Hello, users of the World Wide Web!
As we enter a new month today, it is easy to also feel like there is a new beginning, and for us here at UBC it is imperative that we are well on our way in our learning goals for the year. During our ASTU class we have continued to speak about the scholarly article by Shazhad, but we have also begun to discuss the comic narrative “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi. In this comic, the onset of the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War is presented in a new and interesting way, with the coming of age tale coinciding with the gruesome events that Satrapi was exposed to. The images she creates gives us a better insight to what’s in her head, more easily displaying what she is trying to convey. Knowing this, I wanted to learn more about why she chose this technology to share her powerful story. In the hunt, I found this video:
In the beginning of the video she describes how we, who don’t know the Middle East first hand, often have a stereotype in our mind of people who are suffering, and how she wanted to share a different story of Iran in a more humorous way. To quote her: “laughing with someone is really understanding the spirit of [them.]” And with this idea in mind when reading the comic, the element of humor is evident. To share her tale in this way expands our understanding of these events and the reality of what it is like in Iran; that people live through what we see on the news and how these events have impacted each individual differently. In the comic, she shows her young self and her parents striving for ‘normal’ goals, such as getting that new poster or cassette tape, while others are in prison and being tortured for noticeably opposing the government. Satrapi broadened the History being written (or drawn) about Iran and the time period she grew up in, and she is able to enlighten a wide audience through her comprehendible work.
Seeing the impact that this comic narrative has had globally, it makes me think of the small steps we are taking to broaden our understanding of the entire world, allowing for a variety of voices to be heard. Authors such as Satrapi are changing our views of the world for the better, but people closer to home, such as Thomas King are making an impact as well by sharing the story and histories of Indigenous First Nations people of Canada and the United States. The book “The Inconvenient Indian” is a historical narrative that reflects on the histories that haven’t been told to the fullest, that have been remembered untruthfully, or that haven’t been presented from the perspective of an Indigenous person.
Like Satrapi, King often uses humor to bring forth an edge to the history we know, highlighting the key events of that took place in North America and challenging them. To quote King:
“History may well be a series of stories we tell about the past, but the stories are not just any stories. They’re not chosen by chance. By and large, the stories are about famous men and celebrated events. We throw in a couple of exceptional women every now and then, not out of any need to recognize female eminence, but out of embarrassment.”
With these two pieces of literature, I was able to develop my knowledge and I see the value of new beginnings through a sense of humor. The use of humor in these works shows the spirit of each author as an individual, and makes the topics they discuss more relatable and easier to integrate into our personal understanding of the world. These stories and truths have acknowledged that there is more to what we know, and that we should seek to expand the history we are aware of, since there wasn’t (and isn’t always) equal representation of these realities.
Thank you for reading, if you haven’t read these texts I highly recommend them!
-Mckaylee Catcher