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Some Symbols Just Aren't For You

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When I think of comic books, I think of superheroes in skin-tight colorful suits flinging punches and sending bad guys to jail. I don't think of heavy black and white emotional tales packed with vulnerability and fear. Of course, I've been raised in the United States where the words "graphic novel" are practically interchangeable with Superman.

I recently started reading Persepolis, a drawn memoir by Marjane Satrapi that explores her experiences growing up in the Islamic Revolution. It's completely different than what I'm used to. I don't just mean the style though. It's everything. It's the symbols. It's the references. it's the subject matter. It's the language. It's all of it. It's all different from what I'm used to as a white American reader.

A lot of traditional American comics are more concerned with what comic scholar Scott McCloud calls pictorial representation. Think of how you know Superman is a big muscular dude cause he looks like a big muscular dude. Satrapi's art isn't so based on pictorial representation but rather iconic images that act as symbols. For instance, the faces Satrapi draws are little more than ovals with an "L" shaped line for the nose, a thin line (or black circle) for the mouth and circles with colored in circles inside of them for eyes. There's little to no detail most of the time. The bodies look pretty similar with the only major difference being the gendering of women and men done by thining women's waists and adding breasts. Eventually, most of the women are placed in a veil which further eliminates details that did make them look like individuals.

The difficult thing, however, is that the symbols in Satrapi's memoir are not always accessible for me because I come from such a different culture. Take for instance that veil. To me, it could be a headcovering or maybe a haircut. It was not super clear at first, but the story explained it to me. Someone who has lived in Iran or been involved with Islam would have more immediately identified the veil for what it is.

I was able to identify some of the symbols like the nose and eyes I mentioned a moment ago. I was also able to identify other small things like tears or cars. These were all things I had seen drawn before. Things I am used to seeing in my everyday life. However, things associated with Isalm, were more difficult for me to understand much less identify the importance of. Things like certain guns, the thick full-faced beards of some men, and the Shah. I was able to understand the story, but there were certain parts that I didn't fully grasp at first. I'm still not sure I fully grasp them. They are symbols that  are not meant for me. They're meant for those who are a part of the same community as Satrapi.

McCloud theorizes that we tell stories in graphic novels through symbols. To understand these symbols, we have to have the background information to do so. We have to be able to make that connection between the symbol and what it's symbolizing. However, if you don't have any knowledge of what the symbol is symbolizing, you're out of luck.

This made me think a lot about what I do and don't know. I'm used to reading books in which I know all of the symbols and can easily identify what they need. The more I read literature from other countries, the more I realize how many things I do not understand and the more I want to learn. Persepolis only shows me one story. I can't wait to read more and learn more. I hope in the next multicultural graphic novel I read, I understand more symbols.

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