Commentary on Persepolis, Essay Example

“Persepolis” is an autobiographical graphic novel depicting the upbringing of Marjane Satrapi, a young girl who grew up in Iran throughout the Islamic revolution. The book has acquired numerous accolades due to its political commentary and effective use of graphic novel elements. The text uses graphic imagery to place the reader in the shoes of a child indoctrinated into a fundamentalist religion. The simple animation adds to the eerie subtle simplicity associated with the brain washing of a child. Page 96 of “Persepolis” perfectly demonstrates the buildup and climax to this theme as the author opens the frame with the line “I remember my initiation” and then closes with the violent rituals the young girls were trained to proudly embrace. The following will take a deeper look at many of the key fundamental elements used in the book that have made it such a successful graphic novel, specifically those on page 96.

Persepolis uses deep contrast and significant graphic weight by contrasting black with white and incorporating little to know shading effects. Blacks are offset with white and there are few frames where shading is used as an element. The frame below from page 96, demonstrates the use of foreground. In the first frame, the teacher is seen standing in the front of the picture as though she is closer to the reader, placing her in the foreground while the students are in the background. In the next frame this role is reversed.

The theme of indoctrination is a major element of the book and the author uses transition to build up this theme. Satrapi refers to her time in this school as the initiation. She shows all of the students in black burke uniforms similar to the instructor. The frame below reveals how the author utilizes speech bubbles in juxtaposition to narration boxes to communicate the difference between the dialogue and her narration.

The above frame demonstrates the use of panels and how it organizes perspective for the reader.  The frames also demonstrate the use of gutters as the space between the frames, or gutter, sperates the persepctives. The first frame shows what the girls see, while second frame shows the perspective of the instructor. As tension builds on the theme of indoctrination through the author transitioning from the opening initition frame to the frame below, the author incorporates more action to get her message across. The contrast of the white and black also add emphasis to the shock and disbalief in the eyes of the students. They are clearly wide eyed, nervous, and scared and this is an emotion that might not come across to the reader through the use of colors or shading.

The above frames demonstrate both the use of gutter from frame to frame and the use of direct and indirect narration. Here it can be seen that the author no longer uses speech bubbles or any form of dialogue.  She juxtaposes narration with frames of action. The author is describing the nature of how patriotism and loyalty to the Islamic regime was expressed. She notes that through hitting one’s self or self mutilation revolutionaries would express their devotion to the cause. Each frame has a narration box supported by an image. Without these narration boxes the images might come across as cruel and violent, but with the simple line “Sometimes it was considered a macho thing(Satrapi, 96),” the author adds humor to the frames and reveals how ironic and unusual the rituals were.

In sum, many of the graphic novel elements utilized in “Persepolis” demonstrate how narrative in a graphic novel can be both direct and indirect, how gutters, or space between frames can imply deeper meaning or build up tensions. The author also demonstrates how color, or shading, is not always necessary to get a message across. The stark contrast between black and white adds much depth to her political commentary on indoctrination and fundamentalism.

Work Cited

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. Random House, 2006. <Retrieved from> http://alhussainyblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/marjane-satrapi-persepolis-1-englishforeignmovies-ddl-blogspot-com.pdf