Author Archives: nwallingford

Searchers – Persepolis – The Concept of “Ketman”

In a nutshell, the concept of “ketman” (similar to the concept of “taqiyah”) is the act of denouncing one’s true beliefs in public while secretly maintaining a fervent belief in them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketman

For someone like Satrapi and her family, living a life under the Islamic Republic would have required that they practice Ketman. What’s interesting is that the same practice that evolved out of the Shia subjugation at the hands of the Sunni would come to be reclaimed by the victims of a Shiite regime. Also, the concept found resonance with East European writers living under Communism, who recognized their own suffering in the tales of persecuted Shia in the Middle East.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200607/hitchens-persian/3

Persepolis – because of it’s stand against the tyranny of the Islamic Republic – can really only be viewed in Iran as pirated or smuggled-in material. I just thought it was interesting that a novel displaying classical Iranian themes of political and religious persecution (ketman) should have so much in common with the works of the Eastern European dissidents, and find its only way back into Iran in the form of samizdat. Those struggling under Communism borrowing from ancient Persian tradition while the Persians of today resort to some of the same distribution methods those under Communism used decades ago.

Searchers – Persepolis

Here is a link to the site for American travel writer and documentarian Rick Steves, specifically his series on Iran.

http://www.ricksteves.com/iran/iran_menu.htm

I thought that it would be good to get some kind of background on Iran while reading Persepolis, especially in light of the fact that most Americans – just by accident of the media in our country – have a poor understanding of the country. Steves’ documentary is decidedly non-political and will present a side of Iran that most non-Iranians probably had no clue even existed. (Biggest surprise? A lot of Iranians actually like Americans.)

I think that it’s important to balance the picture of the political Iran – the Iran of the Revolution, the Iran of the recent electoral coup d’etat, the Iran of Evin prison – with the Iran experienced by the millions of Iranians actually living in the country day in and day out. I think you could easily compare current day Iran to the late Brezhnev-era Soviet Union – the vast majority of the people know the government is corrupt and illegitimate, and a growing number are openly challenging the ruling regime. Persepolis is a great story of how that current regime came to be, and I think one of the most interesting things about reading it is seeing how some of those absurdities / inconsistencies that Iranians today have to deal with originated in the first place.

(Incidentally, Satrapi herself, currently living in France, is unsurprisingly a supporter of the Green opposition movement around Mousavi.

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.3433629806

I think Marjane Satrapi – forced into exile, where her most important creative works enjoy much more support outside of Iran than within – is a great example of the Iran that could have been, if only the Revolution had turned out differently.)

First Reading – The Dark Knight Returns – Nathan Wallingford (Group 1)

The Multiple Personality Theme in The Dark Knight Returns

To be completely honest, I am really not that familiar with the world of comic books / graphic novels, so the nuances of the art and design of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns are essentially over my head at this point. What I can comment on, however, is the story of The Dark Knight Returns. And by far the most compelling part of the story for me was the multiple personality theme.
Bruce Wayne and Batman are far more than merely the tried and true template of the mild-mannered everyman and his superhero alter-ego. For Bruce, Batman is another character in and of himself, with his own thoughts and desires and even what seems to be a distinct personality. Bruce and Batman share the same body, but they don’t seem to really be the same person. For instance, beginning on page 13 when Bruce is mugged and relives his tragic origin story, Miller uses gray text-boxes to set aside an internal monologue that the reader can easily recognize as the thoughts of Batman, not the thoughts of Bruce Wayne.
Later on pages 25 and 26, as the temptation to return to crime-fighting has become too powerful, the internal voice returns, although now it isn’t merely a monologue but a conversation. The voice says, “ . . . I am your soul. You cannot escape me . . . You tried to drown me out . . . But your voice is weak . . .” Who is the “I” and who is the “you” in this conversation? The “I” is Batman, speaking to Bruce Wayne. Two minds inhabiting the same body. That seems like a cut and dry case of multiple personalities. And, of course, Bruce Wayne / Batman’s case of multiple personality disorder is made all the more interesting because his primary foe, at least in the first part of the novel, is Harvey Dent / Two Face. Batman and Two Face are essentially mirror images of each other. Each man has one foot in real life, existing as a normal person, while the other foot lies in Gotham’s criminal underworld where each man exists as some sort of spirit or caricature. Both Harvey and Bruce possess other selves obsessed with crime. It’s just that Two Face is obsessed with committing it and Batman is obsessed with stopping it.
The multiple personality theme is just one reason why The Dark Knight Returns is so much more compelling than the average comic book of previous eras. The primary conflict is essentially psychological. Miller does an excellent job of detailing Batman’s primary motivation, which is his deep-seated, irrepressible need to fight evil, for lack of a better term. Such a need rarely expresses itself in a neat and tidy way, and instead often leads Batman to engage in acts of violence that are barely distinguishable from those of his enemies. Perhaps this is why Bruce Wayne / Batman possess multiple personalities in the first place, as it is too difficult to remain a part of both worlds and act as the same person. Either way, the theme gives The Dark Knight Returns a depth and appeal that the average person would not expect from a Batman comic book.