I’d like to start off this blog post by asking a relatively simple question. What allows us as humans to forget? In Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, A young girl’s life is recalled through a graphic novel. In Hillary Chute’s scholarly article titled: The Texture of Retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis” She examines the graphic novel through closely looking at how the aesthetics of the illustrations compare in relation to the trauma being expressed through Satrapi’s words. From my perspective at least, Satrapi’s words appear much more graphic than the illustrations. Although this may seem totally counterintuitive, it can be justified in the sense that more often than not, what’s left to the reader’s imagination turns out to be significantly more vivid and potentially traumatizing than what the illustrator decides to display. Another example of this occurring in popular culture was in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1961 film “Psycho” in which a murder takes place but a very minimal amount of violence is depicted on screen. The intended effect of this visual minimalism can be summarized through the cliché “less is more”

Another interesting point that Chute raises is that because all of the illustrations are in black and white, a lot of the violence depicted in Satrapi’s work becomes abstract due to how colourfully destructive violence normally is in the media. Chute also argues that by making the violence appear abstract, it makes it slightly more obvious that the story is being told by an adult reflecting on their childhood as children typically have trouble rationalizing violence. This leads me to the question I asked at the beginning of this entry. What allows us as humans to forget? In Satrapi’s case I believe it’s not so much about forgetting as it is subliminally displaying how the normality of violence in her youth has had a deep and profound impact on who she is as a person today.

In Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi discusses an intricate, real world narrative  that most would expect to be presented in the form of a conventional novel or book. However, by making the choice of using a graphic novel as her means for delivering this narrative she adds an entirely new dimension to her work. The iconographic panels, gutters and tiers make for a very engaging read and allow for students such as myself to further analyze Satrapi’s message at a level that would not be possible without having illustrations on the page. Below are some examples of how illustrations in Persepolis create meaning;

Firstly, the bottom panel of page 103 utilizes genre conventions for comic books, the specific case in point being the lines that illustrator David B. drew in order to place emphasis on the movement of objects and people in the panel. By doing this, Satrapi creates a much more perverse picture than what would be possible by using words exclusively. Another example of illustrations creating deeper meaning in Persepolis occurs on page 27, In the bottom panel we see the Shah of Iran speaking at a podium. There are two components that make this particular panel interesting. Firstly, the white bubble in the top left corner of the panel showing Marji saying “even worse” against a completely black backdrop can be seen to imply the binary opposition between the Shah and Marji. Secondly, the insignia seen on the podium that the Shah is speaking at appears strikingly similar to the insignia of the Luftwaffe (the German airforce in the second world war). This can be seen to be an allusion to the Nazi Regime and it’s oppressive nature.

In Conclusion, Satrapi’s decision to deliver this fascinating narrative in the form of a graphic novel significantly enhances the reader’s experience and leaves a vivid image imprinted on the reader’s mind.