The Complexity of Marjane Satrapis Persepolis Essay -- Muslim Women

If a person were to hastily flip through the pages of Marjane Satrapis graphicnovel Persepolis, using notwithstanding eyes to judge, the book could easily be put off as justanother tack together of literary fluff. Their inner literary critic powerfulness utter a perplexed gasp andtheir mind might reel with the wonder at how they happened upon something that wassurely intended for the childrens comic book section. With some(prenominal) further examination ofthe books literary content and the power of its simplified artwork, however, such an easyto assume accusation shows through as fatally incorrect. Persepolis is the memoir of ayoung woman growing up in the decimating national conflicts of 1970s Iran depictedalongside an unexpectedly, simplified artwork style. At stolon it may appear that this isdone only for the sake of unique marketability or because it is merely Satrapis naturaldrawing style. A deeper examination, however, will reveal that a form ofamplification through simpl ification (McCloud, 30) is achieved and visual support isgiven to the text in a manner that realistic or more unspoilt art could not accomplish.Though simplified in its artistic approach, Persepolis is anything but simplified incontent.When a writer chooses to include illustrations in a piece of literature, the first taskis to decide the level of abstraction/ realism the art will present. In Persepolis case, asimplified art style works best, as it amplifies only the primary features of the text, unlikerealism which would be far more focused on social details. Given the books heavy discomfit matter (of both a war beyond massive devastation and the metamorphosis of a girl caught in its trauma), Persepolis has a great deal of nurture to cover in t... ...captivating and personally significant aspects of her experience. Through generality and a lack ofexplicit realism, Satrapi invigorates the books deeper messages in a manner that extendsbeyond the written word and into conceptual ima gery. By de-emphasizing theappearance of the physical worldthe car excessivelyn places itself in the world of concepts(McCloud 41), concepts that convey the subjective, but still far too true life of MarjaneSatrapi. This simplified and symbolic universe is not Iran or Austria or France it is Marjanes Persepolis. Works CitedMcCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics The Invisible Art. New York HyperCollinsPublishers, 1993. PrintStrapi, Marjane. Persepolis The figment of Childhood. Paris, France LAssociation, 2003. Print.Strapi, Marjane. Persepolis 2 The Story of Return. Paris, France LAssociation, 2004.Print