// War Literature

What makes both Palestine and Waltz with Bashir intriguing is the different outlook we get on the conflicts in the Middle East. Because of U.S. relations with Israel, we are forced to gulp down the anti-Muslim propoganda we are fed, as hard as American media may “try” to show itself in an unbiased light. Like Joe Sacco writes in Palestine, “…terrorism is the bread Palestinians get buttered on.” We forget to look at both sides of the conflict, and we fail to realize that destruction comes from both groups, not just one. Although Waltz with Bashir is shown from the Israeli perspective and is a non-political retelling of war stories, Folman does not shy away from exposing the truth about the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

But I’ll stir away from politics and try to focus on the formats of Palestine and Waltz with Bashir. If Sacco’s Palestine was not in the form of a graphic novel, or better yet, a collection of comics (for reason of the author’s aversion to the first term) and if Folman’s Waltz with Bashir was not in the form of an animated documentary film, I don’t know whether the stories would be so embedded in my mind. My friend had asked me what book I was reading, and when I handed it over to him he looked at the cover and said, “Hm. This looks interesting,” in a sort of uninterested way. As soon as he opened up the book, however, his response was different: “Wow! This book is really cool!”

Maybe we’re just part of a generation of lazy readers with short-attention spans who would rather look at a picture book than have to read a full-text novel. Maybe. Or maybe Sacco’s spin on story-telling (as well as Folman’s) is so intriguing and unique that we can’t help but revel in them.