Why Marjane Satrapi Graphic Form

Marjane Satrapi’s memoir Persepolis is considered a “coming of age” story based on her experiences growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. This graphic novel explores the life she lead in Tehran which encompassed the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. Undergoing life with such a chaotic environment, it took Satrapi courage to act and live as her “authentic self” and explore what it meant to her to be authentic. Similar to Aristotle, May and Medinas Persepolis examines the concept of courage, through the view of innocence; through Satrapi’s childhood.

In graphic memoir Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi illustrates the eventful life of Marji, an Iranian girl’s living most of her life in Tehran, Iran during the Islamic Revolution. The author commences her story as child and creates a timeline of series of events as she enters adulthood. Marji, represents many disenfranchise women, as she faces discrimination, exile, and confusion in her own country. Uniquely, Starapi’s work can be a justification to prove Scott McCloud’s design theories in Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. In McCloud’s nonfiction book, he analyzes the structure and strategies authors use to guide the audience to identify the message behind each comic or graphic novel. In this case, Satrapi clearly uses concepts McClould mentions, such as abstraction, closure, framing, an others to create a phenomenal work of art. In essence, Satrapi utilizes several (comical) strategies in order for the audience apply and complete ambiguous topics and conflicts Marji experiences throughout her life.

The graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a political and personal account of a young girl’s growth to maturity. The novel serves as an autobiography of the author’s childhood in Tehren, Iran. It describes what it was like to grow up during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the end of the Shah’s regime, and the war with Iraq. One of the most prominent themes in the novel is the clash between modernity and fundamentalism. The reader can observe this conflict through Iran's internal oppositions, the Satrapi’s modernity, and Marji’s western soci-political beliefs. This aspect of the novel is important because it shows the ideological diversity within Iran and the consequences faced by those in the opposition.

In the graphic memoir Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the main character Marji and her family are living through the Iranian Revolution, as well as the War. The people of Iran are revolting against the Shah and fighting for what they believe in. During this time, acts of violence occurred and injured many people, their nation was divided. When in time of war or disagreements against certain beliefs, people may use acts of violence to show their frustrations, instead of solving the problem and uniting, Satrapi develops this theme through graphic weight, motif and chapter titles.

Persepolis is a book about new experiences written using styles and pictures that most people are not accustomed to. I believe this book being structurally similar to a graphic novel helps convey the emotions that words cannot always express. The images from this book have been the most compelling part of the novel. The author, as we learned during the last couple of chapters in Persepolis 2, is an artist. Therefore, the pictures in the book are Marjane Satrapi’s best way of communication with the reader. The actual writing is exceptional, but most of the writing are quotes from people or the thoughts of Satrapi. It is reasonable to suggest that the words compliment the images and are not entirely necessary. Several frames in Persepolis 2

Marjane Satrapi’s early experiences have helped to form a unique perspective acknowledged throughout Persepolis. Throughout the novel, Satrapi uses graphic images to allow her readers to visualize various dramatic events that she (once) witnessed. Informal diction and simple graphics force her audience to perceive Persepolis from the same child-like perspective the author (once) had. More so, special attention is drawn to contrasting colors as a symbol of (internal) conflict. The clash between black and white graphics represents a much deeper meaning regarding Satrapi’s faith and understanding. Such a symbol of conflict enables the readers to empathize

The novel “Persepolis” shows many life changes during the Islamic Revolution told through the eyes of a young girl. “Persepolis” was based on Satrapi’s childhood experience in Iran. Throughout the span of the 1970’s to the early 1980’s, Satrapi experiences many changes in her life, not only with the government, or her education, but also with herself. Although she witnessed many violent acts right in front of her eyes, these experiences helped Marji (Satrapi) grow as a young child.

Persepolis the Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi’s at first impression looks like an unsophisticated comic book; however the book is much more intricate than it looks. It appears like the author Satrapi uses a graphic novel style to add to the stories and supplement profound thoughts what words probably cannot express in novels: layers of visual intuitions. However, does the use of graphic novel help Satrapi propel her idea? In the comic book it seems like she really has propelled her idea.

Western culture has often misperceived the east and the way that their society functions. In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Satrapi uses graphic novels as a way to demonstrate to the western culture how the east has been misrepresented. The use of media helps to depict to the west how their views of the east may have been unfairly formed in the past. The media has only revealed limited knowledge that only shows partial perspectives because it is difficult to get perspectives of the minorities although they are the ones who hold the most truth. In other words the use of graphic novels and a child’s perspective give the west a new idea on how it is that society in the east functions. This style of writing brings the connection between the two

In The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the genre choice of the graphic novel vividly portrays the life-experience that Satrapi herself gone through as a youth growing up in Iran back in the 1980s. Satrapi utilizes a unique drawing style to emphasize the influence that the Islamic Republic has brought to her. The recurring action of teachers implanting Islamic values in children throughout Marjane’s education in Iran is demonstrated through a set of related images, which implicitly reflect on the destruction of childhood that is caused by a totalitarian regime. For instance, the teachers force the girls to wear veils on page1 and tells the parents that “either [girls] obey the law, or [they are] expelled” (Satrapi, 98) later on. Also, the background of these images takes place where Iran is involved in both revolution and war; it contributes to children’ miserable situation even more.

Bombings, executions, and demonstrations. These are a few catastrophes to prepare for when picking up the book Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi. Persepolis is a horrifying, yet witty memoir about a young girl, named Marji, who has grown up throughout the pre and post-Islamic Revolution. Marji expresses the element of “lostness” during this troubling time period. She shares her experience with the world through a series of comic strips.

Satrapi’s graphic memoir, Persepolis focuses hugely on the loss of innocence of Marjane, which she illustrates by using several techniques such as the sizes of figures and the contrast of shades, as well as the of details, or lack thereof she includes in her drawings.

Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis is an expressive memoir of her growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, the fall of the Shah’s regime and the Iran-Iraq War. The dictionary definition of a memoir is, the description of one’s personal life and experiences, and most writers use the conventional text format to write theirs but Satrapi has contributed to a whole new way of writing memoirs that may last for many generations to come. Unlike conventional memoirs, she uses the black-and-white comic book form to find her identity through politics and her personal experiences in Iran and it has become effective and relevant in today’s society because she is a normal person that has had to live through extreme circumstances. She gives you insight into her own mind with pictures instead of you trying to make sense of just words. In the novel, Marjane, Marji for short, is living in Tehran, the capital of Iran, during the late 70’s and early 80’s. She is smart and outspoken for her age and for a long time she was very religious which is a bit skeptical due to her parents being Marxists. Persepolis illustrates a memorable story of Marji’s life in Iran.

In the graphic novel, The Complete Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi demonstrates the evolution of the Iranian war and the revolution during this time through her own childhood experiences. Satrapi

Persepolis is a graphic novel written by Marjane Satrapi. The novel is Satrapi’s memoir about growing in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and the second Iran and Iraq war. She tells us the struggles of being a female in Iran. Satrapi shows us her life within the pages of this novel to show us who she really is, where she really comes from, and what her country is really like. She corrects the misconceptions and stereotypes made about her culture from the western world.