50books-poc 13-14: Persepolis
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis.
in short: An autobiographical graphic novel. Satrapi relates her experiences in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War from a child's perspective.
in which it is all about me: I bought Persepolis in a book-binging high after my birthday, because what else is b-day and giftcards for, if not for books? My local comicbook shop gave me a sweet, on-the-spot, 20% discount because they love me (and my business) more than your comic shop will ever love you.
Persepolis quickly got kicked to the top of my to read queue (which is about as long as my to review queue) once it became clear that the Iranian Election Protests were going to become A Thing. I read the twitters and the blogs, and went to my summer classes without fear of being besieged and shot at, and between that read a comic about what it was like to be in the midst of another revolution.
actual analysis: The first time Marjane Satrapi really pinged on my radar, it was more than a year ago on The Colbert Report, when Satrapi was promoting the animated-film version of her graphic novel series. In which Satrapi argues Iranians are actualfax human beings deserving of consideration:
Good times.
Satrapi's art is done in thick lines of black and white, creating a simplistic and expressive style that shows itself to best advantage in her larger panels which are usually conveying some historical point or an event that Satrapi herself does not witness. The way Satrapi is able to convey detail and shadow only using black and white and no fine lines or crosshatches and the whatnot is really cool, and simplistic is in no way meant to diminish talent, time, and attention paid.
The story of Persepolis is, well, enlightening. I knew some of Iran's history, but not all, and not nearly enough about, say, the Iran-Iraq War. Satrapi really puts her all into giving the reader a sense of what it's like to live through a revolution and then live under the oppressive regime to follow. By sharing her stories, which are colorful (not literally) and heartwrenching and the story of her country, Satrapi has made a wonderful graphic novel.
*
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2.
in short: The second half of Satrapi's auto-biographical graphic novel.
in which it is all about me: Marjane Satrapi does not have a website. How can you be a comics artist currently working in the 21st century and not have website? How else am I supposed to do my e-stalking of artists I like? It's not like I'm asking for a blog or twitter. God.
actual analysis: Dude, Satrapi did mad 'mounts drugs back in the day. Nowadays of course she only chain-smokes unrepentantly, talks frankly about patriarchal culture in interviews, and forgoes feminism for humanism, all while hanging posters in her office which read 'fuck you' and badmouthing Tony Blair in interviews as: "nothing but a shit, a fucking asshole... George Bush is a buffoon, manipulated by people much smarter than he is. I can forgive Bush because he is a bloody idiot. But Blair isn't stupid... this warmongering is unforgivable" (here and here). She compares being a graphic novelist to being bisexual, because graphic novelist combine the talents of drawing and writing in one art form (here). I don't even know what to do with that. Lady is a character, which is probably why the auto-bio graphic novels work so well for her.
In Persepolis 2, Satrapi lands in Europe, grows up - or at least older - learns to take care of herself without the benefit of her family who are still back in Tehran, and as mentioned above does a lot of unspecified hard drugs. The focus of Persepolis 2 is a bit different from the first book. Marjane is still the main character, but now that focus is even more tightly centered on her. Even as she was acting out in the first book, Satrapi was mostly observing the changes that were going on in her country and using her own stories to illustrate that. Persepolis 2 is more her story for the sake of it being her story, including world and Iranian politics as it affects her. Some of that causes problems in the storytelling, because Satrapi doesn't change rhetorical style to reflect this. There's a lot of fourth wall breakage in both books, where a character will just look straight out of a panel matter-of-factly to directly address the reader, but it's much more jarring in the second book. *shrugs* The story is still enjoyable.
As for the art... One interesting thing about the art is how it manages to other white people and pretty much the whole continent of Europe. Even without the narrative of Satrapi's words, one gets the sense from her art - which is still in the black-and-white minimalist style of the first book - that white people are just weird. Not necessarily in a bad way, but still in a way that is very tangible and different from oneself. It's a nice reversal from what we usually get and has to be some deliberate mindfuckery considering the books were written with a Western audience in mind. (Satrapi currently lives in France and wrote the graphic novels in French.)
It's a bit harder to quote from a graphic novel than it is to quote from a book, and I don't feel like looking for scans. But look at this film trailer of sexiness! You know you wanna:
further reading: I'm going to make the effort to read any other Satrapi works I come across in the original French, because I can, and it's been awhile, but most are available in English too.
Broderies (Embroideries)
Poulets aux prunes (Chicken with Plums)
also:
David B. (Pierre-François Beauchard)
L'Association
in short: An autobiographical graphic novel. Satrapi relates her experiences in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War from a child's perspective.
in which it is all about me: I bought Persepolis in a book-binging high after my birthday, because what else is b-day and giftcards for, if not for books? My local comicbook shop gave me a sweet, on-the-spot, 20% discount because they love me (and my business) more than your comic shop will ever love you.
Persepolis quickly got kicked to the top of my to read queue (which is about as long as my to review queue) once it became clear that the Iranian Election Protests were going to become A Thing. I read the twitters and the blogs, and went to my summer classes without fear of being besieged and shot at, and between that read a comic about what it was like to be in the midst of another revolution.
actual analysis: The first time Marjane Satrapi really pinged on my radar, it was more than a year ago on The Colbert Report, when Satrapi was promoting the animated-film version of her graphic novel series. In which Satrapi argues Iranians are actualfax human beings deserving of consideration:
Good times.
Satrapi's art is done in thick lines of black and white, creating a simplistic and expressive style that shows itself to best advantage in her larger panels which are usually conveying some historical point or an event that Satrapi herself does not witness. The way Satrapi is able to convey detail and shadow only using black and white and no fine lines or crosshatches and the whatnot is really cool, and simplistic is in no way meant to diminish talent, time, and attention paid.
The story of Persepolis is, well, enlightening. I knew some of Iran's history, but not all, and not nearly enough about, say, the Iran-Iraq War. Satrapi really puts her all into giving the reader a sense of what it's like to live through a revolution and then live under the oppressive regime to follow. By sharing her stories, which are colorful (not literally) and heartwrenching and the story of her country, Satrapi has made a wonderful graphic novel.
*
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2.
in short: The second half of Satrapi's auto-biographical graphic novel.
in which it is all about me: Marjane Satrapi does not have a website. How can you be a comics artist currently working in the 21st century and not have website? How else am I supposed to do my e-stalking of artists I like? It's not like I'm asking for a blog or twitter. God.
actual analysis: Dude, Satrapi did mad 'mounts drugs back in the day. Nowadays of course she only chain-smokes unrepentantly, talks frankly about patriarchal culture in interviews, and forgoes feminism for humanism, all while hanging posters in her office which read 'fuck you' and badmouthing Tony Blair in interviews as: "nothing but a shit, a fucking asshole... George Bush is a buffoon, manipulated by people much smarter than he is. I can forgive Bush because he is a bloody idiot. But Blair isn't stupid... this warmongering is unforgivable" (here and here). She compares being a graphic novelist to being bisexual, because graphic novelist combine the talents of drawing and writing in one art form (here). I don't even know what to do with that. Lady is a character, which is probably why the auto-bio graphic novels work so well for her.
In Persepolis 2, Satrapi lands in Europe, grows up - or at least older - learns to take care of herself without the benefit of her family who are still back in Tehran, and as mentioned above does a lot of unspecified hard drugs. The focus of Persepolis 2 is a bit different from the first book. Marjane is still the main character, but now that focus is even more tightly centered on her. Even as she was acting out in the first book, Satrapi was mostly observing the changes that were going on in her country and using her own stories to illustrate that. Persepolis 2 is more her story for the sake of it being her story, including world and Iranian politics as it affects her. Some of that causes problems in the storytelling, because Satrapi doesn't change rhetorical style to reflect this. There's a lot of fourth wall breakage in both books, where a character will just look straight out of a panel matter-of-factly to directly address the reader, but it's much more jarring in the second book. *shrugs* The story is still enjoyable.
As for the art... One interesting thing about the art is how it manages to other white people and pretty much the whole continent of Europe. Even without the narrative of Satrapi's words, one gets the sense from her art - which is still in the black-and-white minimalist style of the first book - that white people are just weird. Not necessarily in a bad way, but still in a way that is very tangible and different from oneself. It's a nice reversal from what we usually get and has to be some deliberate mindfuckery considering the books were written with a Western audience in mind. (Satrapi currently lives in France and wrote the graphic novels in French.)
It's a bit harder to quote from a graphic novel than it is to quote from a book, and I don't feel like looking for scans. But look at this film trailer of sexiness! You know you wanna:
Click to viewfurther reading: I'm going to make the effort to read any other Satrapi works I come across in the original French, because I can, and it's been awhile, but most are available in English too.
Broderies (Embroideries)
Poulets aux prunes (Chicken with Plums)
also:
David B. (Pierre-François Beauchard)
L'Association