A Depiction of the Loss of Innocence
Being that Persepolis is a graphic novel one would assume that the comic strips that go along with the story are meant to hold some kind of importance. Comparing the graphics at the beginning of the book to the ones at the end, one can see a difference. In the beginning of the novel the graphics that Satrapi uses are much more light hatred. The graphics lighten up very serious situations. On page twenty-two her father is explaining to her how her great grandfather was a king and her grandfather a prince. He tells her that they were overthrown. As this story goes on the depictions to follow become quite entertaining. Satrapi uses these light hatred depictions to show Manji’s sense of innocence. By the end of the novel the pictures become much more serious. In the chapter about The Shabbat, not only does the topic matter become grimmer but so do the pictures that follow. Manji’s loss of innocence becomes much more apparent. Iran is bombed by Iraq killing people in her neighborhood, her best friend. There is no picture to lighten the mood on that page, the only emotion the reader sees and feels is sadness. Her loss of innocence is in-captured by the pictures that follow the story of this young girl’s life.
I think that is a really great comment. Graphic novels are certainly intriguing because of the scope of artistic power the novelist (or sketch artist) has. Since comic strips are associated with humor, in the traditional sense, graphic novelists can approach their novels from a lighthearted angle. However, I think there is a profound power about the portrayal of serious events with this form of illustration. It is particularly dark. For many, I would assume, the graphic novel is a more emotionally accessible medium of storytelling as opposed to traditional literature. The mixture of light and dark together to tell a story is quite amazing.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I also think that the black and white color scheme add the seriousness of this novel.
DeleteI was going to post something similar myself. After flipping through a second time it became very noticeable how differently heavy issues were dealt with in the images and even the captions. Most of the comedic relief you find in the earlier parts of the book are gone by the end. Along with what Brian said, although this tactic was subtlely used, there was definitely a "profound power" to it.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most valuable qualities of graphic novels is their ability to convey concepts and emotions through images as well as words, a point that you really hit on the head with this blogpost. Throughout the novel, Satrapi deftly uses varied and oftentimes contrasting artistic styles to underline the tone and general emotional undercurrent of the story. One of the best examples I saw was on page 102, when the image of young "Soldiers" being blown apart by bombs was drawn in parallel to a picture of Marji and her friends dancing at a party; it really underlined the chaos and contrast that existed within the lives of Iranians at the time.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! That particular page really bothered me but it brought a certain amount of truth to the story.
DeleteI also found the pictures to add even more seriousness to the issues that were happening in the book. At first I wasn't really paying attention to the pictures, but as the story went on and story lines became more intricate, so did the pictures. The pictures really brought about the importance of the stories.
ReplyDeleteI love how the graphic novel works. In order to really understand the meaning of the novel you need to pay attention to the graphics, not just the text.
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