Persepolis RA

The story in the novel that I would like to discuss takes place on pages 132-134. This is when Satrapi goes out to buy tapes and is caught by the women's branch of the Guardians of the Revolution. The author explains that this group was created to arrest women for wearing the veil improperly. I think that the author assumes that her readers think that no one in Iran rebelled by listening to music that was banned. She shows that people did seek out popular music of the time period. However, she shows the reader that there is a exchange of pop music being made without denying that it is a dangerous thing to do. This is clearly and simply illustrated by the way in which the man who is selling her the tapes turns his head quickly back and forth. Satrapi then makes the same motion once she acquires the tapes. This particular story in the novel (as well as in many other instances throughout the book) is very humorous in its tone, since the author is equating the buying and selling of music tapes with that of the popularized image of how one would acquire illegal substances.

I think that the style of this novel is very contemporary and "hip" and that this event in the book illustrates this aspect the most clearly. It is very fortuitous that this story takes place in the late 70s and early 80s, a time in history that many people either feel nostalgia for or wish they were a part of. Even if a reader was not alive during this time they are still likely to know about Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album, or at least have some vague understanding of what "punk" is. I feel that since this graphic novel is most likely aimed at readers that enjoy some form of subversiveness, that it was important for the author to relate to the hypothetical reader on this level. The scene engages the reader by making the scene reminiscent of a popular story of a rebellious youth getting caught, but with a twist---she may actually get arrested instead of merely being punished by her parents. A popular image from the movie version of Persepolis depicts a fundamentalist woman looming over Satrapi who has a back patch which reads "punk is not dead". Surprisingly, this illustration is not directly from the novel. However, the fact that it's the most popular image that comes up when conducting a google image search on Persepolis shows how important the scene was in order to generate interest in the novel and in the film that precedes it.

RR #2 Persepolis

What I found most surprising about this graphic novel is how easy it was for me to relate to Marjane Satrapi. Clearly I have not had a childhood similar to hers in terms of my surroundings but her reactions to negative situations reminded me very much of my own reactions. For example, just before the war had officially began she describes competing with her peers over who has had more horrific things happen to their loved ones such as imprisonment or execution. She actually feels bad that she doesn't have parents or relatives who have become prisoners or worse. I feel that in the past my friends and I would have "contests" about who had it worse in terms of poverty, abusive childhoods or more experiences with death. But what I've learned from life and from this novel is that this is perhaps a common reaction that people have when the bad situations in life are just beginning. When aspects of life become truly deplorable, one no longer seeks to have a contest about who has "had it worse". This seems to be a common trait of someone who may have legitimately negative things happening to them or around them, yet lacks the maturity or perspective to deal with them in an appropriate and mature manner. It makes more sense to hope that life will become better, rather than convincing yourself to rejoice over how bad your situation is.

What I really appreciated about this novel as a whole is that it makes Muslims seem very similar to Western people. The Muslim religion is not widespread in America as far as I know and the characters in the novel certainly have a different upbringing due to their very different and tumultuous circumstances. Yet their experience of being a rebellious adolescent is strikingly similar to that of being a headstrong teenager in the Western world. The way in which the author describes her childhood and teenage years living in Iran is so relatable that I believe it brings the story of Iran to an audience that would otherwise ignore the subject and continue to view the Middle East as one homogenous area that has no trace of what we as Americans or Europeans would call "civilized behavior". Many people still believe that everyone "over there" rides camels and that no woman would ever attempt not to wear the veil. I find that the image that many people have is of women being beaten constantly and thieves getting their hands chopped off for stealing food. While horrific conditions do indeed persist in certain areas, this black and white way of thinking is detrimental, in my opinion. It makes people in Western countries think in such a way that suggests that there is no hope for the people that reside in these areas to ever have peace or freedoms that every human has the right to have. It causes people to be dismissive and insensitive to the plight of others. I believe that the general theme of the novel is that dissenters will exist regardless of the circumstances or the consequences of their oftentimes revolutionary behavior.

How Western Women and Muslim Women Perceive Each Other

     Upon reading Maysan Haydar's article regarding her Muslim upbringing my initial reaction was that she was being unfair towards non-Muslim women in her descriptions of the way many of them dress and behave. Her main point is that wearing various styles of traditional Muslim clothing for women made her less vulnerable to being viewed as a sex object. Upon finishing the article I gained some appreciation for the way in which she, on several occasions, clarified herself by essentially stating that no woman deserves to be treated improperly due to the way she dresses. Despite these clarifying remarks, it is still easy to continue to view her opinion as being slightly condescending towards the women and girls in this country that appear to be more typical in their physical manifestation of femininity. Another observation is that she seems to approach the subject of proper attire for Muslim women from a mostly Western perspective. The idea that Western women generally have of Muslim women in the Middle East (whether it is true of all regions or not) is that these women are forced to dress and behave a certain way. This is not discussed in the article at all. This is peculiar since it seems necessary to make a distinction between what is expected of a Muslim American woman and what is expected or perhaps even mandatory in many instances for a Muslim woman in Iran or other areas of the Middle East. It seems as if she is ignoring what should be a large part of the story of Muslim women by not acknowledging what life may be like in a place that has a much stronger Muslim influence as well as a higher population of practicing Muslims.

     Another Muslim woman who resides in America has a similar opinion to that of Haydar's and delves deeper into the subject of cultural relativism regarding the veil. She argues that following the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, Americans (especially women) focused heavily upon the veiling of Muslim women no matter what region of the Middle East they resided in. Based on conversations that I was either involved in or overheard during and after this period of time I would say that her argument does indeed hold merit. The perceived plight of veiled Muslim women did seem to be an obsession that many Americans had and still have to this day, regardless of what region a veiled woman resided in.

     What can be gained from hearing the perspectives of Muslim women and Western women is that what may seem degrading to some may be a form of personal expression for another. It would be just as unwise to assume that every woman who dons the veil is being oppressed as it would be to assume that every American woman wearing a miniskirt is being forced to do so by her male peers.That being sad, while the style of dress for Muslim women may not be mandatory in every instance it is still important to keep in mind that women are certainly mistreated in certain communities or regions, just as they are in other parts of the world. It is uplifting to note that in Iran specifically, according to Rezaian, that "although the laws regarding proper cover haven’t changed, some women have grown bolder in interpreting the limits of what they can wear"(The Washington Post). Although many women in Iran still cover themselves, the fact that they are choosing different, and often times fashionable ways of doing so is indicative of progress.


Works Cited List:


Haydar, Maysan. "Veiled Intentions: Don't Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering." Body 
           Outlaws: Rewriting the Rules of Beauty and Body Image. By Ophira Edut.
           Emeryville, CA: Seal, 2003. N. pag. Print.


Abu-Lughod, Lila. "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological
           Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others." American Anthropologist
           104.3 (2002): 783-90. Print.


Rezaian, Jason. "Struggle Over What to Wear in Iran." The Washington Post July-Aug.
           2012, World sec.: n. pag. Print.


Powerpoint Presentation

RR #1 on Persepolis

       Before reading the first portion of Persepolis, I had made a somewhat subconscious decision to ignore what was going on in Iran and in other regions of the Middle East. Even by calling all countries that appear to have a high number of Muslims "the Middle East" seems to be a way of saying "all of those people" and I feel rather uneducated for referring to that area in such a way. It seems logical to assume that the Middle East can vary in a large way from country to country or even from city to city.

     I think that perhaps what contributed to my decision to be willingly ignorant about Iran was caused by the popular images that were and still are being circulated by popular Western media. These were the images of women wearing various types of veils as well as images of the flowing robes that the men wore. Since members of the media almost always used the vague term "the Middle East" it became difficult for me to differentiate one country from another. After the attacks that occurred in September of 2001, the mainstream media also seemed to focus on whatever anyone in the Western world would deem to be most negative about Muslim culture.They focused on the poor treatment and alleged subservience of Muslim women and on that of gun toting religious extremists. American soldiers told stories of children that would throw grenades at them. It seemed to me that if the state of the area was as bad as it seemed that it must have been that way for at least a few hundred years or so.

     What I gathered from my reading in Persepolis is that the way life in Iran is now must be the result of what occurred gradually over the last several decades. The main character of the graphic novel is a very young girl and before the story begins the author explains that she grew up in Iran. I can only assume that the story is at least loosely based on the author's true childhood. Her story paints a picture of Iran that I did not expect to see. The events involving demonstrations seem tumultuous and dangerous to be sure, but aren't all protests risky? The main character's home life seems similar enough to that of my own, except that her parents seem to be more understanding of her rebelliousness. Her mom is not subservient and is as involved with political demonstrations as her father seems to be. The main character also mentions being "forced" to suddenly wear a veil, yet what she describes as "force" seems to be more reminiscent of the common issue of getting any child to wear just about any restrictive item of clothing. My point is that I don't expect to see any woman getting executed over what she wears this early in the story and I think that it's safe to say that this observation is somewhat indicative of what it was and what it was not like to live in Iran in the time period covered by the first part of this novel.