four times over the years about the possibility of adapting Maus. He refused every time. He’s also been approached about possible licensing and merchandising, which he also refused. This is probably for the best considering the autobiographical direction the comics were written in.
The closest fans will probably ever get is a guest spot Spiegelman played in an episode of The Simpsons. The episode depicted him, as well as Alan Moore and Dan Clowes, playing themselves as muscular vigilantes. Spiegelman puts on a mouse mask and shouts “Maus is in the house!” The three show up later in the episode flying away to attend a benefit for underpaid comic artists of the 50’s and 60’s (and saving the earth from a meteor on the way). Despite his willingness to play around, Spiegelman has always stood firm on the adaptation possibilities.
“I like movies, butMausis better served as a book, it’s a more intimate form and comics adhere to the brain better.”
Despite that, would a Maus movie even work? The book genuinely depicts itself as autobiographical, not just from Spiegelman’s father, but from Spiegelman himself. He depicts himself drawing the very book the reader is holding, as well as his own feelings on the matter. Such a thing could be very tricky to translate to a medium like film, and would run the risk of pulling audiences out. Above all else, from possibilities and technical assumptions, sometimes we need to ask ourselves if aMausfeature film is really even necessary? Sometimes one medium is just better at telling a certain story than another, and in this case, it’s probably wise to let Spiegelman himself be the judge of that.
