Persepolis

The greatest thing about reading Persepolis is that you can tell right off the bat that the comic wasn’t about the quality of the drawing, but instead the quality of the storytelling.  Much like Maus, the style is very blocky with heavy-handed lines and even less detailing in the surroundings.  However, what is truly important to understand comes across immediately which is very important for this kind of story because if the audience is not familiar with the history they need to still be able to submerse himself or herself in the retelling of the author’s life.  For instance, I had no idea what this woman was talking about concerning the Islamic Revolution but I could still go on reading the comic because of how simple and direct both the visuals and the writing was.  All of the important factors were still there and it was actually really interesting to see the small details that were deemed worthy enough to make it through the graphic representation of her people.  For example, you can easily see the differences between different characters even if it is simple changes in a few lines in the face since most were wearing veils.  Even with this style that most would consider child-like at best, it can quite easily demonstrates very strong ideas with just one panel.  If it were too detailed the book wouldn’t have worked. 

It is also easier to see such details such as the blatant differences in culture between her nation on ours, even if that wasn’t what the author had intended with this piece.  In fact, I am almost sure that she was simply attempting to be as honest as she could with her storytelling that she did her best to document what her people are actually like, which is absolutely fascinating.  These are small observations such as the blatant difference in body types and obvious graphic patterns in everything and everyone.  If it were an American telling this tale, I don’t think it would have been as beautiful even if the technical skills were better.  Sad to say, I don’t feel as if we have as much culture as the other nations because we are a hodge podge of many different nations.  This girl’s culture is so infused with her sense of being that I don’t think she gave a second thought to some random tiger being in a panel with her or the organization of people to look like a textile pattern. 

Last but not least, as I mentioned before, the honesty of her storytelling is exemplified in everything she did for the comic.  The greatest thing I realized was that she made it quite clear she wasn’t trying to make either side of the conflict look pretty.  She easily pointed out all of the hypocrisy in both her arguments and those of her parents as being part of the Islamic Revolution.  It makes for quite the emotional roller coaster of a reading experience.