Skip to main content

A Persepolis Oddity?

Image
By TK

To my readers I apologize in the lateness of this blog post. I've been sick for the past week and a half with some sort of lung cold which is still causing chest pains. I truly don't know why my lungs continue to ache. I also apologize if today's content is shorter and briefer then usual.
Today I'm going to talk about graphic novel Persepolis. Like Maus, it could be classified as a nonfiction graphic novel. It's style is easy to understand, read, and follow. Written by Marjane Satrapi, it is an autobiography about her childhood to her adult life.

It is very well written and easy to read. Now, there may be some foreign elements of the story that could seem alien to most western readers. I say most western readers, because I'm sure there's plenty of people like myself who like to study other cultures for various reasons and as such, transitioning between cultural texts is much easier than for most. But for those who experienced culture shock easily, it may be a very unique experience.

One of the things that does stand out to me as an interesting cultural reference that conflicts with Western culture, is the initial view of communism and democracy in the novel. It shows communism in a favorable light, while democracy is seen as unfavorable.

On this page we see her idolizing and dressing up as Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. This may seem strange to a western audience, especially an American audience. At one time in America, being called a communist was about one of the most insulting things you could do to a person. Actually, I think there’s still quite a few people who would take offense to being called a communist. So for many Western readers, showing someone  idolize prominent communist  figures might seem an unthinkable premise.

Western readers might find this panel confusing.

I can imagine if the people of this country thought this is the way democracy works, I can understand why they would be upset. I can't help but wonder where this misinformation came from. These are just a small few things the Western audiences might find strange.

There is one final thing I'd like to talk about before I stop, cuz I'm still feeling quite unwell, this page.


I found that in Persepolis a good deal of weight is put into the clothing in attire the characters wear. However, this page uses that to its greatest effect, showing so much vibrancy and life in it's active pictures. But not everything is cheerful in this picture. Scott McCloud said on page 132 of Understanding Comics, “backgrounds can be another valuable tool for indicating invisible ideas... Particularly the world of emotions”. The pitch black background gives a sense of foreboding as if to say, “this happiness will not last forever”.
Well thank you all for reading and hopefully my cold has run its course in time for the next blog post.

All images are from: The Complete Persepolis 

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Persepolis-Marjane-Satrapi/dp/0375714839/ref=sr_1_3?crid=ABPAQFX65ZZX&keywords=persepolis&qid=1571374215&sprefix=perse%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-3

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Analysis of Aya: Life in Yop City

By
To begin this week's post, I'd like to first address a few things about the author's duty to his/her readers. When we think of reading material from other countries or cultures, what factors are important to us? What information do we need in order to recognize the significance of the author's work? For me, it's important for the author to find some way to connect to me as a reader. Do we share a common experience? Can I relate your story to mine? This is not to say that a writer's work is rendered unimpressive if they choose not to do this. But I do think it goes without saying that most impressionable works hit us emotionally. I also think that an author should be conscious of the world that they are painting for the reader. Is it true what you're writing? Does it provide some sort of insight into the world as you see it? Are you confirming outside opinions of your culture, or are you breaking the stereotypes that have been placed upon you? That being sai...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bringing Africa into the Fold

By
The comic Aya: Life in Yop City does a fantastic job of illustrating a culture different from the more popular Western variety. For those reading this, have you ever considered Africa in any way that was not influenced by main stream media? No? Well me either. It is sad to say, but my view of Africa was just - more or less - a vast land of chaos and poverty. Why? Because is that not what the media would have us believe? As a western country ourselves - presuming, of course, that you are reading this from the US or some European country - we do not consider other nations to have much value in comparison to our own. Because we have created a Eurocentric view of what society should be, we have disallowed other countries to feel that their own culture is worth portraying in novels or media. For example, most people are lead to believe that Africa is riddled with disease, famine, and "uneducated" people who are in dire need of help. This just isn't true! There are places ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Two Faces of Anarchy in V for Vendetta

By
As someone who has only seen the movie version of V for Vendetta once many years ago and have never read the graphic novel, I wasn’t exactly sure how similar or different the movie version would be to the graphic novel. I was in for a surprise when I discovered just how vastly different, they are from each other. With that being said, they do have some similarities when strictly looking at the motives of the characters. Let’s dive into those motives and how the author and illustrator of V for Vendetta achieved getting these motives across to their readers. In Scott McCloud’s chapter of Understanding Comics “ Blood in the Gutter ” we are presented with different panel – to – panel transitions, and an introduction to the term “gutter” as being the white space between the panels which is where the audience of reader “takes two separate images and transforms them into a single idea” (McCloud, 66). After finishing reading V for Vendetta , several themes or ideas that were most prevalent...
Post a Comment
Read more