There are moments in the film Persepolis when the animation makes you gasp at its ability to tell you so much in such apparently simple images. Three notable instances of such illustrations are the young Marjane Satrapi morphing into the character we know so well from Munch’s The Scream, two snake-like female “guardians of the revolution” accosting Satrapi because of the way she’s dressed, and a young soldier slowly being blown to bits. According to the movie (and one of the graphic novels it’s based on), such young men were given a plastic key that had been painted gold prior to going into battle as a symbol that soon they’d be entering the kingdom of heaven.
Persepolis is about a precocious girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It’s also about her travails in exile when her educated and liberal parents decide she needs to get out. It’s an extraordinary achievement that manages to be funny, perceptive, shattering and educative about Iran and the West.
I’ve not seen the film, but the two books are simply superb.
Something that many reviewers didn’t seem to pick up on was how strongly the art style was drawn from third world Marxist comic tracts of the 1970s (which she shows herself reading in the first book). Presumably this is just because the reviewers haven’t come accross them, but it is interesting.
One is just that she has drawn on a medium that was successful at distilling complex social and political arguments into a simple graphical form.
But it also draws it straight back to the reading material of her youth, which is useful when capturing oneself at the same age.
And three, it captures all the semitotics of social upheaval, chaos and ideological turmoil.
Whatever the other legacies of third world Marxism, the graphical legacy they left is wonderful, especially the emphasis on the graphic that came from the requirements of mass printing. The refinement in American and Franco-Belgian comics sometimes drown this, and the Japanese chose dynamism that often comes at the expense of the graphic.
I totally agree, Skeptic. Satrapi’s a wonderfully interesting character as well. Apparently she smokes like a chimney, which I suspect is what happens when you grow up around oppressive bullies.
That’s an interesting one, Richard. And you’re right, I haven’t seen anyone mention it, and it probably is because reviewers probably didn’t come into contact with such comics (probably more acquainted with the American ones).
Lynden Barber’s blog had a little post a while back comparing the German one sheet with the French (and Australian) one. The French advertising makes it look like a boring film about contented middle class Greeks. The German ad makes it look interesting.
I must take girlchild to see it, a good change from her usual diet of Judd Apatow and other slacker comedies.
Didn’t Mr Barber used to write for Rolling Stone? I agree with him, the German poster is much better (and tells us a lot more about what the film is about).
Tee hee, well I can’t diss girlchild’s slacker tastes (Apatow is a god, albeit a flawed one), but Persepolis should be a bit of treat for her. Depends on how old girlchild is, I guess.