One of the most important motifs that we are investigating in our ASTU class is the theme of identity. “Who we are” or in this case “Who is Marjane” and even “Who/What is Iran?” is an integral assumption and consideration that we must first make. The blogs that my fellow classmates have written provide an extremely broad scope on the large amounts of perspectives and stances they’ve taken in regards to their opinion on Persepolis The three that I’ve chosen, represents in my opinion three extremely important considerations that one should take in understanding the identity of Marjane and Iranian society: Balanced unpacking of prior knowledge, Contextual historical-based reflection, and psychological age-based perspective.

While prior knowledge can be an useful instrument in understanding works of literature such as Persepolis that are deeply imbedded in history, they can be a great impediment in a balanced academic inquiry due to the prior formation of biases. Alexis provides an excellent insight into this through self-reflection of the Western perspective of Russian people which he describes as “violent, drunken, backwards, militaristic, secretive, [and] cold-hearted”. He makes the astute observation that even though the Cold War is long over, Russian soldiers are still the most common kind of adversities in first player shooter games, especially American ones.

Likewise, Iranians have also been subject to similar bias in American media, being referred to as a part of the “Axis of evil” by George H.W. Bush. This has a large probability of colouring our view of both Marjane and the Iranian population as a whole. It should be also be mentioned that while this probably isn’t purposeful, Marjane’s portrayal of Iranian society other than the family and close friends is largely negative. Thus it is important to keep an open mind while considering the “identity” of Iran and remembering that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard doesn’t make up the vast majority of Iran.

That being said, it is also important to place Iran into its postcolonial context. The aftermath and implications of colonial rule had an extremely large impact on Iranian society and thus also on Marjane’s upbringing. Cherisse makes an extremely good point that I will quote directly to avoid butchering it, “Marji represents the discourse between Eastern and Western influences through her negotiation of her identity within the binaries of her culture”. This binary aspect of her culture is largely an result of colonial rule over Iran, as she didn’t go to traditional schools in Iran such as Maktabs and Madrassas but rather international schools that were likely installed after the implementation of the Shah when British and Soviet forces deposed of the previous ruler in 1941.

Additionally, we need to also consider the implications that arose in response to colonialism. The backlash that eventually became the Islamic Republic was in large part a result of repressed anger at Western interference in Iran after the policy nationalisation of Iranian oil was derailed by foreign interference through a coup. If we were to consider that the formation of Iraq was also a product of the Sykes–Picot Agreement and thus colonialism as well, then almost all of the major events in Persepolis ranging from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Iran-Iraq war were either a direct or indirect result of colonialism.

Lastly, Jessie states in her blog the importance of Marjane’s age in affecting her perspective of the events that transpired in Persepolis. Many of the violent and graphic descriptions in the graphic novel were accompanied by pitch black panels. While its important to have a balanced perspective and consider the possibility that Satrapi simply didn’t want to draw those imagines, we can also think of it as her simply being unable to comprehend it as a child. This latter perspective is backed up as she laments why her father never went through such hardships, showing her naive and inability to understand the true severity of the issue of torture.

In addition, we must consider that Marjane was still a teenager during this time and thus her descriptions of events other than this cannot be considered completely objective. For example, her depiction of the Cinema Rex fire is…. a controversial subject to say the least. In a more narrow interpretation, the Shah did not have troops blocking the cinema, but in a broader  view, her portrayal of public opinion was largely correct. This doesn’t just apply to age based bias, but also experience base ones. Her family was closely related/affiliated with other western sympathising intellectuals and thus were natural enemies of the Islamic regime. Thus her depictions of the people in frequent conflict with the Islamic government, while faithful in spirit, cannot be taken as an impartial view of the Iranian people during this time.