Marie Ostby is an assistant professor of English and Global Islamic studies who specializes in looking at Iranian art forms as a focal point into political inquiries in contemporary world writing. Within the field of Iranian art forms is a landmark autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi called Persepolis. Ostby’s article, “Graphics and Global Dissent”, argues that Satrapi’s graphic novel allows for a multifaceted approach of depicting cross-cultural themes to challenge both conservative Iranian and Westernized views of women, Iran and Islam.
Ostby explains how Satrapi uses images of herself as an avatar in Persepolis to challenge the Westernized idea of Islam and Feminism. Ostby believes that Satrapi’s use of both texts and images allows for the reader to have access to multiple formats to understand the intersectionality of these ideas. Satrapi’s telling her story through images allows the reader to make further inquiries because these images are more easily interpretable. Images used throughout the novel are from a story in Iranian history called the Shāhnāmeh—these images are in the form of Persian miniature paintings.
The use of Persian miniature paintings-paintings of scenes enclosed with a border-is central to how Satrapi crafts her storytelling. Satrapi uses the border aspect and historical backdrop of Persian miniatures to further her multimedia approach. One notable instance is a scene where Satrapi as a young girl is wearing a veil because of the Iranian revolution, but Satrapi is cut off from the picture claiming you cannot see her.
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Her sitting position outside the illustration border directly correlates with Ostby’s argument that strategic imagery and symbolism further adds to the multimedia dimension and success of establishing her point: she is resisting the stereotype of an Iranian woman. The graphic novel medium causes the reader to ponder their perspective of Satrapi’s imagery choice to remain outside the frame—in turn, this allows for a variety of perspectives of how Satrapi views feminism.
Ostby highlights the significance of drawings as an aid for the reader by discussing the symbolism of the veil in Satrapi’s storyline. In the Shāhnāmeh, the characters and imagery in the storyline have fewer restrictions regarding their characterization. Drawings within the Shāhnāmeh are less restrictive to societal standards since the book remained within the private home and, therefore, censored less by public forces. One female character in the story, Gord Afarid, contains strong traits as a female warrior. Satrapi recognizes that Afarid without a veil allows her to compete on the same power field as her male counterparts.
Thus, Satrapi as her character attempts to display the power of Afarid as a woman without a veil by drawing Afraid around a public park. Censoring Afarid, who represents Persian history, was the final stand—“a Gord Afarid in a chador (veil) is no longer a Gord Afarid”. Satrapi realizes her personal narrative as a woman cannot continue in Iraq and leaves because of Afraid’s censorship. The contextualization of her reason for leaving Iraq is significant because it highlights Satrapi recognizing oppression against her perspective of feminism in Iran.
Even if the reader misses Satrapi and her character’s contextualization of feminism, Ostby believes that the multimedia approach of images depicting Satrapi’s dismay along with the text would aid the reader to recognize the oppression of Satrapi in defining her version of feminism.
Ostby presents the authenticity of Persepolis by highlighting the success of its text-to-image scheme. The inclusion of both text and image creates more opportunities to highlight the diverse representation without taking away from who the characters are. This multimedia notion correlates well with the multicultural reading experience-readers can pick up on more because there are more ways to interpret the information. The level of engagement that Persepolis creates with its multimedia form allows for the spectrum of audiences to broaden.
Ostby states the multimedia format allows Persepolis to make abstract ideas of feminism and Islam more real and for the reader. In turn, there are many varying opinions that can make the story politically controversial and prone to censorship. Satrapi herself has confessed, though, the intention of the graphic novel is not for political means. Rather, Ostby believes Persepolis’s authentic intention is to make themes presented more accessible for readers—the censorship Satrapi receives is just a consequence of Islamophobic society.
Questions:
- Why does the graphic novel as a medium work well according to Ostby?
- How does Satrapi demonstrate the underlying value of the graphic novel in keeping a story authentic?
- Why do Persian miniature paintings correlate with the graphic novel? What is the historical value that is important to Satrapi’s novel?
References
- The book review of “Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood and the Story of a Return” on Project MUSE
- The article “Allegorical Representation in Persepolis” by Tanzim Khan
- The article “Constructing Images and Role-Playing Islam: The Semiotic Afghani Built Environment” by Christiane Gruber
- The article “Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and the Graphic Narrative Form: (De)Constructing Identity Through Multimodality” by Christina Califano on ProQuest
