Hello readers!
In the last few week of my ASTU class we read another interesting graphic novel “Safe Area Gorazde” by Joe Sacco, which is about Bosnian War. Joe Sacco through his moving and gut-wrenching book describes his experience during the four months he spent in Bosnia. He offers up a history of the war through interviews with survivors, many living in bombed out shells that used to be homes and office buildings. He also describes the daily life of people under the circumstances of the war and shows us how war brings out the best and worst of human nature.
After reading Joe Sacco’s “Safe Area Gorazde” and Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis”, I found out the various similarities and differences in both of these ‘graphic narratives’. One similarity that I discovered in both of these books was the way they portrayed the women characters in their graphic novel. Both Sacco and Satrapi intentionally or unintentionally made the women characters stood out from the usual ‘stereotype’ of the ‘Bosnian Muslim women’ and ‘Iranian women’ respectively. The women characters in these graphic narratives even after certain restriction are portrayed as independent women with their individual opinions and desires. Sacco shows the Bosnian Muslim women who smoked cigarettes, wore jeans, went to parties and listened to modern music. They were also shown with flirtatious personalities, boyfriends and did not wish to get married at an early age. All these characteristics of the women is far from the characteristics of a ‘stereotypical’ Bosnian woman. Quite similar to Sacco, Satrapi also shows most of these characteristics in her female characters. The protagonist Marji was represented as a curious and patriotic child whose upbringing allowed her to become a sensible, intelligent and strong-minded individual even in the most restricted environment. Another important character in ‘Persepolis’ was Marji’s mother who was portrayed as opinionated woman who believed in equal rights. She was portrayed as a fearless lady who was not afraid to stand up for the right things. She actively protested with others who were not happy with the elimination of women’s rights and violent attacks on innocent people. Marji’s mother set a great example for Marji in becoming a resolute and strong-willed individual.
Joe Sacco’s “Safe Area Gorazde” and Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis” had differences in writing style and their portrayal of other themes like violence. One was written from an adult’s perspective whereas the other was written from a child’s perspective, Marjane was an ‘insider’ who experienced the Iranian war and was part of the ‘people’ whose life were directly influenced by the war whereas Sacco was an ‘outsider’ who was not directly influenced by the war, he shared the ‘insider’s’ views and experience despite of being an ‘outsider’. Even after all these differences, they both share a common ground as they broke the stereotype of the women from Bosnia and Iran. They changed the views of the readers that these women are not mysterious, veiled, victim of male oppression but instead strong-minded, independent, fearless, opinionated and unyielding with their own desires, wants and perspectives.