Persepolis: the Story of Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Persepolis: The Story of Childhood by Marjane Satrapi Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black- and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Why you'll like it:. Heartbreaking. Captivating. Brilliant. Humorous. About the Author: Author Marjane Satrapi was born in Iran, and grew up in Tehran. She has studied in Vienna and Strasbourg, and currently lives in Paris. Along with Persepolis, she is also the author of several children's books. Questions for Discussion 1. From the beginning, it is clear that Marjane has a unique relationship with her parents and grandmother. How do they influence her and her relationship with the changing Iranian society? 2. What changes do the new fundamentalist government make in Iran? Her family enjoys having parties and drinking--what precautions do they take, and why do they continue despite the danger of being found out? Why do people seek to keep their regular routines even in dangerous times? 3. Why does American pop culture have such an influence on Marjane and kids her age? Why are she and her family willing to take such risks to have tapes, posters, and jean jackets? 4. What effect does the Iran-Iraq war have on daily life in Tehran? How do people, including Marjane's parents, act differently? 5. At one point, Marjane's own street is bombed. Have you ever come home to a major crisis or disaster like she did? How did it change you? 6. Even when she is very young, Marjane is outspoken at all times. How does this help her and hurt her in the new Iran? What decision does it lead her parents to make? (Questions issued by FreeLibrary) .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Discursive Construction of Referential Truth in Art Spiegelman's Maus And
The Comic Book as Complex Narrative: Discursive Construction of Referential Truth in Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis By Hannah Beckler For honors in The Department of Humanities Examination Committee: Annjeanette Wiese Thesis Advisor, Humanities Paul Gordon Honors Council Representative, Humanitities Paul Levitt Committee Member, English April 2014 University of Colorado at Boulder Beckler 2 Abstract This paper addresses the discursive construction of referential truth in Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. I argue that referential truth is obtained through the inclusion of both correlative truth and metafictional self-reflection within a nonfictional work. Rather than detracting from their obtainment of referential truth, the comic book discourses of both Maus and Persepolis actually increase the degree of both referential truth and subsequent perceived nonfictionality. This paper examines the cognitive processes employed by graphic memoirs to increase correlative truth as well as the discursive elements that facilitate greater metafictional self-awareness in the work itself. Through such an analysis, I assert that the comic discourses of Maus and Persepolis increase the referential truth of both works as well as their subsequent perceived nonfictionality. Beckler 3 Table of Contents 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………….4 2. Part One: Character Recognition and Reader Identification in Images……..7 3. Part Two: Representing Space, Time, and Movement……………………..15 4. Part Three: Words and Images……………………………………………..29 5. Part Four: The Problem of Memory in Representation……………...……..34 6. Part Five: Subjective Reconstruction and Narration……………………….48 7. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….56 Works Cited………………………………………………………………...60 Beckler 4 Although comic books are often considered a lower medium of literary and artistic expression compared to works of literature, art, or film, modern graphic novels often challenge the assumption that such a medium is not capable of communicating complex and nuanced stories.
[Show full text]
Kate Warren, “Persepolis: Animation, Representation and the Power of the Personal Story,” Screen Education, Winter 2010, Issue 58, PP
Kate Warren, “Persepolis: Animation, Representation and the Power of the Personal Story,” Screen Education, Winter 2010, Issue 58, PP. 117-23. Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis {2007), based on her graphic novels of the same name, is one of a growing number of films thiat employs formats such as animation, which is traditionally aimed at younger audiences, to depict complex and confronting subject matter. In doing so, such films offer interesting avenues of investigation for students and educators, not only in terms of the stories told, but also in relation to how these artistic and aesthetic techniques affect the narrative structures and modes of representation offered. Author, illustrator and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi was born in Rasht, Iran, in 1969.' As a child she witnessed one of the most dramatic periods in her country's recent history: the overthrow of the shah in 1979, the subsequent Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War. The film Persepolis charts her childhood in Tehran, her secondary education in Vienna and her tertiary studies in Iran, and concludes with her decision to leave Iran permanently for France. The formative years of childhood, adolescence and early adulthood are negotiated during a period of great flux and trauma for her country, her family and herself. Through her graphic novels and this film, Satrapi depicts these events and experiences with frankness, humour, poignancy and emotional power. Questions of representation When approaching cultural and historical traumas - such as war, revolution and genocide - questions are often raised about how these events are to be represented, who is 'entitled' to represent them, and whether they should be represented at all.
[Show full text]
Chicken with Plums
CHICKEN WITH PLUMS a film by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud Adapted from the graphic novel Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi Venice International Film Festival 2011 Toronto International Film Festival 2011 Tribeca Film Festival 2012 91 min | Language: French (with English subtitles) East Coast Publicity West Coast Publicity Distributor Hook Publicity Block Korenbrot Sony Pictures Classics Jessica Uzzan Ziggy Kozlowski Carmelo Pirrone Mary Ann Hult Tami Kim Lindsay Macik 419 Lafayette St, 2nd Fl 110 S. Fairfax Ave, #310 550 Madison Ave New York, NY 10003 Los Angeles, CA 90036 New York, NY 10022 [email protected] 323-634-7001 tel 212-833-8833 tel [email protected] 323-634-7030 fax 212-833-8844 fax 646-867-3818 tel SYNOPSIS Teheran, 1958. Since his beloved violin was broken, Nasser Ali Khan, one of the most renowned musicians of his day, has lost all taste for life. Finding no instrument worthy of replacing it, he decides to confine himself to bed to await death. As he hopes for its arrival, he plunges into deep reveries, with dreams as melancholic as they are joyous, taking him back to his youth and even to a conversation with Azraël, the Angel of Death, who reveals the future of his children... As pieces of the puzzle gradually fit together, the poignant secret of his life comes to light: a wonderful story of love which inspired his genius and his music... DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT By Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud Chicken with Plums is the story of a famous musician whose prized instrument has been ruined.
[Show full text]
Of Maus and Gen: Author Avatars in Nonfiction Comics
267 Of Maus and Gen: Author Avatars in Nonfiction Comics Moritz Fink In many ways, Art Spiegelman's Mausand Keiji Nakazawa's Barefoot Gen appear to be literary siblings. While of different national as weil as cultural origins, both works have their roots in the 1970s; both redefined the notion of comics by demonstrating the medium's compatibility with such serious subjects as world history and historical trauma; and both provided autobiographical accounts by featuring their authors on the page. And yet, the two canonic texts could not be more different in their stylistic approaches. Not only with regard to the cultural traditionsout ofwhich Maus (American comics) and Gen (Japanese manga) grew, but also in terms of how the artists depict themselves and what functions their avatars have within the respective work. Spiegelman brings hirnselfexplicitly to the fore in a highly self-reftexive fashion, following the autobiographical tradition ofU.S. independent comics. Nakazawa, by contrast, rather withdraws hirnself by replacing his original stand-in from the earlier work I Saw It, "Keiji," with the heroic kid Gen. This essay investigates instances where authors of nonfiction comics insert themselves into their works via avatar characters -- a narrative device that corresponds to the traditionally foregrounded roJe of the creator-artist in the comics medium. In tracing the evolution of author representations in nonfiction comics, I will create links to Bill Nichols's classification ofvarious modes ofdocumentary film. While there have been efforts to transfer Nichols 's concept to comics (Adams, 2008; Lefevre, 2013), none ofthem has focused specifically on the aspect of the author avatar in this context.
[Show full text]
Orientalism, Gender, and Nation Defied by an Iranian Woman: Feminist Orientalism and National Identity in Satrapi’S Persepolis and Persepolis 2
Journal of International Women's Studies Volume 21 Issue 1 Article 8 February 2020 Orientalism, Gender, and Nation Defied yb an Iranian Woman: Feminist Orientalism and National Identity in Satrapi’s Persepolis and Persepolis 2 Diego Maggi Georgetown University Follow this and additional works at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws Part of the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Maggi, Diego (2020). Orientalism, Gender, and Nation Defied yb an Iranian Woman: Feminist Orientalism and National Identity in Satrapi’s Persepolis and Persepolis 2. Journal of International Women's Studies, 21(1), 89-105. Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol21/iss1/8 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. This journal and its contents may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. ©2020 Journal of International Women’s Studies. Orientalism, Gender, and Nation Defied by an Iranian Woman: Feminist Orientalism and National Identity in Satrapi’s Persepolis and Persepolis 2 By Diego Maggi1 Abstract Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novels Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (2003) and Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return (2004) —focused on her youth and early adulthood in Iran and Austria— reveal in many ways the conflicting coexistence between the West —Europe and North America— and the Middle East. This article explores feminist Orientalism and national identity in both Satrapi’s works, with the purpose of demonstrating the manners that these comics complicate and challenge binary divisions commonly related to the tensions amid the Occident and the Orient, such as East-West, Self-Other, civilized-barbarian and feminism-antifeminism.
[Show full text]
Marjane Satrapi
MARJANE SATRAPI Marjane Satrapi’s memoir, Persepolis, is a black and white picture book meant Satrapi studied art in Tehran, married and to counter the division of our perception of the world into simplistic categories divorced, then moved to Paris in 1994 like good and evil, East and West, and believer and infidel. “Nothing is scarier and studied illustration in Strasbourg. than the people who try to find easy answers to complicated questions,” she In 1995, she was given Art Spiegelman’s has said. Her graphic novel is built out of a series of anecdotes—she has called Holocaust comic book, Maus, which it “a small story, to explain the bigger picture.” Her method of first-person became a major inspiration for her own testimony—“the way I saw it”— reveals a complicated country at a complicated graphic novels. After years of rejection time. of her children’s books—she has said she was turned down 180 times—she Satrapi was born in Rasht, Iran in 1969 and raised in Tehran. Her parents were published Persepolis in 1999, a project progressive intellectuals; her father was an engineer and her mother designed that took her four years. The book and its dresses. They had a bourgeois lifestyle—they drove a Cadillac and had a maid— sequel, Persepolis 2, have been translated but were also leftists with modern ideas about parenting. Although Iran was into 24 languages. Satrapi points to the governed by dictators for much of Satrapi’s life there, she has said that in her storytelling power of images to explain house “even if we wanted to buy a sofa, each person had one vote, and my vote the successful transference of her story to counted just as much as my parents’.” cultures around the world.
[Show full text]
Persepolis Film Study Guide Director: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi 2007 | Animation | 96 Minutes | France, USA | French, English, Persian, German | Rated PG-13
Persepolis Film Study Guide Director: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi 2007 | Animation | 96 Minutes | France, USA | French, English, Persian, German | Rated PG-13 Synopsis: In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled by the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnessed first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own. With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her abroad to Vienna to study for a better life. However, this change proves an equally difficult trial with the young woman finding herself in a different culture loaded with abrasive characters and profound disappointments that deeply trouble her. Even when she returns home, Marji finds that both she and her homeland have changed too much and the young woman and her loving family must decide where she truly belongs. Post-Screening Discussion Questions 1. What do you know about the Iranian Revolution? How is the Iranian Revolution similar to the recent events in Egypt, Libya and London? How is it different? 2. What is the role of women in the story? Compare and contrast the various women: Marji, her mother, her grandmother, her school teachers, the maid, the neighbors, the guardians of the revolution. How do they respond and react, rebel against and conform to their environment? 3. Discuss the role and importance of religion in Persepolis. How does religion define certain characters in the book, and affect the way they interact with each other? Is the author making a social commentary on religion, and in particular on Fundamentalism? What do you think the film is saying about religion’s effect on the individual and society? 4.
[Show full text]
<028Bbe9> [PDF] the Complete Persepolis Marjane Satrapi
[PDF] The Complete Persepolis Marjane Satrapi - free pdf download The Complete Persepolis Download PDF, The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Download, Free Download The Complete Persepolis Ebooks Marjane Satrapi, Read The Complete Persepolis Full Collection Marjane Satrapi, The Complete Persepolis Full Collection, Free Download The Complete Persepolis Full Popular Marjane Satrapi, PDF The Complete Persepolis Free Download, The Complete Persepolis Free Read Online, full book The Complete Persepolis, free online The Complete Persepolis, book pdf The Complete Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi pdf The Complete Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi ebook The Complete Persepolis, Download The Complete Persepolis E-Books, Download Online The Complete Persepolis Book, Read Online The Complete Persepolis Book, Read Online The Complete Persepolis E-Books, Read The Complete Persepolis Books Online Free, The Complete Persepolis Free Download, The Complete Persepolis Book Download, CLICK TO DOWNLOAD Celebrities are made by revell by kill berg with a gifted example of what he gets to take the community to himself before adding to the life of the eyes. In contrast to list is the narrative of the indian drag. I actually enjoyed this book immensely and would recommend it for both others. I read in her previous books and i read it in three sittings as i am considering ah it role in my teen years. But even excellent accounts are rejected to be found into saudi arabia. All of it seems to me the steal fathers lucy and distance killed this writer. The text connection in this book has additional resources for every period theory and companies as it 's simply a major paint of candle which comes in more area than the items used in the book.
[Show full text]
Reading More Than Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis
Reading more than Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis Item Type Thesis or dissertation Authors Dad Mohammadi, Mersedeh Citation Dad Mohammadi, M. (2016). Reading more than Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis. (Doctoral dissertation). University of Chester, United Kingdom. Publisher University of Chester Download date 26/09/2021 18:09:31 Item License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10034/620329 READING MORE THAN MARJANE SATRAPI’S PERSEPOLIS THESIS SUBMITTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY MERSEDEH DAD MOHAMMADI 2016 DECLARATION I declare that the material presented for examination here is my own work and has not been submitted for an award at this or another higher education institution. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All praise belongs to Allah, the First, without a first before Him, the Last, without a last before Him (Sahife Sajjadiyye, Imam Zain al-Abideen, supplication 1). Praise is due to His legitimate and righteous representative Imam al-Asr-e va Zaman and his companions whose extreme and unconditional love and support equipped me to complete this thesis. I would like to offer my heartiest thanks and gratitude to my dearest parents whose sincerest douas have always been with me throughout my life. I ask Allah to “forgive me through my supplication for my parents, and forgive them through their devotion toward me with unfailing forgiveness” (Sahife Sajjadiyye, Imam Zain al-Abideen, supplication 24). I cannot thank Prof Oliver Scharbrodt enough for his help and support and feedback during the final process of my research.
[Show full text]
Un-Layering Constructions of the Self in Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis 1
UN-VEILING AND REVEALING: UN-LAYERING CONSTRUCTIONS OF THE SELF IN MARJANE SATRAPI’S PERSEPOLIS 1 AND PERSEPOLIS 2 Afsoun M. Sichani A Thesis Submitted to the University of North Carolina Wilmington in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Art Department of English University of North Carolina Wilmington 2007 Approved by Advisory Committee Janet Mason Ellerby ____ Barbara Frey Waxman ____ _____ Joyce Hollingsworth ______ Chair Accepted by __________Robert Roer __________ Dean, Graduate School TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...........................................................................................................................iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .....................................................................................................iv DEDICATION.......................................................................................................................v INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................1 Identity and the Nation...........................................................................................................1 Body, Identity, and Autobiography .......................................................................................5 CHAPTER 1. IDENTITY AND THE VEIL .........................................................................9 The Veil .................................................................................................................................9
[Show full text]
In Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's Persepolis Stacey Weber-Fève Iowa State University, [email protected]
World Languages and Cultures Publications World Languages and Cultures 2011 Framing the “Minor” in Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's Persepolis Stacey Weber-Fève Iowa State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/language_pubs Part of the French and Francophone Language and Literature Commons, Language Interpretation and Translation Commons, Modern Languages Commons, and the Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons The ompc lete bibliographic information for this item can be found at https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ language_pubs/165. For information on how to cite this item, please visit http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ howtocite.html. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the World Languages and Cultures at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in World Languages and Cultures Publications by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Framing the “Minor” in Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's Persepolis Abstract Satrapi’s work illustrates, on various levels, current debates in the profession surrounding the boundaries of twenty-first-century French and Francophone studies. For example, her texts both directly and indirectly treat in varying degree issues concerning fragmented societies and cultures; intermedial or splintering forms of artistic and cultural production; political and ethnographic boundary transgression; and continuities and differences in racial, sexual, and gender consciousness. These issues are all at the forefront in calls for papers from recent preeminent conferences in the field; including but not limited to the 2009 Modern Language Association Annual Meeting and the 2009 20th- and 21st-Century French and Francophone Studies International Colloquium.
[Show full text]
Persepolis Introduction.Pdf
Persepolis: A Story of A Childhood “Introduction” In the second millennium B.C., while the Elam 1 nation was developing a civilization alongside Babylon, Indo-European invaders gave their name to the immense Iranian plateau 2 where they settled. The word "Iran" was derived from the "Ayryana Vaejo," which means "the origin of the Aryans." These people were semi-nomads 3 whose descendants were the Medes and the Persians. The Medes founded the ﬁrst Iranian nation in the seventh century B.C.: it was later destroyed by Cyrus the Great. He established what became one of the largest empires of the ancient world, the Persian Empire, in the sixth century B.C. Iran was referred to as Persia—its Greek name—until 1935 when Reza Shah, the father of the last Shah of Iran, asked everyone to call the country ‘Iran.’ Iran was rich. Because of its wealth and its geographic location, it invited attacks: From Alexander the Great, from its Arab neighbors to the West, from Turkish and Mongolian conquerors, Iran was often subject to foreign domination. Yet the Persian language and culture withstood these invasions. The invaders assimilated 4 into this strong culture, and in some ways became Iranians themselves. In the twentieth century, Iran entered a new phase. Reza Shah decided to modernize and westernize the country, but meanwhile a fresh source of wealth was discovered: oil. And with the oil came another invasion. The West, particularly Great Britain, wielded a strong inﬂuence on the Iranian economy. During the Second World War. the British, Soviets, and Americans asked Reza Shah to ally himself with them against Germany.
[Show full text]