Welcome back to the Randomizer!
A few years ago, I came across a particular film, an
animated piece NOT by Disney. Surprising that isn't it? It was a film called
'Persepolis'.
Now what does that cover say to you? A woman overlooking what
appears to be a young girl dressed as a ninja and a nun opposing her. A French version
of Rambo.
But after watching the trailer for this film, I thought I
would give this film a go to see what it was like. And honestly, it was a very
funny, dramatic film! When I first watched it I was quite mesmorised by it. The
animation style was very well done with no showing of CGI at all (I wasn't a
big fan of CGI animation at the time), the comedic moments were light, but
intriguing and actually get a chuckle out a lot. But where it really hit home
was the reality of the situation the characters find themselves in. Aggressive,
war-torn, cultural and perhaps very realistic.
Later, I found out from the DVD features that the film was
originally based on the graphic novel. And recently I came across it in the
bookshop Waterstones, and had a little read through on the first page to see if
it was worth buying. And 2 minutes later, forked out the money.
Brought it back and immediately read-through it last week.
And once more I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It is more detailed in the
different life events that are told and in a different order from the film. But
you do get a more personal approach to it and see how these events affect the
main character deeply, politically and spiritually. And like the film, it has made
me think quite a lot of its subject matters, and how everything seemed so screwed
up from this girl's perspective. And it shows how human people can be, flawed
and perfect at the same time (if that makes sense). Sort of like Game of
Thrones where personalities do shine through properly, more so then the film
did.
Now I think I can tell what you're thinking: "dude,
your praising a story that you've gone into very little detail about and have
not even mentioned one character's name. Why should I be interested in it as
you are?"
Answer: This is what the blog is about, showing the story
and exploring the themes to show how that good a story it is! I wanted to do
this because I thought it would be nice to share something that I enjoyed in
the hope that others will enjoy it too, and perhaps as well it will make you
think a bit more about the subject matters that are right at the heart of the
story. I know it has with me, questioning my own views and how I came to this
point in my life.
So today my friends, is a tribute to a great novel,
Persepolis.
(Warning, there will be spoilers in this review, not
counting some of the important historical events. So if you don't wish to have
anything spoiled, skip the story and read the books/watch the film if you want)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would give a backstory to stuff at this point, but really
the book is a back-story. It's an autobiography of Marjane Satrapi, born in
Iran in a time where it was ruled by the last Shah. I'm using the double volume
book for this since it was originally in 2 books.
Satrapi
In the beginning, God created the earth and the
sky.....oops! sorry wrong book.
In the beginning, we see a young Satrapi with a veil over
her head, with little understanding of why she and her fellow classmates had to
wear the veil, as well as being in a French non-religious school and forcibly separated
from their male classmates. She is torn between what to think because even
though she has a deep religious back-ground, her family were modern and
avant-garde.
1st picture of Satrapi in the book
At six years old, she wanted to become a prophet and didn't
care what anyone thought. Her teacher was disturbed, since presumably all the
other prophets were men. But her own parents weren't shaken by this at all.
They were more than happy for her to be a prophet. But for some reason, she
said to become a doctor instead so that they'll not know. Not entirely sure
why. The only person she ever really tells is her grandmother about her prophet
status.
When the Iranian Revolution happened (or Islamic Revolution,
depends who you talk to I guess), Marjane puts her prophet dreams aside to join
on the band wagon, and her father helped enlighten her of the situation with
all sorts of books to understand why the revolution was taking place. And we
also see her hearing her parents how 400 people in a cinema burned to death,
and the police had barred anyone from helping. The Shah blamed fanatics, though
people suspected he was behind it and were planning to demonstrate against him.
Marjane wanted to go to, but her parents wouldn't allow it.
Eventually after apparently trying to use democracy, the
Shah left the country on January 16th 1979 and the exile Ayatollah
Khomeini returned to become Iran's spiritual leader. Oddly enough, Khomeini is
not in the book or film altogether, but perhaps that's not the story's actual
focus.
Marjane is introduced to her parent's friends who have
suffered under the Shah, and starts to feel down when she thinks her father
wasn't a hero for not being in prison. But soon she is introduced to her uncle
Anoosh, a communist who had been in prison and now considered a hero in her
eyes. He tells his story about an independent nation with his own uncle Fereydoon,
and escaping to the USSR, which fascinates Marjane and they share their own
political views, since Marjane developed a liking for Marx earlier.
But then things would take a turn for worse in the family's case.
A referendrum was held to see if the country would become an Islamic Republic.
98/99% of the people voted "Yes", though apparently from what I have
read, there was hardly any information about the substance of the title as much
as the title itself. Her parent's friends became the targets of this new
regime. One was drowned head first in his bath-tub, the other managed to escape
across the border. For Marjane, the regime came to her personally. Anoosh was
arrested, and requested to see her before his pending execution. Not his
mother, not his brother, her. And he would come back to her life a few times in
the story.
In the first year, everything changed. The education system
was replaced for being decadent and 'not being on the true path of Islam', the
veil became commonplace for women, men weren't suppose to shave since it was
against Islam so claimed in the book. But it also gave some men an arrogant
edge, insulting Marjane's mother for not wearing the veil, saying that women
like her should be pushed up against a wall, fucked and thrown in the garbage.
And we come to one possible reason as to why women should
the veil, as put in the book. "Women's hair emanates rays that excite
men". Ummm....ok? Does that make sense to anyone else? I'm not sure I've
seen rays come out of women's hair before. Not heat rays to warm food up, or
cold rays to keep cool in hot weather. Just saying.
Apparently, I'm supposed to be erect now.
Marjane goes to a demonstration with her family to oppose
the fundamentalism in Iran. Which worked well. Worked well in the sense that a
women is stabbed in the leg by a man. Oh joy (sarcasm).
Then came another blow. Iraq invaded and started a campaign
of bombing against Iran, believing it to be weak. The few stories told here are
her mother's friend and her family coming to stay for a week since their home
was destroyed, and of 'The Key', a symbol for young boys that if they went to
war and luckily die, they'll get to go into heaven, have lots of food, houses
made of gold, and women...............weird.
To lighten themselves, Marjane and her family go to a few
parties with family members. Despite the risks of being arrested for having
fun, they do cope pretty well rebelling against the system. Marjane in turn develops
her own rebellious streak: smoking a cigarette, skipping class to see boys with
older girls, and also becomes a punk fan with wearing a leather jacket. She
doesn't exactly get a good start, getting caught by two fundamentalist women.
But she manages to literally cry and lie her way out of being sent down. This
does become more aggressive when she is caught wearing a bracelet by the principal
and resists by hitting her, subsequently getting expelled.
But another incident that pushes her to not be afraid of
standing out of line was the bombing of her neighbour's house, the Baba-Levys. Checking
to see if her own family was safe, she sees that a bracelet she gave to their
daughter is sticking out, attached to something. "No scream in the world
could have relieved my suffering and my anger". An actual quote taken from the book. That
moment solidly brings the war properly home to her. And nothing can be done to
ease that anguish.
Even after finding another school, her rebellious natures
shines through after telling a new teacher how her uncle had been killed in the
new regime and how political prisoners had gone up from 3,000 to 300,000. Her
father is proud of her stance. Her mother....less so, but for good reason.
Not only that, but the man is supposed to give the woman a
dowry in marriage. And what did they gave her parents. 500 tomans, the equivalent
of $5 dollars. I'll let that speak for itself.
After the incident, her parents decide a big measure. Send
Marjane to Austria to further her education and because of her rebel
personality. Marjane becomes upset because she suspects her parents won't be
coming with her after she thinks about what they said. After giving her posters
away to her close friends and collecting some Iranian soil to keep in a jar, her
grandma comes to stay for the night and gives her some advice. I won't put it
down because I don't really want to spoil what she says. It's one of those
things you should properly read.
The next morning, Marjane and the family (bar her grandma)
leave for the airport. There, her famiy reassure her that Europe is waiting and
they'll visit her in six months. After bidding her farewells and going through
customs, Marjane turns to see her parents one more time....only to see her
mother had fainted and her father carrying her away.
The scene itself is quite emotional given the circumstances.
A 14 year-old girl moving away from family to make sure she is safe and still
has a bright future ahead of her. I can only imagine it's a very difficult thing
to go through and still know you are alive after leaving a repressive country
and your parents behind to face that..........It's a bit heart-wetching to
read.
------------------------------------------
The next section called Persepolis 2, begins with Marjane
living in Austria as planned. Though living with nuns.
If only.
The original plan was living with her mother's best friend
Zozo. Marjane herself had been friends with her daughter, though that takes a
bad turn in her eyes since the daughter talks about ear-muffs and lipstick.
After ten days of hearing Zozo and her parents fighting, Zozo decides there's
not enough room to live in and sends her off. Marjane sees this as a sort of
blessing, even if she cared more for the father of the family more.
In the nunnery, one thing she has to look forward to is the
supermarket. Here she is in complete awe, finding the detergent products first
to smell them. Such products were simply not on the shelves in Iran anymore you
see, so this is a simple yet fantastic thing. She gets all sorts of products
and luckily pays for them all. Happy Marjane!
Going to a different school however gains Marjane soon
popularity in maths class and makes friends a girl called Julie, who introduces
her to Momo (who oddly gives her her first kiss on the mouth) and in turn
introduces her to his friends. Thus, Marjane becomes part of a group of friends
who took a fascination with her.
But then Christmas comes. Marjane didn't celebrate
Christmas, and feared she would be alone for the next two weeks. But her
saviour comes in the form of Lucia, a girl she met at the nunnery who says
there's space in the car when her aunt comes to pick her up. She hangs out with
Lucia's family for the vacation and enjoyed having a good time with them. She
considers Lucia's parents to be her new set of parents, since her real ones
couldn't be actually there in person.
One night later, after cooking pasta and eating it straight
from the pot, the Mother Superior blasts her for doing so and goes on saying
Iranians have no manners. Marjane retorts. By saying the nuns were all
prostitutes before they became nuns. (That actually made me laugh the first
time of watching the film!). This gets her expelled and she finds herself
living at Julie's house where she learns that Julie's a sex manic and her
mother's cultured. Better to read that section for yourselves!
After maturing into a woman, she changes her image and gives
out haircuts to fellow classrooms, bringing an argument with Momo, who says
that life is nothing. Marjane disagrees saying her uncle gave his life for the
chance of liberty. That silences Momo. I believe the word is 'pawned'.
But Marjane also thinks she is assimilating herself into
Western culture, and distancing from her own world afar at war. After denying
her own nationality at a party, she remembers her grandma's words, and promptly
uses them on a trio of girls the next morning who unrecognisably insult her. She
feels proud of herself for doing so!
A nice surprise comes when she finally meets up again with
her mother after nineteen months (after her mother doesn't recognise her at
first because Marjane's grown up). They catch up on everything: Father missing
her badly, family living in Germany, how it's nice to not wear the veil and how
the mother finds out that Marjane was smoking. While there, her mother finds a
place with whom I'll call 'The Nutcase' for Marjane to live in and helps
arrange it all.
After her friends leave school, Marjane gets a boyfriend
called Enrique and both go to an anarchist party one weekend. They sleep
together, and it only gets awkward from there. Not on her side, but Enrique.
Because he turns out to be gay. Awkward indeed! Her next proper relationship
was with a man called Markus, which had many complications. And unfortunately
for her, he was cheating on her.
This leads her to leave the Nutcase's house after a massive
argument and she lives on the streets for two months, developing bronchitis
before finally ending up in hospital. After getting a little healthier, she
meets with Zozo once more to collect some money, she talks with her parents and
asks one thing: to return to Iran. To home.
Wearing the veil, she arrives back home to the arms of her
parents. And she sees that Tehran is changed, but hasn't if you get my drift.
Walking the streets, she sees huge murals with slogans about being a martyr and
even streets newly named after martyrs. Feeling as if she's walking through a
graveyard, she quickly returns home and learns about the final months of the
Iran-Iraq war.
After meeting some overbearing friends and family, she meets
two people she is glad to see: her grandma (obviously, she is pretty cool to
have around) and her childfriend Kia, who was caught up in the war and become
disabled since then. But more often she feels the sting of loneliness, and
eventually becomes depressed, feeling the weight of secrets on her shoulder.
Seeing therapists and taking medication does nothing and Marjane finally
decides on suicide. Cutting her wrists doesn't work so she overdoses on her
pills and falls into a deep sleep.....waking up three days later. Taking this
as a sign of intervention, she decides not to die and carry on, changing her
image once more and taking aerobics class, (with 'Eye of the Tiger' playing in
the background I might add!)
It's Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreaat!
At a party, she is introduced to Reza who turns out to be
her complete opposite, but they start going out anyway, and plan to leave Iran
together. They take a National Exam (which pretty much gets you into university
in Iran) and succeed in passing, but Marjane has to take an ideological test to
finally get past the hurdle. She explains to the Mullah (priest in charge) that
she prays to God in Persian because it's a language she knows. And she passes!
But one day goes a bit skew-whiffy. Marjane plans to meet
Reza in full-makeup outside a shopping centre, when a van carrying the
Guardians of the Revolution comes around to...well, jsut fuck around
essentially. She decides to get them off her back by pretending a guy near her
had made lewd remarks to her, and it works. Reza is impressed. Her grandma is
not, berating her for forgetting her grandfather and Uncle Anoosh and what they
had given their lives for. Marjane is upset about her actions and decides it
will be the last time her grandma yells at her.
Starting at university, she attends a meeting where the
administration wants all to behave morally, as well as asking the women to wear
thinner trousers, longer head scarves, not wear make-up etc, basically to stop
men being horny. Marjane objects to this, saying that as a student in art she
needs to move her head to draw properly, criticises the fact that they don't
bother talking to the men about their haircuts and clothing, and asks "Why
is it that I, as a woman, am expected to feel nothing when watching these men
with their clothes sculpted on, but they, as men, can get excited by two inches
less of my head-scarf?". Luckily she isn't expelled and encouraged to draw
a design to please both administrators and students alike. But more
importantly, her grandma accepts her back into good graces for being dignified
in taking on the men.
With that done, some of the woman fight the regime in any
way they can, discreetly then outright opposing. But the Guardians of the Revolution
did gate-crash the parties and gave them spiel for it. This went on in a
circle, until one night when one of the men dies jumping off a roof after being
chased by the Guardians. They feel dishearted at first, but one of Marjane's
friends tells them not to give up and wants to continue the parties. Marjane
agrees.
Later on, Marjane and Reza get into difficulties with living
together because they weren't married. Reza asks if she wants to, and after
much thinking, she decides to go with it. Her father gives him permission,
though had always known the two would get divorced. She realises later after
the marriage that she had actually conformed to society, to make it easier for
herself and Reza. And it goes downhill with arguments, separated beds and such.
The only thing that brought them more together was a failed project because the
government wouldn't accept it.
Later, Marjane gets a job working as an illustrator for a
magazine. Her co-worker gets arrested for an 'offensive' drawing and gets beat
up for his trouble. He is released and Marjane meets him at home, only to see
him interfering in his wife's sentences. On the way back home, she explains how
women have become simply a mistreated minority in Iran, pointing out how women
can't testify, can't have custody of a child and has no right to divorce. She
decides to leave Iran!
Arranging to go to France and getting her divorce to Reza,
she uses her final days in Iran to pay her respects to her grandfather and
Uncle Anoosh and visits the Caspian Sea with her grandma for the 'special air'.
The final page depicts her bidding farewell to her family and being forbidden
to return by her mother. The last time she would see her grandma was in the
Iranian New Year a year later, who would later die before the new year came in.
The last words are as follows: "...Freedom had a
price...". Very true words.
-------------------------------------------------------
So now you know the story!
How do I sum the book up? Funny, personal and logical. It is
a good story from start to finish and it really gets you to think how one
woman's story can affect and perhaps change you.
One of the obvious themes is the repression of women. From the start we are introduced to Marjane as
a child wearing the veil and seeing her split off from her male peers. As the
book goes, the graphic depiction goes quite a long way. Her mother is pretty
much threatened with rape for not wearing the veil, a woman is actually stabbed
at a demonstration against the veil, and Marjane feels insulted by her
co-worker for interrupting his wife, and she wasn't wearing a veil.
We are told that the veil, or hijab as it's more probably
known, is meant to be a symbol of freedom and modesty. In the Qur'an verse
24:31, it's stated that a woman must cover herself to avert the eyes of men,
unless it is family or husbands.
Woman wearing a Hijab
One possible positive about the hijab comes from Sayyad
Fadlullah, who states that:
"Islam, as well as other
religions and ideologies, has put certain restrictions on the personal freedom in
this field, since unrestricted freedom creates chaos, especially in the domains
of linage and family relations. Thus, Islam believes that you have to remain
commited to the well-being of society and prepares man psychologically to
control his desires, through a set of laws. In this sense, Hijab is one of the
regulations that prevent man from living in a state of psychologically
emergency in response to the call of desires. It is part of the legislative
structure that builds moral commitment" (Fadlullah)
What this means is that the Hijab is used as a
counter-measure to protect human beings from going overboard with immorality
and teach them to control themselves from going down a bad path. It might seem
that Fadlullah is focusing on men only, but he does refer to women as well. He
states that:
Hijab creates the psychological
atmosphere to resist the calls for deviation, and builds an internal immunity
in both men and women. It suggests to the women that she should present herself
as a human being and helps her to do so by veiling her sexual beauties.
So he reiterates the point that both men and women are
responsible for controlling their behaviours, and the idea of Hijab can help
women appear human as opposed to sexual objects by simply covering themselves.
I find Fadlullah's views fascinating because he shows how the idea how woman
can try to be as human as possible, without showing any notion of breasts,
butts or genitalia.
On the other hand as Satrapi shows, the veil can be shown as
a repressive code. Her mother does incur the wrath of threats and such for not
wearing the veil, but that's because she is shown to be more liberal-minded, a
modern women living in a fundamentalist country. Satrapi said in an interview
for the Guardian that the veil was actually banned by the father of the last
Shah of Iran, in an attempt to modernize the country.
With the onset of the revolution however, the veil became
compulsory and it shows how the women, without it, are not looked on as human
beings but creatures of sex, something that has to be trodden on to keep
oneself on the true path. I bring you back to the point where Marjane goes to
her first demonstration in the book. Some leagues of men begin to attack the
demonstrator's saying 'The Scarf or a Beating'. That might be seen as a
reinforcement of some men's beliefs against the majority of women. And of course, Marjane's little speech near
the end about how women's rights are virtually non-existent does make you
ponder. How one gender is pushed aside for the other with the laws easier for
men.
For me, this repression feels wrong and uncomfortable. Women
should not be undermined at all. I do see what Fadlullah is trying to get
across in suggesting that women could try to make themselves human, but in
writing this I also wonder that if women are covering up their breasts and
such, is it really making them human beings? Obviously women's sexual features
are different to mens (man-boobs not withstanding), but we are of the same
biological structure. Same blood, same heart, same brain shape, same skeleton
etc. What I'm trying to say is, we all are human beings underneath. Whatever
colour, sex, creed (whatever that means).
So perhaps then, the idea of Hijab is interesting to at
least maybe protect both sexes, but when used in an extreme religious way to
push onto one gender, that's the point where it needs to be questioned.
The second theme the book presents is identity.
Throughout the book, Marjane is torn between two sets of
worlds. Her country and the western world, or Austria. When the revolution
comes around and she is sent away to Austria, at first she is disgusted by her supposed
best friend's total ignorance of events in Iran, whom goes on about ear-muffs
and lipstick.
But soon after making friends with Momo and Julie, she
starts to integrate slowly at first, building up towards a party at Julie's
place....I say party, it was pretty much a drug fest. I won't spoil what happens,
but afterwards Marjane thinks of it as a big step towards assimilating into
Western Culture. After she matures body-wise, she changes her appearance by
cutting her hair and wearing eye-liner, and "smoking" with her
friends. But with assimilation comes guilt. She thinks the harder she does
this, the more distance she builds between her own culture, family and origins.
However on returning home, she finds herself at odds with a
few cultural differences. Some of her old friends talk freely about sex, but
when Marjane says she's done it a number of times, one asks what's the
difference between her and a whore. Marjane sees then that despite looks to the
contrary, they were traditionalists at heart. And of course, the murals on the
wall paying tribute to those who had died in the Iran-Iraq war were a dark
homecoming present since all she had seen on the walls in Vienna was something
like 'best sausages for 20 shillings'.
So it seems Satrapi suffered an identity crisis, not knowing
who she was. In an interview for The Guardian, she is described as simply,
"a westerner in Iran, an Iranian in the west". That is kind of a
perfect way that fits in the second half of Persepolis.
Living in Austria, she is immediately introduced to a world
of ignorance from her best friend (who is ironically Iranian herself) and that
continues on with all sorts of people Marjane meets in the book, whether it's a
trio of girls who take the piss out of her in a cafe, or being insulted by the
nuns for having no manners. It's something she cannot escape, no matter how
much she tries to assimilate into a different culture: full of sex, drugs and
psychopathic landlords.
In Iran however when she comes back, she is criticised by
one of her friends for having sex with multiple men, making her seemingly a
whore. Adding to this is her depression when the past catches up to her. The
experiences in Austria, and perhaps other things, pushed her over towards
killing herself. But she survives and decides to carry on, eventually getting
with Reza.
During the revolution and the war, she had been introduced
to death the hard way, becoming a proper rebel. That had disappeared for the
time being with her going to Austria, and then after being reprimanded by her
Grandma about the incident, she finds it again against the administrators.
After that with her friends, she parties the nights away despite the risks.
After she marries Reza as well, she regrets the choice to do
so because she felt she had conformed to society, something which she had tried
to avoid doing so. After visiting her friend who had been released from prison,
she decides she wants to leave Iran and by herself this time, divorcing Reza in
the process. From then on, the story wraps up and we see Marjane leave at the
airport. This time, the woman we see leaving is fiercely independent, liberal
minded, and more assertive.
Granted the first half of Persepolis does touch on the identity
shifting a little bit, where Marjane grows to be a rebel during the war. But
it's so much more prevalent in the second half, as she constantly goes through
the differing cultures, memories springing up everywhere that affect her
personally. Especially with the prejudice she comes across as either being a
women or foreign, it shows a real hard edge that certain people go through in
their lives that form who they are as a person.
So yes, the finding of her personal identity is a real key
to the story and quite a powerful one at that.
Speaking of prejudices,
that is the third and final theme I shall talk about tonight.
In the news today, we always get the view on TV stations
that people from places like Iran, Iraq, Afganistan and others are full of
people who hate the West and blow the soldiers up. These kind of attacks are very
prominent , especially recently in the UK with the attack on Lee Rigby by
Michael Adebolajo, leading to reprisals against the mosques by certain people.
In a way, Persepolis does help to dispel the myth that
obviously all people like that are evil-western haters. For example when
Marjane took the ideology test, she is examined by a mullah who appreciates her
honesty and doesn't punish her as harshly as some of the other extremist people
shown when she rebels against the system. Satrapi said of him that he was a
true religious man. Even though his face is never shown properly, it might be a
clever way to show how rare those people can be found in Iran, even though it
is possible they exist.
Also another blatant example is her parents, who are left
liberal people. They were always encouraging Marjane to be whatever she wanted,
particulary her mother wanted her to be independent and educated. And of course
her favourite Uncle Anoosh was a communist who wanted the proletariat to rule
in the country. Hmmm paints a picture doesn't it? Saptrapi shows us people
close to her heart that are beyond the typical stereotyping some of us Western
people might give to Iranians and such.
I think Persepolis is still relevant today, even over ten
years after it was first published. It shows how not all Iranian people are
terrorists and fundementalists, that a lot of them are not focused on
destroying other people's lives. Admittedly I don't know any people from Iran
myself, but I would be less inclined to think of them as so-called 'evil'.
It is perhaps that reason why we as human beings, should
read this story because it gives us a clearer view on a country that we only
know so much about.
-------------------------------------------
Persepolis is a great novel by a great person. That is no
under-statement. So what else can I say, but go buy it if you wish.
It will make you laugh, make you think and maybe even make
you cry. I hope that by sharing it with you, you might see and begin to
understand a little bit more about a country far away in the east. Just as
importantly you will see the early life of a woman who has given us another view
of a world from her own eyes.
Thank you Marjane Saptrapi. Thank you.
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Next Week:
Erm...........POWER RANGERS!
Randomizer out.
Final note: Please, please, please, PLEASE let me know if
any information I have is incorrect or otherwise. Thank you very much.
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