Over the last couple of years the biggest craze has been making graphic novels and comic books into full length films. Drawing from a variety of stories and ideas, these films try to make these fantasy worlds as realistic as they possibly can. Persepolis is the exception of the craze. This movie works with the original idea presented by the story and remains a two-dimensional cartoon. I liked how they kept with the original idea and I think they would have lost a lot of the story's meaning if they tried to make it three-dimensional in any way. Persepolis looks at the life of Marjane Satrapi and her experience growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Marjane is a very outgoing girl and follows her family's example of always resisting ideas that they feel are unjust. As life in Iran begins to get more restricted because the Islamic fundamentalists beliefs Marjane's family fears for her safety and send her to Germany to study. However, Germany creates new issues and Marjane becomes an outcast in this new culture. In her search for herself in this confusing world Marjane shows us the importance of remaining true to yourself.
While searching for critic's opinions of Persepolis I came across this blog entry, The House Next Door: Revolution Fades, Teen Angst Endures: Persepolis. While I appreciate the analysis of the film and the synopsis that he provides I have to disagree with his ending view of the film. For Vadim Rizov the film ultimately comes down to a story of teen angst and the fact that in the end that is all you remember. While this does play a big part in the story since it is a coming of age tale, I don't think that the it's the only thing that endures from the film. The revolution does kind of fade into the background of the story but that is because the characters begin to accept the changes. They don't agree with them and hate the fact they have to comply with the regulations but that is what life has become for the people. I think what endures the most from this film is the feeling of discovery. The point of any coming of age tale is the discovery of self and where you belong in the world. Persepolis is so moving because while she believes she has discovered herself, she is still lost in this world. She belongs to an Iran that disappeared and doesn't really belong in the European culture either. I felt like I could relate in some way to this feeling of being lost in the world. So I have to disagree with Rizov and say that the thing that endures after watching this film is not teen angst but the feeling of being lost in a world that doesn't want you.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I had to read this book for a class last year. I enjoyed it a lot. I think an interesting angle that you could take on this topic is to research the Muslim experience in Europe, since so many Muslim people are immigrating from the middle east. You could incorporate it with Satrapi's experience in Germany and Austria, and see what similarities and differences occur. Here is a pretty good website that I found: http://www.americaabroadmedia.org/programs/view/id/66
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting--and this may be because my knowledge of graphic-novels-turned-movies is limited to Sin City--that this one is about something as complex as growing up in Iran during the Revolution. I liked the focus on the plot and themes of the movie, but maybe you could also talk about this movie in relation to other graphic novel movies, since you start out by saying how there are so many right now.
ReplyDelete