I have read over the writings of my peers this week, most of which surround the graphic narrative, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, of which we have been studying recently in class. The book puts you in the mind of Marji, a young girl growing up Iran throughout the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War. It is a very captivating story, as well as a beautifully drawn one.
Many of my classmates chose to delve into the artistic aspects of the narrative, analyzing its illustrations and their significance to the greater themes. Persepolis is driven by its drawings; they’re basically the most important storytelling technique in the book. Satrapi is able to set a scene in a beautiful manor while still maintaining such simplicity. The elegance at which she does so is very impressive.
Lukas’s blog this week (https://blogs.ubc.ca/lukasblog/) brought up the role of the color scheme in conveying themes and ideas. He argued that this helped convey various juxtapositions, such as the “stark contrast between the east and the west” that was perceived to exist. The simplicity of using only two colors allows for very clear lines to be drawn between things. He discussed how Satrapi often uses black to represent power and white to represent peace and happiness. Through this, we can see how she can convey large themes and ideas without needing much dialogue. There are countless panels in the book that are very simple yet abstract, teaching the reader a lot about the situation but I think this is really cool and highlights her ability to be abstract with the storytelling but stick to very accessible methods.
Melody discussed on her blog (https://blogs.ubc.ca/melosastu100blog/) several concepts I found very interesting. She mentions how the cartoonish nature of the drawings makes them better for younger audiences or those with histories of trauma. Many of the events Satrapi discusses are very brutal and could be extremely triggering if someone has violence in their history. Instead of seeing real pictures of stabbings and torture, readers get what one could call an abridged version of that. While this may not seem to be that big of a deal, I think that it actually is extremely important, because it allows many more people to access this book. If what Satrapi writes about can impact at least one of those additional people significantly, than that is something of note.
I will wrap up soon, I just want to reference one last blog to highlight the power of the illustrations in this book. Anthony (https://blogs.ubc.ca/anthonym/) wrote of what he calls the grey parts of the book. I feel like I can’t put it in better words than him so here is a bit of what he wrote.
“Very rarely does an issue have exclusively only two possibilities, thus the black and white way of division has another component. There is grey. I believe that Persepolis is shown in black and white because through the text the audience can understand the grey. The grey can be seen in the faltering opinions and feelings of Marji or in the people of Iran.”
I think I will leave it on that note. Persepolis changed what it meant to be a “comic book” and has defined the genre of graphic narratives. People always say that a picture can show a thousand words, and I know it sounds pretty corny, but I kind of think it’s true here.