GN Review -- The Complete Persepolis / Marjane Satrapi

I've reviewed a few biographies on this blog, but it's fair to say that they're not typical reading fare for me.  One of the more memorable biographies I've read as a graphic novel is Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, which is collected in its entirety in one large volume.  I wasn't able to put it down once I started reading it, and consider it to be one of the so-called "literary" graphic novels that actually doesn't feel like pretentious garbage; it's a captivating character study as well as a historical and cultural story.

Marjane Satrapi is an outspoken, strong-willed girl growing up in the midst of the Iranian Revolution, when dictators and their generals are replaced with disconcerting suddenness, often with devastating consequences for individuals and families close to them.  Marji, who aspires to be a Prophet, spends much of her time vying for dominance among her circle friends, in pastimes such as competing for who has the best family prisoner stories, or trying to persecute the children of those who had killed or harmed others.  Her intolerance for hypocrisy and occasional disregard for authority lead her activist parents to fear for her safety, so they send her away to France, where she can grown into a young woman.  Marji struggles to make friends and assimilate into the general culture of the time, often losing touch with her own cultural heritage and identity.  When the disconnect becomes too much to bear, she asks to return home, and her family gladly brings her back.

Marji's return home, however, is nowhere near as smooth as she would like.  She at first does nothing but watch television, sequestering herself away from the country she no longer knows for a substantial period of time.  The Iranian government is as oppressive as ever, and Marji, who is as outraged at hypocrisy as ever, brings her ire to bear on the difference between how male and female college students are allowed to dress at university.  She enters into a relationship, soon followed by a marriage, which also soon dissolves as she realizes that she doesn't love her husband.  With all of these pressures mounting, her parents decide she must leave Iran again.  Her mother, in an act of love and personal distaste, forbids Marji from ever returning to Iran again.  Marji agrees, and leaves a second time, noting in the narrative that her departure was the last time she ever saw her grandmother alive.

Satrapi does an amazing job of capturing an accessible, genuine voice in this autobiography.  Her cartoon counterpart is charming, flawed, and both inspiring and impressionable.  Her struggles to live her way, despite environments that for one reason or another make it considerably difficult, is easy to relate to in a world where people often feel personally oppressed, isolated, or otherwise disjointed, however true or not that might actually be.  Other issues, like having to listen in secret to your favorite kind of music, or have a party where alcohol is served, are so far removed from the Western experience that their incredulity intrigues readers, who will react with horror, sympathy, and relief when the stories are told.  It makes for a wonderfully varied reading experience that will hold the reader's interest and keep them engaged.

Artistically, Satrapi's style is very simple, but very consistent and carefully rendered.  The expressiveness of her characters is striking, as she uses good narrative structure and layout as well as the natural contrasts between black and white to deliver a uniquely memorable visual experience to her story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story, and think it's a good introduction to the graphic novel format for reluctant readers.  Those who like biographies, cultural and historical dramas, and stories of personal journeys will no doubt enjoy this book.  Highly recommended.

Oscar-Worthy Graphic Novel Films: Persepolis

This post is the third part of an article I was asked to write for the Houston Public Library blog. The final article will be posted some time in the near future, in its entirety, on that website.


Persepolis

Biographies and cultural studies aren’t usually my reading preferences, but Marjane Satrapi’s remarkable account of her childhood growing up in the repressive atmosphere of Iran in the late 1970s into the 1980s is a noteworthy exception.  It was published in 2000 by Pantheon Books, at first in French, and then in English, when the two existing volumes were combined into one book.  The film, animated in the same style as the graphic novel, was made in 2007, written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud.


The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 80th Academy Awards.  It lost to Ratatouille.


Plot: Just before her return to Iran, teenage Marjane Satrapi remembers her childhood in 1978 Tehran, where she is a charming and headstrong young girl whose aspiration is to become a prophet.  Her parents are active in the political movements of the Iranian Revolution, and Marji’s outspoken manner cause them to fear for her safety, and they send her to France to live for a few years.  Despite making friends, her sense of isolation becomes unbearable, and she returns to Iran as a young woman who must struggle to regain her sense of cultural identity.  She eventually does so, and once again finds life in Iran to be too oppressive.  She leaves Iran for good this time, but not before coming to terms with her identity as an Iranian.


Differences from the graphic novel: A few, but this animated feature is for the most part remarkably faithful to the style and presentation of the graphic novel.  The animation style in particular looks very much like the director simply had the book animated and put to motion, making an ideal bridge to the source material for movie-goers.  The scenes that take place in the “present” (relative to the rest of the story) are done in color, which was never present in the original story, though this is for just a minute segment of the film.  A few minor dialog and plot changes were made, none of which had a significant impact on the story.  For instance, after getting home from nearly being arrested as a child, Marji sings “Kids In America” in the graphic novel, where in the film she blasts a song from an Iron Maiden tape--which, amusingly, is not an Iron Maiden song at all, but a song by the films composer, Olivier Bernet.

GN Review -- American Born Chinese / Gene Luen Yang

Haven't we all, at some point, wished we were someone or something other than what we are?  To fit in with the "in crowd", to be popular, to have super powers or be super athletic and/or smart?  It can be difficult to deal with the fact that we're often unable to change the hand we're dealt, genetically or otherwise, and that frustration is explored as a major theme in Gene Luen Yang's graphic novel, American Born Chinese.

In American Born Chinese, we get a collection of three different stories, told more or less simultaneously, that have distinctly different plots.  First there is the tale of the monkey king who wants more than anything to rise above his standing as a monkey and be considered an equal among the other deities.  The second thread involves a young boy named Jin Wang, whose desire for acceptance among his white classmates is complicated by his obvious Chinese heritage and his friendship with Wei-Chen Chun, another Chinese boy who has not yet assimilated into American culture.

Finally, there is the story of Danny and Chin-Kee.  Danny is a normal American teenager by all appearances, but every year he is beset by a visit from his very Chinese, very abrasive cousin, Chin-Kee, whose rudeness, speech, and social uncouth-ness are depicted in an over-the-top stereotypical racist caricature of Chinese people.  Chin-Kee never fails to embarrass Danny every year in front of his friends, but this year, Chin-Kee is staying to attend school with Danny, a situation that horrifies the young man.

Each of these tales is distinct from one another, but as the narrative progresses, we see that they are connected in profound and inextricable ways.

I greatly enjoyed the writing in this book.  Without giving too much away, I will say that the overarching plot of the story is well paced, connected in profound and interesting ways, and packs an emotional wallop that will resonate with readers long after they put it down.  Yang's depictions of his three protagonists and how their ultimate desires to simply fit in and transcend their current statuses is ultimately a self-defeating proposition drives home some very weighty points about where to draw the line between bettering oneself and accepting ourselves for who we are, as we are.  The stories will make you laugh out loud, cry in silence, and get you involved in the lives of the characters in a way that is rare in storytelling these days.

The art style is very cartoony, but definitely works well for the purposes of the storytelling here.  Given that we're traversing realistic fiction and mythology, and three different time periods, one of which is presumably the far distant past, it gives them a common aspect that will keep readers engaged until the climax of the book, when all is revealed and we see that they have been connected in other ways as well.

Overall, I can't recommend this book enough.  This was an enchanting story that handles the themes of fitting in and acceptance of self in an amusing, intriguing, and ultimately mature fashion.  Anyone who's grappled with these issues will enjoy this graphic novel, as will fans of fantasy, folklore, teen dramedies, and simple good storytelling.  Very highly recommended.