Respondent — Leon’s “Persepolis”

Leon made a stellar point by highlighting that there are no “shades of gray” as it were in issues where gray areas may be held as opinions.

Leon says, “the black and white nature of the comics could draw a direct relation to how there are two sides to the conflict between Iraq and Iran. In the comic there is no gray area between this war, you are either for one side or another.” While I agree that the black and white drawings in the comic may often align with separate ideologies, I think that were there to be gray involved in the comic Satrapi would use it quite sparingly. She was very keen and contemplative with most lines and images she used. While patterns dominate many panels, I think that grey would detract from a lot of the strong images that Satrapi is trying to convey.  Reading Leon’s posts makes me think of many different scenes but the most interesting one is a panel we talked about while in class, the dicotomy of the two ideological women (for the veil and against the veil). The women, for the veil, were garbed in black whereas the liberated women, against the veil, were dressed in white. I don’t know what other comparisons could be made, but I’d like to see in what instances white and black is used to subversively make a point.  Another example is when Marji is in Vienna, arguably the darkest time in her life when she was utterly bewildered, she is sketched in all black, except for her face and hands. Maybe the colors, or lack thereof, are saying much more than we realize?

Respondent- Children’s Politics- Seth W.

Most of our discussion of Persepolis seems to focus either on the black-and-white color scheme or the historical points explored.  The colors could harken to anything from political cartoons to child’s scribblings, but from what has been discussed so far, the consensus of its major purpose seems to be a representation of dichotomy.  Satrapi shows the division of this Cold War narrative in the tradition of division- black and white, right and wrong.  This is the larger framework that the conflict in Iran, along with Satrapi’s own life-drama there and elsewhere, plays out.  For sixty years, the world was being divided by the machinations of two superpowers, with all the individuals and ideas in that period acting as pawns of varying size and influence, or trying to free themselves from the deadly game.

No matter which side Satrapi is on during her life, it is always the right one.  Religion, communism, anarchy, modern living- she is always convinced that whatever she does is correct.  This mindset is a reflection of the polarized era that penetrated virtually all of civilization during that period, and this is what resonates in the doodle-like nature of the art.  Understanding this rather insane world is tough for even the most world-weary, as shown by all of Satrapi’s role models eventually failing or dying.  The polarization results in  a constant stalemate, an infinite war that only results in more casualties, on the literal battlefield and off.

Searcher – NPR interview with Satrapi – Alexa

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4774402899804593285&ei=B-7xSsTUEZzcqgLU_OWlCw&q=persepolis+interview&hl=en&view=2#

 

I found a video of a NPR interview with Marjane Satrapi. The first question asked relates a specific frame in the graphic novel – when the girls are playing with their veils and having childlike banter about them. Satrapi describes her interaction with the veil as a child saying that she and her friends did play with it. However, she wouldn’t be allowed in school without it and women weren’t allowed out of the house without it. Satrapi points out how women are able to show more hair today and the veil isn’t as long as it used to be. The video mixes pictures from the graphic novel with clips and still frames from the movie. I haven’t seen the movie, but just from this video, I’ve noticed that the artwork is different. The older women are longer in size and their lines are more curved (more complex). I believe this is because they aren’t limited to frames.

The interview also discusses who were the “guardians of the revolution” which Satrapi says were the army, police, and people who dressed as rangers who made order. Hearing Satrapi discuss this makes the story of Persepolis more real to me. While I know it’s a graphic novel based on her life and actual, historical events, the medium of it being portrayed through a graphic novel makes it seem less real to me. Hearing Marjane Satrapidiscuss the graphic novel and having it be  accompanied by images makes it easier for me to remember that this is HER story and the events are true.

Respondent: Satrapi’s Aesthetic examined through Chute’s Article

At the risk of sounding redundant, I also want to examine the aesthetic decisions Satrapi made to frame her narrative – specifically the “simplicity” of the art. (Not using quotations here to imply a condescending rejection.)  The most fundamental components of this simplicity as detailed on the blog seem to be the following: monochromatic color scheme (black and white), a lack of shading, and abstract representations of the characters.

There are a couple of compelling quotes from Thursday’s reading which may illuminate the reasoning behind these aesthetic strategies.   I am referring here to the Chute article.  Hillary Chute asserts that Satrapi’s minimalist aesthetic is central to getting the narrative’s message across: “the narrative’s force and bite come from the radical disjuncture between the often-gorgeous minimalism of Satrapi’s drawings and the infinitely complicated traumatic events they depict” (99).  And, as the narrative details Marji’s childhood, the abstract nature of the art embodies “[the emotional landscape of a child, which is] is moving paradoxically because of its distance from and proximity to the realities it references” (103).  Chute draws special attention here to the image of the man who has been cut into seven pieces.   Marji as a child is unable to fathom in her imagination a real picture of a dismembered body, so we instead get the mannequin-like image of the man split into hollow, bloodless pieces.  So, essentially, Satrapi shows here the impossibility of adequately representing trauma, but also the horrific implications of that inadequacy.  For the latter, Chute says, “in its accessible syntax, its visual ease, [the image] represents the horrifying normalcy of violence in Iran” (103).

Hopefully this helps articulate some of the underlying ideas I read in the posts, and will offer some transition into the reading.

Respondent: Paint My Face In Monochrome

I was really taken aback by the quote we looked at in Tuesday’s class. I cannot imagine how anyone could say something so pretentious and just plain wrong. Then again people never fail to surprise.

Needless to say that I defiantly think the art of Persepolis is capable of standing on its own. As I looked through the pages picking panels that I found would look particularly good in a frame on some art exhibit wall I started to analyze the style Satrapi choose to use.

I am no stranger to black and white comics because I am a major fan of manga which is mostly black and white with some gray shading. It seems to me that there a few different reasons why Satrapi choose to black and white. First of all I just don’t think color would have been appropriate for something as serious as this. Color while pretty is just too cheerful, and it would have been more so considering the abstract art style would take on a child’s picture book look if it were rendered in color. The abstract pared down style is essential to Persepolis because like McCloud said the more abstract something is the more people can identify with it. Satrapi’s target audience are non-Iranians, so this style allows the reader to better identify with the main character and her life in Iran. More detailed illustrations while potentially more faithful to the story would only serve to alienate the audience.

I think the monochrome is also a play on irony. Many people will go into Persepolis with a very stilted media biased view of what Iran is like. The first thing that crossed my mind when I thought Iran before reading Persepolis was terrorism and the extremist fundamentalists. Persepolis breaks down this view built up by mass media and really makes it more personal. In short Satrapi lures the reader in with the black and white they are expecting, but then the only place they really find it is in the ink and paper.

Shannon–Childish Artwork in Persepolis

Respondent

Reading Leon’s post, I found I had a similar reaction to the almost child-like drawings the first time I read Persepolis, when I was much less familiar with graphic novels. In fact, as I was rereading this over lunch, my friend had a reaction that I’m sure Satrapi comes across all the time: with such straightforward art and so much text, why isn’t this just a regular novel? (Of course, you can always argue back, what’s not normal about drawing? Why does word-only have to be the norm? But I think I understand what he means.)

Well, it seems to me that as the narrator matures, the art does tend to “grow up” with her. If you check out the last two panels on page 3 (the first page),  it looks very much like what a kid might draw when asked to describe her school: there are a lot of little pictures within the big one; faces are just eyes, mouth and a triangle nose; and sizing of different things has more to do with their detail and importance than any sense of perspective. What this suggested to me at first was, in fact, that the story could be framed as a sort of school assignment–tell us your life–and that an imaginative girl like the narrator might choose to do this in pictures. Turning to any given page later on in the novel (and trying not to spoil anything), you can see a bit more realism in most panels, and I would argue that the fantasy scenes get even more expressionistic and wild.

There are many reasons that Satrapi may have decided to draw her autobiography, including the disparities and hints at Persian art we’ve discussed in class. To this I’d add the ability of visual art to instantly display the narrator’s different mental states at different points in her life.

A Rainbow of Black and White

I’m not sure whether to attribute it to my growing ability to comprehend comics or something profound in Persepolis, but I am  eerily in love with this novel so far. I say eerily because while I’ve never experienced any of the realities of regime changes and revolution, the search for ones beliefs and the ever fluid reactions of a child impressed by so many extreme notions stirs a response in me to where I feel myself conflicted by the people and atrocities presented. I like the way Iran’s bleak and seemingly black and white world is contrasted with a young girl coming of age into the well rounded and colorful person she seems meant to be.

We are allowed to grow intellectually and emotionally with Persepolis, starting with the most simple foundations of love and spirituality. While some may have this impressed upon them more than others, I think it’s important to see Marja as personally devoted, without much encouragement from her elders. As she absorbs more and more ideas from her turbulent world, she changes her dreams; just as a youngster today changes future occupations weekly, Marja’s day dreaming carries the weight of ethincity, nationality, religion, and general humanity. However rather than become overwhelming, Satrapi’s black and white images give a simple yet effective tug at the emotions behinds such intellectual searching.

My favorite page by far is twenty five. It runs the gambit of emotions from the almost comical naivety of childhood to the sadness of parental loss to the feeling of impotence in a world so great. For the first time we see Marja in a balance of black and white, and with it the weight of the world truly impressing itself upon the young girl. Both the contrast of her grandfather with her wrinkly hands as well as her mothers face to her own, the page is a beautiful composition that illicits so much of what this book is about.

I’d also like to bring up the issue of an unreliable narrator. With this much history involved, there is certainly room for false memories, or if carefully researched, the issue of fitting personal history to more famous events. Do you think Satrapi give any hints to this difficulty and if so, why?

Political History

It was interesting for me to experience this story in it’s original graphic novel form since my first exposure to it was through the film version. The film was well done and took from the book almost exactly. However, the heaviness of the political history was somewhat lost. Marjane’s childhood isn’t given nearly as much attention as it is in the book. The relevance of these events is more powerful when we are given more detail, more information, more victims, and more personal involvement from her in tragedies that occur. I suppose that given the restraint of time the film maker chose what they believed to be the most important portion of her childhood, her uncle’s arrest and murder, and concentrated on that rather than on the many marches, the maid, her slight obsession with class difference, and her involvement with God.

I found myself really appreciating the concentration Satrapi put into each individual story that revolved around the revolution and her childhood. There is so much detail and care placed in the art and in the facts. As was said in an earlier post, she is giving us heavy information that could seem too intense for a graphical novel. I would say that the novel is equally about the revolution and Satrapi only we are given more of Satrapi’s memories and childhood humour because without it the book would perhaps be too serious to be taken seriously.

The art was changed slightly, too, but enough that I found it interesting to see the movie version of the characters on the cover. The differences are slight but noticeable enough. For example, her mother’s hair is more stylized to fit modern times, the shape of Marjan’s eyes are different, and the grandmother look younger and sassier. She is drawn to look older in the book than in the movie. There are small changes but for me it affects how I see these characters. The way they care for themselves, carry themselves, etc. is completely based on how they are drawn. This is true for any character in a comic book, of course. So seeing the change in the way the main characters are drawn makes them slightly different people in general for me.

Overall, the experience of reading this story has been a different on than the film. I am finding the book version more enjoyable and I am evening learning history more accurately than in the movie version. It’s one of the most stimulating reads I’ve had in a while.

interview w/ satrapi

In this brief interview with marjane satrapi, satrapi gives a quick overview of the story she captures in The Complete Persepolis. For example, she discusses the issue of the obligatory wearing of the veil for women. In one of the first pages of the book, there is a picture of the girls playing with their veils. Satrapi discusses how this picture was not an exaggeration, the girls really did take their veils off and play with them each chance they got, claiming that the wearing of the veil was not the choice of the Iranian people. I thought it was especially interesting how Satrapi talked about the apparent freedom of the press that exists in Iran now. I would need to do more research on this, because i interviewed an Iranian refugee about 2 years ago who told me that the press was still government controlled, and that you could criticize the government in the media. maybe this has changed, i don’t know. It was cool to hear Satrapi give a brief overview of what she was trying to capture in her book during the Islamic revolution. It sort of gives you a better insight into Satrapi’s approach.

ben

Searchers- Interview With Marjane Satrapi

Here is one of the many Marjane Satrapi interviews to be posted. Don’t let the name of the website deter you, this in depth interview gives some great insight into Satrapi’s inspiration and creativity.

http://www.bookslut.com/features/2004_10_003261.php

What I found most interesting is her explanation into her creative process of each book. There are obvious differences between the two, and she really gets down into what sets them apart. Identity plays such a large role in the novel, and having Satrapi provide her intention puts a whole other spin on it. Also, note where she discusses Art Spegelman. Never realized how similar their works are until now.

Leon.L Persepolis

First Readers

After finishing Persepolis,  I’m still trying to figure out what were the main points that I should take away from it. Of course yes, it’s a wonderful autobiography but I believe there are other themes that we should take from it. One thing I’d like to focus upon is the art. The first thing you notice is that it’s in black and white, and that the animation isn’t the best. I think the black and white nature of the comics could draw a direct relation to how there are two sides to the conflict between Iraq and Iran. In the comic there is no gray area between this war, you are either for one side or another. I felt quite strangely about the animation. When she was a kid, I felt the animation suited it very well. It was a war, a revolution, and the experience of death through a kids world. When she was older I felt that the animation didn’t fit in with the adult world. There is a scene in the second part of the book that I’d like to refer to how the kiddy animation style played out but I’ll save it for another time. My opinion of the book isn’t solely about just the imagery. I feel one of the things that I enjoyed in the book that played out consistently well was her narration, and dialogue. Her writing style worked well when she was a child, a teenager, and even surprisingly when she was a more mature adult. This was a fun book, and I’m actually excited to report on this in a few weeks.

First Reader – Persepolis

I picked up the book persepolis, without being aware of any of its content or what the story is about. First I found the book agreeable and pleasing. The contents of the Persepolis in which it describes the history of Iranian revolution, was interesting especially it is told through a narrative of a kid who seems to form her allegiance and opinion rather quickly and strongly on the matter.

The subject of the story itself could be rather doom and heavy for a comic book material. However, through the naive and innocent and particularly opinionated child Marji’s narration, Persepolis succeeds to handle the heavy subject without being too serious and hard on the readers.

Yet, it would not be fair to say that Persepolis tells the story of Iranian Revolution only light heartedly.

In the part where they talk about how the prisoners were tortured, the novel achieves to emphasize the seriousness and makes the story even more horrible by having it told through Child’s eye. Readers are forced to sympathize and because it is being told through Child’s narratives, we feel worse about hearing these stories.

Black and White color scheme of the novel also seems to adds to the characteristics of the story. It is serious and heavy material therefore the colorfulness would not suit the story. Also, the simple drawing style of the novel and its color scheme seems to represent the Iranian tradition as well; their separation of female and male in public and the secretiveness they pursue with the exposure of the skin.

First Readers – Persepolis and Bonds

After reading the first part of Persepolis, the think that stood out to me the most was the bonds that Marji had with each of the people she knew. The bonds with her friends were like most children friendships: if you agree with each other then you friends. The bonds with her her family were of course stronger but the bond that stood out to me was her bond with her uncle Anoosh. This bond looked to me like the typical favorite niece with her favorite uncle bond but then I noticed that she was more interested in her uncle then her father. If you look at the cover of the book, when Marji is looking up at her family she’s looking at her uncle and not her father. Her uncle has had adventures and can tell cool stories while her father was a plain father that wasn’t cool. Marji even told her friends about the stories Anoosh told the show her friends how cool he was. This bond of theirs was so close that she was the last person he talked to in the prison.

I guess the bonds were prominent to me since I have some close bonds with own family. So far in the novel no matter how bad things got the family bonds kept everyone together. At this point in the novel I think Marji’s bonds are still tentative and I’m wondering what will happen to those bonds.. With the exception of Anoosh it does not look as if she takes any of the bond that she has seriously. My question to the responders is about the bonds in general. What do you think that about the bonds between Marji and her family or friends? Good? Bad? Happy? Finicky? Ironclad? Just naming a few things to get you started.

Alyse Jones – First Reader – Iranian History in Persepolis

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.

First Readers: “The Complete Persepolis”: Innocence and the Morality of Children

   As I read the first few pages of The Complete Persepolis I felt alienated from the protagonist. I couldn’t relate to her conversations with God nor her desire to be a prophet. The first 15 pages I struggled to empathize with her pious yearnings and her saccharine, unquestioned devotion to religion. I also felt the artwork distanced me from any real connection to the characters. Afterall, when the characters are difficult to tell apart due to the complete lack of human detail (even the expression lines that appeared in American Born Chineselended some emotion and humanity to the cartoonish characters) it’s hard to react to the storyline. After finishing half of the book, I realized that the artwork served as a foil to the serious and provocative content within the book’s pages. When I reached page 33 I began to understand Marjane and remembered a time when I was a child and when good and bad seemed so obvious. Her childish sense of injustice and rage was similar to my own reaction as I read the story of her maid’s cruel rejection. Marjane has a deep sense of what the world should be versus her reality. Reading further, I recalled times in my own childhood when my conscience was easily (too easily) swayed by my parents or peers. Marjane wants to nail Ramin to a tree because his father admitted to killing people. She quickly recants, but only because her mother admonishes her violent plan and Ramin explains that his father killed communists who are evil. Further on when Marjane hears about the torture that one of her family’s friends endures while in prison, and her mother’s negative opinion of forgiveness, she once again changes her stance on the virtue of forgiveness. On page 52 her pathetic, naive sense of right and wrong is laughable; “I wasn’t completely wrong when I said he wasn’t on a trip.” Marjane even goes the extent of making up stories of her father’s torture, ironically lying to bring her family honor. Even while her Uncle Anoosh tells her the story of his imprisonment she can’t help but gleefully compare it to Laly’s father’s imprisonment.

In Marjane’s childish logic, she sees everyone as either wholly good or bad; hero or insignificant. Marjane can’t comprehend someone forfeiting a courageous end in order to save his own life. Satrapi is incredibly honest and blunt in her treatment of her childhood self. She clearly admits to her own naivete. However, that sense of guilelessness quickly dissipates as Marjane is faced with an increasingly violent reality.