okay, I can’t figure out what to do with the currently non-functioning link for this Thursday’s notes, so I’m going to post what I have here as a place holder of sorts.

Before Presentations:

-briefly discussed final project options

-topic will be covered more in the future

Presentations:

Presentation # 1 — Alexa — “Try to make the best of it”

-analyzed p. 299, The Socks chapter head

-change — nude vs. covered

-gutter role — change in thoughts of Marji and classmate
-tried the impossible task — just learned to draw drapes
-more black in frames as mood darkens and page progresses
-without frustration, Marji would not have sought a creative outlet with friends (p. 304)
-becomes an adult and makes the best out of of everything, and prof. congratulates her and her friends actions in drawing each other in private

Presentation # 2 — Leon — Duality in Persepolis
-analyzed p. 305 (with the two large “schizophrenic” panels) in conjunction with several other instances of duality in the book
-p. 5 — modern vs. traditionalist
-p. ? — veiled vs. unveiled — protestors
-p. 102 — impoverished vs. higher social class
-p. 189 — growing up — beauty mark — physical change — still same inside
-p. 210 — Marji’s reaction to anarchists playing in the forest vs. her childhood
-p. 262 and p. 54 — goes to see friend in wheel chair — wanted her father in that situation so he would be a hero
-p. 279 — comparing Marjane and her husband
-p. 318 — who he wanted to marry vs. who he really married
-p. 299-300 — cultural differences with painting the veiled vs. unveiled

After Presentations:

Discussed questions 4 and 5 of Zen Scavenger Hunt
4. a confrontation that reveals the outermost limits of authority
5. the most meaningless death in Persepolis

Discussed the ending (or absence of an ending) of Persepolis and the class’ reactions to it
-twitter feed showed a lot of confusion and unsatisfaction with the ending
-discussed the confusion in actually ending a memoir when your life is not really over yet — nor the conflict and turmoil that your memoir focuses on

Thought about how reactions might vary if we had read the book in two or four segments
-decided that the experience might be different, but it would be very hard to make an entire class actually stop reading where they were supposed to if it was read in segments throughout the semester

Watched Satrapi interview on the Colbert Report
-Satrapi mentioned that a large reason for the comic and the movie was to humanize the Iranian people

Watched a few minutes of Persepolis movie for style contrasts between the movie and the comic book
-made the veiled women seem serpent-like and creepier
-movie left out several scenes in the comic book in order to better focus on Marji and her reactions
-the music soundtrack lent to the film’s suspense and overall effect

I was surprised to find so much history incorporated into Persepolis. I was expecting the book to be much more focused specifically on Marjane. Instead, I think I would describe this first half of the story as a historical commentary as seen through a young Iranian girl’s eyes rather than an autobiography.

I think that in itself says a lot about the political situation in her country at that time (and still ongoing) – even a young girl could not escape from the political turmoil. It is similar to a Holocaust survivor trying to relate his or her life without mentioning World War II and the horrors experienced therein.

After reading over the cover of the book, I know it specifically mentions the book as a memoir of her life in Iran during this time period, but I’ve always heard of Persepolis as simply a book about a girl with Iranian heritage growing up in France (I think that might be closer to part II). I’m glad I was mistaken because I find the book way more interesting so far.

I like the way that the story is told by Satrapi as an adult with the point of view of a child. She captures the innocence and confusion of a child growing up in such turmoil while still being able to make sense of everything and present her story maturely and humbly to her readers. I appreciate the blunt honesty used in referring to other nations such as the United States, and the love she conveys for a country that the world does not often get a chance to see in a good light.

Chapters 7 through 9 really delve into Laurie’s emotions and push her to the limit and expose some of her grittiest character flaws.

In chapter 7, she practically throws herself at Dan because… he looks good without glasses?

In chapter 9, she is visiting/being held captive by Jon on Mars, and fails again and again to understand a damn word that he is saying. This bothers me because I understood what he was saying, and so did pretty much every other woman who has ever read it… so how does that represent “real” women?

It just made her seem unintelligent and completely irrational to me. She also failed to realize the point she herself had proven to Jon at the end of their conversation that convinced him to return to earth.

I completely lost touch with the character at that point.

I have two takes on her disposition —

1 (my initial reaction):

Alan Moore is sexist and wrote only weak, annoying, stupid, slutty female characters into The Watchmen. >.<

2 (my conclusion after a little more reflection):

As I stated in a previous post, The Watchmen seems to be an analysis of what would happen if real people were to try to be superheroes. In doing this, it explores various character types and their defects. For example, on the male side, you have an overly aggressive character (Rorschach), a cynical character (Comedian) , a self-doubting character (Nite Owl 2), a power hungry character (Ozymandias), and an indifferent character (Dr. Manhattan). This stretches into the Minutemen as well with insanity, etc.

The primary female flaws are shown through the fewer female characters. Three dangerous/tragic paths and faults that women are often accused of are: becoming whores (Silhouette), having illegitimate children and losing careers as a result (Sally), and making decisions based on wild, random, and unchecked emotions (Laurie).

So, considering Laurie's annoying character flaws alongside the other characters' flaws, she is a little easier for me to swallow. I do maintain, however, that such a woman – as well as the type of woman that Sally was – would not have been drawn to being superheroes in real life. Perhaps the fact that Laurie was “forced” into it has something to do with her disposition?

I also wonder what kind of social experiment the book would have been if a woman had been thrust into Jon's omnipotent superhero position rather than a man.

I agree with Moriah’s evaluation of the characters and morals (or lack there of) of the “heroes” in the first few chapters of The Watchmen. I also find it very interesting that, in most cases, the characters admit to their flaws. I think that their biggest weakness is that they put themselves in the shoes of superheroes but still view themselves as “only human”. Rather than accepting responsibilities as true “watchers” of and examples for the human race, they pretend to be superheroes because it makes them happy and then whine about the consequences.

Some of these human flaws are spelled out very directly on page 30 of Chapter 2 in an excerpt from the original Nite Owl’s book. He describes the various flaws of the team including sex fetishes, insanity, political extremity, etc. “… we were crazy, we were kinky, we were Nazis, all those things that people say.”

Overall, I think this book is a great study so far on what the world would be like if people tried to act like superheroes, but I do not consider it to be a book about actual superheroes. Perhaps one could even use this book as a study on why super heroes cannot exist.

Even Dr. Manhattan with his real “super” powers is an example of the improbability of super beings as heroes. Like we talked about in class on Tuesday, his omnipotent powers left him bored with humanity and even the rest of the universe. The idea that such a being would waste his time on Earth is not probable in the “real world” – a world in which The Watchman is clearly based.