Hello ASTU!
Since our last blog post in class we have mostly been focusing on the the graphic narrative Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and the genre of graphic. Almost every single blog post mentioned Persepolis and used it as a platform for talking about bigger topics like religion, oppression, and government, more specifically how those three play together. Feminism relating to the veil was also frequently brought up. One major theme that I kept noticing was the comparisons between Eastern and Western views and cultures.
After reading Persepolis I think those us who grew up in western cultures were thrown off by the amount of direct violence presented by the book. In Lisa’s blog she mentioned how most people from western cultures have not see the affects of war first hand or have been personally touched by the chaos of revolution. For myself this is true. This maybe why when we read Persepolis and violence is portrayed very bluntly as a normal almost everyday thing it is hard to totally comprehend what that looks like and what that feels like. Jane writes about how living in an environment like that puts a person in touch with their most primal emotion: fear, and how fear not only reshapes a nation but it changes people too.
Something else that was brought up a lot in the blogs was the Veil and how it can be a liberating feminist tool, but it also has been used by governments to strip women of their rights to self expresion. Codi, Lilly and Oliver talked about their experiences with the veil and mentioned how laws banning the veil along with laws that make the veil mandatory are both oppressive in the same way. Oliver quotes Marjane Satrapi saying “governments should not force anyone to have to do something they would not do on their own free will.” Oliver explains that no matter if you force women to wear the veil or if you ban it, people will do the opposite because it should be their personal right to choose if or if not they wear it.
One of the reasons that laws have been put in place banning the veil is the idea that banning it will keep the government secular. Beril explains how the sensitive relationships between government, power and religion have long been used and to manipulate the public. Beril uses an example from Persepolis where young boys were given plastic keys and told lies about the afterlife and then sent out to fight. In this example the government used promises of a religious afterlife to rid children of the fear of death so that they would fight for their cause. Wamaitha in her blog about if or if not religion is fading brings up the very interesting fact, even though the number of youth who believe in God is declining the number of youth who believe in the afterlife is actually inclining. Which makes me think that maybe religion isn’t fading but instead it is just changing.
Another topic that talked about changing in the blogs was genre. Kasper focused on the genre of comics and how they are essentially just stories with boxes and pictures. Typically they are light reads that are often humorous but also widely accessible. Recently though comics have been taking a more political and serious side. This can be seen in both news paper comics and Persepolis. A blog post that I found particularly interesting that talked to talked about genre was Simon’s. Instead of focusing on genre in terms of literature he looked the presidential form of genre. How it’s not only the things that the president’s write or says in their speeches but rather the way they conduct themselves. Simon explains how Trump has changed this genre and that Trumps presidency is an example of how one person can completely reshape or change an entire genre.
It was great to see everyone’s views of what we’ve been studying in the past few weeks. Every post had a fresh look and gave me something new to think about. Thank you for all the new ideas and sharing your thoughts with the world!
Sources:
Berlin’s Blog:https://blogs.ubc.ca/berilgunduz/
Codi’s Blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/codisblogtasticblog/2017/10/12/modern-interpretations-of-feminism/
Jane’s Blog:https://blogs.ubc.ca/astujoowonjane/
Kaspar’s Blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/kaspar/2017/10/11/comics-stories-with-boxes-and-pictures/
Lilly’s Blog:https://blogs.ubc.ca/lillysastublog/2017/10/12/post-2/
Lisa’s Blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/lisabasilsblog/
Oliver’s Blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/ngoliverblog/2017/10/12/the-headscarf-in-persepolis-and-in-canada/
Simon’s Blog:https://blogs.ubc.ca/simonluojy/
Wamaitha’s Blog:https://blogs.ubc.ca/wamsblog/