Hello my dear readers,
imagine someone gave you a script, a storyboard and a stage for a play and then it is all left to your creativity and imagination to chose the actors and make them perform the play according to the given script and make the story come to life.
This is, how I felt while I was reading Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (for more information about “Persepolis“ by Marjane Satrapi take a look at my first blog post!). She prepares the stage but still leaves enough space for the readers own thoughts and interpretation.
Referring to the article “The Texture of retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis“ “ by the feminist scholar Hillary chute, which emphasizes on the upbringing “of the medium of comics —its conventions, its violation of its conventions, what it does differently— to the forefront of conversation about the political, aestetic, and ethical work of narrative.“ (“The Texture of retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis“, p.93) I want to share some thoughts that I had while I was reading Persepolis.
The significant (and very obvious) difference between a written book and a “graphic narrative“ is the purposely placing of pictures and creating images and often illustrating what there are normally no words for
(for example the black image in Persepolis, p.142: “ No scream in the world could have relieved my suffering and my anger.“. The combination of picture and words illustrates emotions very effectively and creates a really powerful experience for the reader on various levels, for example visual and emotional levels. ).
Graphic novels add a new dimension to the reading experience. They create a picture, well thought through, with the purpose to get a thinking process going, starting with the picture as soil to grow and develop on.
In her Article “The Texture of retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis“, Chute opened my eyes to the hidden messages and details in Satrapis drawings, in the sense that every detail serves a purpose.
The fact that her drawing style is related to Persian art, signifying her deep connection to her Iranian roots, her intention to show the reader that violence today became “normal“ (Satrapi, “The Texture of retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis“, p. 99) but it is not, though not reducing the pictures to a very realistic level, but keeping the entire book in the colors black and white, really blew my mind.
“…a flatness of composition intensify affective content — is hardly a shortcoming of ability … but rather a sophisticated, and historically cognizant, means of doing the work of seeing“ (Chute, p. 99)
But what would have happened if Persepolis was a colored book? Would it be less authentic? Would the colors be distracting the reader? Would a different kind of “drawing style“ influence the readers interpretation of Satrapis story?
How much influence does the genre of “graphic narrative“ have on our subconscious view and interpretation of narratives though its visual and discursive storytelling?
