Many of my fears, expectations, ideas , and tastes are shaped by what my family and people around me have taught me. The things i have been exposed to and the manner in which i was introduced to them was directly influenced by the tastes and feelings of many people in my life. This first became apparent to me when i think of foods which i havent tried or eat regularly since my mom would cook foods she liked i was regularily exposed to them, but never to ones she didnt like.
The most dramatic example of my homegrown fears/tastes is that of seaweed. When I was young my mother described it to me as menacing and almost dangerous, as if you could be engulfed in it. I took this to heart and would refuse to swim through it, tube over it, or clean it off the beach throughout my child hood. I was so fearful of it but there was no reason for the fear. I was being shaped to dislike it through my mom and i truely started to fear it. I think that this shows the power of what a trusted person can plant in your head to shape your perception. This really reflected the ability of Spiegelman to shape our view of the Nazis as evil through the pictures of them. The pictures reflect their appetite to destroy the Jewish race just as a cat does to a mouse.
Through Spiegelman's art he is able to shape our opinion of them without even using words or having any prior knowledge. Unlike the seaweed this is a much more accurate description because the Nazi regime was truely evil unlike the benign seaweed i feared for so many years. I think both of these are good examples of how are perceptions can easily be shaped through many forms of communication whether it be verbal or visual powerful. This is the true genius of Spiegelman i think, he was able to portray the cruel Nazis and innocent Jews through well known images such as the mouse and cat. We all know the story of the cat and mouse; predator and prey and it makes the message very clear and easily read. This ability of Spiegelman to use familiar images is just like the power my mom had in shaping my perception of seaweed. We all develop opinions and they come in many different forms but that is what defines our culture and perceptions of the world around us.
I definitely had the exact same fear! Although my idea of how evil seaweed was came through my own experience of how nasty it was when it wrapped around my leg while swimming. Later though I learned that I could wrap my leg in it and tear it out of the lake bottom creating a perfect nasty projectile to be thrown at my younger brother.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a fabulous post because I was able to relate to it in the opposite way. When we are exposed to things as a child from a trusted parent or adult they like or say is safe we are able to understand and like more things! For example, my mom would always try to cook a variety of different of foods when I was younger so I was could realize there was more out there than chicken stripes and mac-n-cheese. Then, when my parents came over for dinner they were not interested in trying something new and would respond with, “I don’t like that!” which translates to, “Actually, I have never tried that before.” Now that I have realized that if I just try the new food I can decide for myself if I like it! My parent’s opinion has helped me to realize I have my own opinion!
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