October 2015 – Matthew Phillips

Hello ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in-between! Since analyzing the graphic narrative Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, I have discovered how important diversity of media is while representing world issues. This is because I don’t often read books and it’s not that I don’t enjoy them. Books to me are daunting, paperback time commitments that are never appealing before I read them and always appealing after. For me, this leaves a lot of great content unread and a lot of terrible content in front of my eyes. This is all because of availability and simplicity. A post on Facebook, a self-made Youtube video, or a funny comic on Reddit is so much more accessible and easy to process than a book or even a newspaper article. With these types of content you don’t have to research, commit time, or spend any money. The point is that I would like to see more appealing and accessible types of media representing valuable content (world issues, important stories), rather than seemingly trivial content (celebrity break ups, false personality quizzes).

The reason I have been thinking about this is because Persepolis exemplifies what I want to see more of perfectly. Persepolis is the story of Satrapi growing up in Iran through a revolution and a war. The story is told as a graphic narrative, which makes it extremely more appealing to a larger audience. I believe that I speak for many when I say that it is amazing to be able to read a comic book that not only informs me of the event of the Iran-Iraq war and the Islamic Revolution, but also give me insight as to what the experiences of those affected by it are. I was excited to read Persepolis in a way I have never been before when about to read a novel.

I believe that we can go much further with this idea of taking more accessible and appealing types of media, and using them to voice the stories, issues, and information that are a benefit to knowledge. This can take place in the form of songs, images, videos, speeches, comics, games, or diagrams — the possibilities are endless. As a population we would be extremely more educated and aware if the mass media played towards good content rater than popular content.

Bellow I have listed some links to content that I find interesting that is presented in many different forms of media.

Ted talk, Sam killerman

The Genderbread person – related to the video above

Runaway Love – Ludacris ft. Mary J. Blige

The Pencilsword: On a plate : by Toby Morris

http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-pencilsword-on-a-plate

Hello ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in-between! It turns out that my first university novel was a lot less intimidating than I ever could have guessed. I pictured a dense paperback beast, but was met with the graphic narrative Persepolis instead.

Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi , is the story of the author’s experience growing up during the Islamic revolution. This brilliant story is accompanied by even more brilliant illustrations. Though the story is told through childhood memories, there is an amazing amount of adult and political content. As readers we are constantly updated on the political situation in Iran by Marji’s parents and family. Due to this we gain insight on what the people of Iran thought about the revolution. I’m very impressed at how much information Satrapi was able to place into the narrative. It was not just the story of a young girl growing up, but a story of a revolution and war.

I really enjoyed that Persepolis was illustrated in black and white because it is nicely used to portray good and evil. There are various frames that depict the characters on Marji’s side as ‘good’ as they are white in colour, while their opposition is drawn in black. My favourite example of this was this frame on page 18:

As you can see, the military is drawn primarily in black whereas the people revolting are drawn in white. This is because according to Marjane’s point of view the military are the “bad guys”. This is true at the beginning of the narrative because she is younger and less informed about the political situation. I also noticed that as the novel progresses the colour contrast starts to be less “black and white” (clear). I believe that this is because, as the narrator grows older she learns more and more that political groups are not simply good or evil. She begins to realize that the war is more complicated than the good vs. bad idea that is depicted above.

Month: October 2015

Diversity of media representing important content

Persepolis – What I find Interesting