My opinion of Miriam Libicki’s Jobnik! changed considerably after the discussion in class on Wednesday. More specifically, the background information that was given at the beginning of class helped me to understand more of the references in Jobnik!. I feel that my lack of understanding of these references significantly affected my initial opinion of the book.
First, I did not know that Jobnik! was a collection of issues and not a one-shot graphic novel. This made me realize that there is more to the story than what I had read in this collection. For example the trip to Canada made more sense when considering it is only a small fraction of the entire story. It would be interesting to read more and see how the story continues.
Second, I did not realize much of the Israeli culture. I did not know that the military is so important to Israel and that people are required to serve for 2 years. This explains why so many young people were in the IDF and the seniority effect. I also didn’t know all of the reference to the Israel-Palestine conflicts that occurred around 2000. Not knowing this made the story a little more difficult to read. Additionally, the ‘Sabra’ ideal explains why the men are so gruff and unemotional at times.
Third, the stars scene did not really make sense to me at first. I thought it was just supposed to be artistic or something. After hearing that there was a similar picture drawn by a Jewish illustrator in the early 20th century, this scene makes more sense. I found Miriam Libiki’s knowledge and respect for other artists quite interesting.
My opinion changed after learning the background information for Jobnik!. I am still not a big fan of the book, but I understand it better and would be interested in seeing how it continues in further issues.
The manga statement surprised me when it was said in class. I wouldn't have guessed that at all. i did like the more realistic pictures though since they stood out a bit more compared to the fat little people that were present throughout the novel. I also didn't know that the novel wasn't "one big chunk" imagine how different it would be if we had to read it as the many different series of novels. I think that would help more in reading it since a person would have more time to reflect on the different parts in between the stories.
ReplyDeleteI also find the issue of seniority in the IDF also interesting because I just finished reading a book about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan for my post-Soviet history class. In the book there is a lot of discussion about how the men felt about combat changed the closer they came to being done with their deployment.
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