For the past week we have been focusing during class on the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Persepolis is a graphical autobiography of the author, who experienced the Iranian revolution and the Iran-Iraq war as a child in the 1970s and 1980s. It is told in the beatiful black and white graphical language of a comic strip where simple pictures communicate strong feelings, much better than words could. I found it to be a fascinating account of a life under the theocracy in Iran by a girl attempting to come of age. This story reveals aspects to the culture and lives of those people that a former presidential candidate had jokingly suggested we bomb out of existence. People who have absolutely nothing to say about the rule of their country and are also under siege from their own government and traditions.
My knowledge of Iranian history dates back to the Academy Award winning Argo and that is pretty much it. I was happy to be able to learn more about the Iranian Islamic Revolution without it being portrayed by Western Mass Media. This was so helpful to understand the problem in Iran, and from the point of view of a little girl, it makes it even better. How deceitful can be some things, and it makes it more of an innocent view.
However, the word Ayatollah is never mentioned, not once. As neither is the word Islam. But if I recall correctly from the movie Argo, Iran experienced an Islamic revolution led by the Ayatollah Khomeini. So this is like “My life in Russia from 1940-1955” without talking about Stalin or the Communist Party. Moreover, if we think about it, although she is being respectful to others, she never mentions Allah. Even if it is the arabic word for God, she shows a lack of faith for such. I believe this to be a big source of her lack of understanding towards the government.
Nevertheless, it is clear that her memoir opened my eyes, even if I believe that the story is a little bit biased and does not represent a true struggle from the lower classes and those who were affected by the Islamic Revolution. This memoir impacted me because it makes me understand and value the freedom of speech we posses the ability to represent our views without them being repressed.
I also enjoyed the way in which she uses pictures. It allows us to view how she internalizes on such topics that are pressing matters against her. This allows us to see what is happening outside but also internalizes as a kid.
Watching recently “Don’t Tell My Mother I’m In Iran” by Diego Buñuel from the National Geographic, I am able to see that even if Iran is hard to get into, the Western ideas of how society functions in that country are pretty much false by now. This is clear by especially pointing out that all religious minorities must have representation in Iranian Congress. This makes me believe that the depiction of Iran in Persepolis only aids and fuels the taboo topic of Iran when really International Relations broke away from the abuse of American and UK corporations.
So in conclusion, even if I did enjoy the read, Persepolis portays Iran how we want to see it and not how it really is.
If you are interested in further watching the show from National Geographic follow this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZagUbgJDW0
I agree with you that Persepolis is a bit biased towards the upper class, however I am not so sure if I agree with your statement that “Persepolis portrays Iran how we want to see it and not how it really is.” I think she narrated a very accurate account of the effects of the war in Iran, maybe not for the lower classes, but definitely for the upper/middle class in which she grew up. Yes, it was based on a little girl’s point of view, but sometimes that is even more truthful and less biased than a knowledgeable adult. Satrapi presumably wrote about everything she remembered and saw, which, coming from a child, is the most real, clean and truthful you can get. With little knowledge behind her and lots of naivety, she just absorbed what she saw and heard.
I agree with you when you said that this memoir has affected you, making you “understand and value the freedom of speech we possess” to express our stories without oppression/”repression”. I, and I’m sure you with many others as well, appreciate the fact that Marjane Satrapi’s book has been approved and “translated to many languages” (as Whitlock has taught us), because it is a very pure story, written by a first-hand witness of the Islamic Revolution, and not represented by Western voices who attempt to do so, but ultimately inaccurately do so (in biased ways), as you implied. As I continue to read more and more information about certain stories/issues/events in certain places around the world, I am shocked every time to learn things that I have never heard or seen before based on my past readings, because many have been written by Western voices. It was very nice to read the narrative of Marji, living in her house, intimately joining the conversations she had with her parents and uncle, friends and God, because it was a story from a direct, first-hand witness voice.