Around the World of ASTU 100 – Class Blog
Hello ASTU 100!
With the first two and a half months of university under our belts, I can’t help but push pause and wonder where all the time has gone! At just around this same time last year, I remember the long and grueling process of browsing through several universities here in Canada and the United States, completing application form after application form, writing thought-provoking thesis statements, and on top of that, engaging in graduation festivities. It is safe to say that our dreams have come true, we’ve made it – and this is only the beginning. I would like to begin this class blog by saying that it has been such an honor getting to know many of you and look forward to what is to come.
Now, enough with the warm and fuzzies. On a more serious note, this week’s blogs were extremely intriguing and definitely required a lot of critical thinking. It was great to read about what you had to say on various perspectives and themes encompassed throughout our ASTU class!
With our class discussions in previous weeks analyzing Marjane Satrapi’s clever use of style and representation of trauma in her graphic narrative and with Hilary Chute’s article to add an extra perspective, it seemed apt that it was a popular topic amongst blogs. With Diego building upon Scott Cloud’s coined “amplification through simplification,” he argues that there is this beautiful simplicity in the monochrome minimalist technique, especially in relation to emphasizing trauma. To go even further into Diego’s argument, Mariana adds another brilliant quote to the table, this time from John Maeda who says: “Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful”. When looking at Persepolis, Mariana brings a great thought and truth we have never really discussed by pointing out, “Persepolis is a unique and authentic piece of art. As the majority of people tend to judge a book by its cover, it is essential to tell that the cover of Persepolis [:] The Story of a Childhood is the most colorful part of the book. The bright red background attracts a reader and scares them at the same time. The aggressiveness it holds serves as a pre-introductory to the story. The events described in the book are serious and traumatic.” When looking at trauma from an up close and personal point of view, we must refer to Peijia’sblog, in which she recounts and draws from past experiences a time in her life where she was able to witness deaths of several animals at a young age. “I remember thinking that [the] whole thing was very disgusting, and how said it must have been for the animal to die…Looking back now, if I were to draw what I saw as a 6/7 year old, my visual representation would not be more than a scraggly shape of a chicken with X-crossed eyes and a spew of spiky blood coming from its neck…it was hard for me to even imagine drawing realistically because it was an act you do not particularly want to remember”. This childish innocence combined with naiveness through the stylistic representation of monochromatic trauma is what makes Persepolis so unique itself. From what we know and have analyzed so far, we know that Satrapi’s graphic narrative does a great amount of justice through her abstract illustrations of trauma, but this also raises the question: Does the power of written text hold the same water?
Through the process of studying and linking works from various outlets of art, including literature, Kihan finds parallels to Persepolis via comparison and contrast to Canadian author Anne Michels’ 1996 award-winning novel Fugitive Pieces around the recurring theme of unspeakableness of past trauma! Kihan stresses that, “despite the fact that the highly visual, graphic narrative form of Persepolis and the highly dense poetic/prose form of Fugitive Pieces are on opposite ends of the form spectrum, the works remain comparable in many ways…while Satrapi reclaims abstract illustration to represent trauma, Michaels reclaims the power of the written word to do so…through the structure, syntax and diction of Fugitive Pieces itself…Michaels’ use of language in Fugitive Pieces serves to invert the legitimacy of the popular sentiment that ‘there are no words’ to describe the absurdity and horror of the Holocaust”. To answer and address the previous question posed above, I would concur in saying that the depiction of trauma through specific mediums can be justly accepted through visual and verbal representations. It is up to the author to manipulate and take it upon themselves to portray trauma, but most take into account the power in which trauma can alter the audience’s perspective. This style in which Satrapi in particular chooses to connect with his/her audience in terms of Persepolis is one that has a big play in part to relatability of a childhood.
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood is a graphic narrative about the daily life of growing up and finding yourself in a world full of contradictions. “We all had a childhood,” Kristen writes. What makes Persepolis so relatable, regardless of culture, race, location, or gender is childhood. Because “childhood” and all that encompasses these broad years may look completely different from person to person, it makes our story all the more authentic and unique! Our story is what sets us apart and makes us stand out, yet, it can strikingly bring communities together. Though no childhood is completely identical, we can still draw multiple parallels in culture in society that overlap our own. Kristen further reasons, “While we all have different experiences and cultures, we all had a childhood, we all grew up and navigating the complexities of life. More specifically, the commonness between all children, every childhood, gives Persepolis to act as a memoir, a tender reflection of childhood and allow each and every reader to connect to Marji in a very personal way.” With the notion of a “dominant culture” of that pertaining to western society, it seems as if this Americanization of western ideologies have unconsciously seeped through the walls of a very traditional Iranian culture through the advancement of globalization and cultural imperialism (Guppy and Ritzer 136), and have entered Marji’s own little world! I can very much relate to what Kristen suggests in her blog post and it makes me all the more aware of the similarities Marji and I have in common: the ongoing pursuit of finding yourself in the ever-changing cultural and societal norms that change in the blink of an eye.
Once again, I had such a blast reading all of your blogs and do regret not being able to mention many of them – please excuse the long post as it is. However, do keep an eye out in the “comment sections” of your blogs where I will further continue this dialogue!
Have a great week and see you all in the hours to come!
Nico Jimenez