A Game of the Telephone Game
The small game of the telephone game. A game many of us have played before, the game is comprised of a group of people in a circle and a word or phrase. The phrase is passed on to each player and the nuances of each player's speech or the word itself causes the distortion of the word as it is passed on. This small game can relate to history and how it tells stories of the past.
While reading Maus, the disaster that the graphic novel focuses on reminded me of a more recent tragedy, 9/11. A small fact came across me and I realized one thing: the Class of 2019 holds the majority the remaining people that lived through 9/11. Though very young, many of our date of births comes before September 11th, 2001. This realization relates to the telephone game. As the people that live through a notable event die, the descriptions of the events grow weaker. For example, events such as The American Revolution or day Columbus landed on American soil are now just known as events in history rather than emotional uprisings. People to this day still remember where they were during the horrendous attack on the Twin Towers. People to this day do not remember what the last battle of the American Revolution was. Time passes, and these events become more distant. Much like how the starting words of the telephone game start clear and end as a murky translation of what actually started.
Maus is just another person in the circle of the game. It tells the story of The Holocaust and the horrible treatment to the Jewish people. Its information is based off an interview from his father, who has lived through the horrible of consequences of the event. From a blog writer who had read Maus, I can confidently say my depictions and descriptions of The Holocaust is no where near the vividness and fluidity Maus will have. I am the next person in the circle. The descriptions of the events will be passed on, and the message from the original source, in this case, Vladek Spiegelman, will slowly become distorted.
With improving technology and better ways to record and store information, can these emotions of the victims be accurately portrayed?
Maus is just another person in the circle of the game. It tells the story of The Holocaust and the horrible treatment to the Jewish people. Its information is based off an interview from his father, who has lived through the horrible of consequences of the event. From a blog writer who had read Maus, I can confidently say my depictions and descriptions of The Holocaust is no where near the vividness and fluidity Maus will have. I am the next person in the circle. The descriptions of the events will be passed on, and the message from the original source, in this case, Vladek Spiegelman, will slowly become distorted.
With improving technology and better ways to record and store information, can these emotions of the victims be accurately portrayed?
The idea behind this post was extremely interesting, the fact you were actually willing to put in time to make this something so meaningful makes it a pleasure to read through. The notion that possibly this game of telephone may lose its meaning more slowly with our more advanced technology is also quite an insightful one.
ReplyDeleteGreat post James! The analogy you created between this game that most people know about and something as huge as history itself was awesome. I especially liked the point you made that no matter what someone does to try to recreate a story (ie. you trying to depict the Holocaust) it will never ever be the same as the original.
ReplyDeleteI really like the connection you made between our own experiences, those of the past, and those shown in Maus. You did a great job explaining how they connect and analyzing the effect time has on the distortion of reality and memory.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, you have a very thought-provoking post. It reminds me of a quote that I found over the summer, which read, "People have been making war for thousands of years, but each time it is as if it is the first war ever waged, as if everyone has started from scratch" --Ryszard Kapuscinski. This quote made me ask the question, "Just like how nobody today commemorates the atrocities committed by the Roman and Mongol empires, will there come a time when the Holocaust or the Rwandan Genocide are not part of our collective memory?" What do you think? Do you think the weakening of collective memory caused by the passing of time will eventually turn the terrible crimes of the recent past into only distant history?
ReplyDeleteI do feel that way, but some events will still definitely have more resonance than others. These events will slowly become just another entry into a history textbook.
DeleteVery interesting and well written James! I love how you intertwined the telephone game throughout your post. Well done!
ReplyDelete