Discussion Questions A child s perspective on religious fundamentalism and war The cultural identity of an exile Next Week

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2 Persepolis Introduction Persepolis: Graphic Fiction & Film Review: Purdah from different perspectives Purdah/the veil in Persepolis Discussion Questions A child s perspective on religious fundamentalism and war The cultural identity of an exile Next Week

3 The books have sold over a million copies worldwide; the film won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007 and was nominated for Best Animated Film at the 2008 Academy Awards.

4 History Shah period The Revolution in 1979 Iran-Iraq war ( ) Dissidents killed 1990s Autobiography in Film Childhood 1) Believer in Shah 2) A Revolutionary Teenage Year 3) Westernized, Rebellious at School Vienna 4) Westernized, Young Adulthood 5) In Love Tehran 6) College Years 7) Wedding 8) Leaving Home again for France 9) At the airport

5 Persepolis 1: The Story of a Childhood, Ending w/ the death of uncle Anouche Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return (1984 in Austria ~ leaving Iran again) Our selection: Convocation, The Socks, and the Wedding ~ Maraji and the other women s responses to their limitations ~ Marji as an art student at school and in private lessons //their discrete struggles ; about having sex ~ Marji telling the story of her wedding and explaining why it does not work.

6 Graphic Fiction: chronological; Film: flashbacks both 2 D, but film with movie-style editing (e.g. jump cuts, zooming-in-and-out, closeup) With graphic novels, the relationship between the writer and the reader is participatory. In film, the authence is passive. It involves motion, sound, music, so therefore the narrative's design and content is very different (Satrapi qtd in Quigley). Different ways of framing the narrative

7 1. Narrative Methods & Graphic/Filmic Techniques of personal stories of political events 2. Marji s Rebellion and growth in the three periods 2-1 presentations of martyrs and dissidents 2-1 responses to authorities (Gods, nuns, teachers, landlord) 2-2 responses to Western cultures 2-2 family, love and friends 3. Women & Women s positions: mother, grandmother, Marji (& her husband) 4. Exile and Home 5. Symbols: cigarette (Harris), Jasmine (Monica)

8 As a woman, Marjane experiences lots of restriction from her religion, as well as other Muslim women do. In the comic, one way to express her genuine thoughts is to take off her veil and hold party with her friends (which violates some religious codes). I wonder if it means that women liberation is contradictory to being a reverent Muslim? (Vivienne)

9 Purdah 深閨制度 -- Purdah is the practice that includes the seclusion of women from public observation by wearing concealing clothing from head to toe and by the use of high walls, curtains, and screens erected within the home. Purdah is practiced by Muslims and by various Hindus, especially in India. ( ns_history/purdah.html ) Burqa = body-covering, headcovering + face veil types of sartorial hijab ( _sartorial_hijab )

10 Mostly believers in Islam see purdah as a very positive and respectful practice that actually liberates women. Different Views: e.g. 回教女性的面紗 Muslim girls in UK a choice and a source of pride in Iran --depends on which generation of women In Egypt not required; some elites proposed to ban it. Indonesia optional in Nigeria, Afghanistan.--required In France, a law was set to prohibit students to wear any clearly visible religious symbols; thus wearing the burqa has been banned in public schools.

11 Islamic women s everyday life shaped by an intricate web of laws, rules, and customs, which are often said to be Islamic (46) our different realities range from being, on the one hand, strictly closeted, isolated and voiceless within four walls, subjected to public flogging, and condemned to death for presumed adultery (which is considered a crime against the State), and forcibly given in marriage as a child; to, on the other hand, being free to take up employment as professionals and to teach at universities (45)*. Saudi Arabia to allow women to obtain driving licenses (2019/9) source

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14 The mother feels breathless wearing it, once humiliated when someone says: Put your scarf back on sister. (26:00)

15 (1:14) Bet to take off her veil Speaks up against it in college The episode: framed by Grandma s lessons: a. Integrity! b. Take off this fucking cowl. It makes me claustrophobic. Still caught by the police for holding hands with her boy friend

16 young ladies to wear tighter trousers and longer cowls. They must cover their hair and must not use any make-up. 1. I need to be able to to draw. A longer cowl makes it difficult to move freely 2. Our trousers efficiently hide our shapes. Knowing that those trousers are in fashion, is the religion defending our integrity...or is it simply opposed to fashion? 3. You make comments about us while the brothers...have many different clothes and hair cuts. Sometimes, we can even see their underwears.

17 Satrapi, Marjane (2006) Persepolis (London: Jonathan Cape, 301, 3-7) Cited in Claudio

18 But she can t win over the system. Why?

19 French law on secularity (laïcité) and conspicuous religious symbols... All my life I have been against the veil, and now I am the one defending the veil. I hate the veil and what it means,... but I put myself in their [the girls ] place. It s a question of these girls identity. Their mothers never wore the veil, and so they want to. Why? They [came] to France, years [ago, but for the] French they are not French, and for [the] Arabs they are not Arabs. So the height of irony is that the veil has become a symbol of rebellion....(qtd in Costantino)

20 Tulip: symbol of martyrdom

21 Persepolis ( ) around the time of the US War on Terror and the French debate over veiled Muslim girls in secular public schools Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003) reinforces Western concepts of Iranian women as oppressed? Kabul Beauty School (2007) Deborah Rodriquez as an American savior or victim of marital abuse?

22 Mohammad Mosaddegh ( ) the Shah regime ( [revolution]) the Khamenei era ( ) Iran-Iraque War ( )

23 Official History The Qajar dynasty ( 卡加王朝 ) the Shah regime ( 巴列維王朝 ) revolution; wearing the veil and anti-alcoholism the Khomenei era Iran Iraq War enthusiastic about revolution age 12; Marijan went to Vienne, smoked drug, fell in and out of love age 18; Marijane returned to Iran; got married and then divorced age Marjane left Iran again 5. present -- Marjane Satrapi at the airport, unable to board a plane to Iran.

24 The Shah 1925 (0:08) The revolution 1979 The post-war 90 s

25 Reasons: 1) Iran Islamization of the nation; Iraq reduces and controls religion; 2) Khomeini once expelled by Iraq; 3) the issue of Kurdish ( 庫德族 ), etc. Father: The West sold weapons to both sides... (1:03) The US secretly supported Iraq in its production of chemical weapons. sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the hostages ( 伊朗軍售醜聞 Iran-Contra Scandal disclosed in 1986) (References: Reasons and Senate Mitchell s Speech against Olive North htm )

26 Charlie Wilson's War -- Charlie Wilson urged the government to provide essential weapons to help the Mujehideen in Afghanistan beat back the Soviet Army. Wilson: "I always, always, whenever a plane goes down, I always fear it is one of our missiles. Most of all I wanted to bloody the Red Army [of Russia]. I think the bloodying thereof had a great deal to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union. But -- the weapons probably wound up in the hands of the Taliban regime, which took power in Afghanistan and harbored Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, organizer of the September 11 attacks. "I feel guilty about it," he said. "I really do." "Those things happen," (source)

27 1. Major Influences Western culture vs. Muslim religion and nationalism 2. Major Turning Points and Her Choices

28 1. G6 Narrative Methods & Graphic/Filmic Techniques of personal stories; of political events Compare the fiction and the film (focus on a few frames) 2. Marji s Rebellion and growth in the three periods G5 2-1 presentations of martyrs and dissidents, responses to authorities (Gods, nuns, teachers, landlord) How does Marjane experience revolution and war as a child & an adult? G3 2-2 responses to Western cultures; 2-2 family, love and friends

29 G1 3. Women & Women s positions: mother, grandmother, Marji (& her husband) including the fiction excerpt G2 4. Exile and Home The 1 st time isolation or liberation? The 2 nd Exile after marriage and a friend s death -- any difference? Why does Marjane decide to divorce after her friend's death? (in the movie) If freedom means so much to her then why did she come back to Iran after studying abroad in Austria? G4 5. Symbols: cigarette (Harris), Jasmine (Monica); Swan (Franny) Questions below

30 Pre-revolution: Westernized, loves Bruce Lee Idealistic and inquisitive, learning from uncle Anouche After 1979 fear, still Westernized, speaks up against the teacher In college fear, Westernized in sex and partying, speaking up, getting married

31 We're gonna smash Ramine's face. takes on the adults enthusiasm (or fanaticism)

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33 1. After the revolution: Execution of Uncle Anouche 2. After the I-I war: many dissidents

34 Communist Niloufar & Uncle Taher

35 1. Police Persecution

36 1. Parties 2. Alcohol

37 Marjane wearing denim jacket and buying punk music (Iron Maiden, etc.) Punk is not ded To evade control: Lies

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42 Feeling isolated among her friends who don t understand revolution. Physical changes

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46 Migration is a oneway trip; there is no way home.

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48 1. Cannot return home 2. Acknowledges her Iranian background

49 The mother protective; The father --instilling revolutionary thoughts.

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52 1. Asks her to maintain her integrity; 2. To take off her veil

53 She herself got divorced 55 years ago The first a practice for the 2 nd.

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55 The black and white to suggest an era of dictatorial control Drawing to show different emotions and human situations human closeness, humans as shadows, with dignity, freedom, fantasies, liberty, etc.

56 Size contrast; floating, subjective views when she falls in love, falls out of love

57 Fear Dignity

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60 Exile forced to leave home and cannot go back (different from self-exile of modernist writers) Emigrant choose to leave home Marji cannot go home, but always keeps the connections w/ her family (like uncle Anouche; remember grandma s lessons)

61 Costantino, Manuela "Marji: Popular Commix Heroine Breathing Life into the Writing of History." Canadian Review of American Studies 38.3 (2008): Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 2 Oct Claudio, Esteher. Marjane Satrapi s elaborate simplicity: Persepolis. Comic Grid (March 28th, 2011). Jasmine Flowers, originated in Persia

62 My Beautiful Laundrette (UK, 1985) Thatcherism The Kite Runner (US-Afghanistan-US; 2007) novel- (2003; post-911) (Russian attack) 2004