Hey there bloggers!
It’s finally my turn to recap on everything that has been said throughout this week’s blogs! I have to admit, the blogs only keep getting better and better each time!
To get things rolling,
It wasn’t a doubt that many of the bloggers would be talking about Persepolis and Hillary Chute’s Article, The Texture of Retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. However, there were a few blogs which stuck out that brought their own personal ideas.
Starting with one that really stuck out to me was Clara’s blog. This blog post focused on how she came from two different backgrounds which spoke strongly to me especially being Eurasian myself. The whole concept of culture differences is exactly what I have to go through everyday as well. In comparison to the novel, she addressed the “clash between the Islamic’s states values and Marji’s values” including how the state doesn’t compromise with it’s citizens which I found really clever.
Moving forward, Joseph’s blog was quite the interesting piece, if I do say so myself. If I could compare his thought process to political science, I’d say it is very similar to the whole root thinking process (which I found really confusing in class, so if you understand it; please help a girl out). With his critical thinking, he centered his focus on the big theme of the graphics being black and white. He also compared the theme to good and bad, discussing about perfectionism and how we’d all be hopeless if we constantly strive for a perfect answer. Other bloggers (Magda, Maria, Martin, Olivea, Paolina and Sandra) also focused on how valuable Satrapi’s monochromatic graphics visualized her story to them as readers. All three girls (Magda, Olivea, and Sandra) brought the word “thickness” (98) which portrayed power and depth. On the other hand, Martin and Paolina questioned the whole idea of not having color and how effective it was being black and white. In addition, many of those who focused on the black-ness in the comic related it to emptiness and how it’s connected to the process of remembering.
A line that really jumped at me while reading the blogs came from Paolina’s which was “She prepares the stage but still leaves enough space for the readers own thoughts and interpretation.” Similar to Kennedy’s, they both found themselves “seeing comics in a whole new light”. They also both noticed that Satrapi took advantage of the genre which added a new dimension to graphic narratives. One reoccurring image that many of the bloggers (Magda, Therese, Kennedy, Kate, Peter) included was from Persepolis found on page 52. Each of them took the photo as evidence to prove the fact that the story was seen through a naïve child’s perspective. The body which was so precisely cut into equal pieces with no blood in sight showed how unrealistic the narrative was. However, they all agreed that it spoke to Marjane’s creativity and how the words ended up becoming more horrific than the images themselves.
On a different aspect, three bloggers (Martin, Therese and Gabriel) focused on how violence is now escalating to become a “normal” thing. Martin claims that “these events happen so often we become quick to look past them” which I find very true with today’s society. Similarly, Therese explained how movies make violence a common thing and how Satrapi pictures violence in a minimalist style to create a bigger effect. Digging deeper into Therese’s concept of how violence is gradually becoming desensitized. My big questions are; Why are people so intrigued by watching violent films? Why do we find ourselves so easy to accept violence shown in the media? What made us so desensitized in the first place? Now these are some questions to ask because in my opinion I find it quite horrific.
On a side note, good luck with midterms everyone!
See you around,
Mel
Hi Mel! I enjoyed reading your class blog post, one of the sections that caught my attention was the theme of violence. It made me realized that both graphic narratives we have read thus far connect at some point to this theme. I would like to add on Martin’s blog “Persepolis In Color” where he discusses how the use of black and white helps to demonstrate in a deeper sense the impact of a historical trauma on an individual. It made me think on the use of black and white colors in the graphic journal “Safe Area Gorazde” by Jose Sacco. It is interesting how this piece uses black and white as well to illustrate events that happened during the Bosnian War. The use of black and white actually has an effect when it comes to identify the trauma of an event, as seen in page 140. The panels presented on the page do not have any text on it, they are mostly painted with black shades and the face expressions of the people causes the reader to take a moment to think and realize the frustration and desperation many people during the Bosnian War passed through. This piece also makes me think on the quote Gabriel mentioned “I write a lot about the Middle East, so I write about violence. Violence today has become so normal, so banal – that is to say everybody thinks its normal. But its not not normal.” (Satrapi cited in Chute, 99) People tend to see violence as something normal, however through the use of black and white,both graphic narratives demonstrate that violence should not be seen as normal because it creates trauma on its victims. If Safe Area Gorazde would have color on it, I think it would not create the same impact on people towards violent tragedies because media usage of color makes a situation become more normalized, which causes people to not think and reflect for a minute on the seriousness of an event.
Maria Jose Zegarra
Chute, Hillary. “The Texture of Retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.” Women’s studies Quarterly 36.1&2 (Spring/Summer 2008): 92-110.
Hi Maria,
I’m glad you enjoyed my blog post! I must say reading all the blogs was quite the entertainment! In addition, I’m also really happy to see that we both came to the same conclusion on how unacceptable that violence is becoming “normalized”. On a side note, I also must admit that when I used to read comics as a child, I never noticed how much an effect colour had in story-telling. After reading, Chute’s essay in response to Persepolis, it definitely has opened my eyes in a bigger light of comics and their features such as the black backgrounds and placement of pictures including having borders or not. Therefore, when we got the opportunity to read Gorzade, it made myself look at the specific details while reading the graphic narrative about the Bosnian war. However, if I could ask you one question as to the quote you brought up from Gabo’s blog. My question is; Is it justified that the Middle East only be known for violence? Reasons as to why I ask this is because from both of the graphic narratives we have read this semester, both stories try to validate that there is much more to violence in the Middle East such as young Marji having a childhood and people like you and I who have their own hobbies and interests.
Anyways, thanks for the comment! Keep in touch! 🙂
– Mel
Hi Melissa!
I was the class blogger that week too! If your favorite was Clara’s, mine was Kennedy’s because I felt like I could relate to his blog post the most like how he wanna kill himself while reading a book but not Persepolis, because it is so interesting, the way she depicts her story is so meaningful and pretty emotional. Anyway, I’m not going to talk about Persepolis, instead I’m going to share my experience regarding to how Islamic values differ from Marji’s values like you quoted from Clara’s blog, It didn’t only happen at the past and to Marji too, I myself have experienced it, how your values are different from the Islamic values. I’m from Indonesia and the majority people in Indonesia are Muslim. Being a non-Muslim, like me, in Indonesia is quite challenging (at least for me it is) because you somehow have to “follow” their values and traditions. Take, for example, back in 2012, Lady Gaga’s concert was cancelled due to some protests by Islamic groups claiming it was too vulgar. I honestly was so mad at that time because I already had tickets and was so excited to see her but then it was cancelled because of unfair reasons.
– Inneke Soeyanto