In an interview with The Believer magazine, Marjane Satrapi responds to questions about her literary work, Iran, and the world.
The Believer magazine: “I think the broad appeal probably has to do with how your stories humanize a mostly unknown place. The popular notion about Iran is as a terrifying theocracy, brimming with lunatics who want to kill the West. As if every single Iranian has a bunch of flags in their closet, all lined up for the next Death to America/Israel protest. And then your books come along and tell a different story, about people with the same problems, sorrows, and joys that we have. And fears—here are Iranians who are just as afraid of the Iranian regime as we are.”
Satrapi: “Absolutely. Here’s the problem: today, the description of the world is always reduced to yes or no, black or white. Superficial stories. Superhero stories. One side is the good one. The other one is evil. But I’m not a moral lesson giver. It’s not for me to say what is right or wrong. I describe situations as honestly as possible. The way I saw it. That’s why I use my own life as material. I have seen these things myself, and now I’m telling it to you. Because the world is not about Batman and Robin fighting the Joker; things are more complicated than that. And nothing is scarier than the people who try to find easy answers to complicated questions.”
Marjane Satrapi’s quote caused me to reflect on divisions, the divisions of good and evil, western opinion and eastern reality, and black and white. The theme of division presented by Satrapi is seen beyond this particular quote, as it occurs in her graphic narrative Persepolis. In the book, the visuals are depicted in black and white. The black and white demonstrates opposing sides of which some examples from the book include the character Marji’s opinion of the veil, Marji’s relationship with politics and religion, as well as the groups for and against the regime. This visual representation of division, the black and white, also relates to certain views of Iran, the Islamic Revolution, terrorism and the country’s relation with the west. Some views from the west exhibit the stark idea of the “west being good and the east being evil” and the hijab being solely oppressive.
As Satrapi discusses in the quote, this “right or wrong and black or white” way of thinking is problematic. 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. In regard to the quoted interview, the grey can be understood by the fact that not all Iranian people “want to kill the west” and that not all easterners are terrorists. The idea that the hijab is nothing but oppressive is also a demonstration of division and of a “right or wrong and black or white” mindset. In an article discussed in class, women explain how the hijab is seen as a tool for expressing identity, showcasing feminism and also can be a personal choice. The information shared by the women, exemplifies the “grey” area and how there are more than the two sides- how the hijab is not forced by faith, and can be a personal choice.
The problematic “black or white” mindset transcends Iran and islamophobia. It speaks to seeing situations as more than two -sided, the “grey” way of thinking is widely applicable.
https://blogs.harvard.edu/juliayu/2014/05/08/week-13-cont/
https://www.believermag.com/issues/200608/?read=interview_satrapi
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/amber-rehman/feminism-hijab-canada_b_2808850.html