Persepolis

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Persepolis
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History and Identity

• The opening of the film hints to the major theme
  of the film
• The intertwined nature of History and Identity
• How is this represented visually in the film?

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A quick scene deconstruction
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What is established in this scene?

• How is Marjanes character introduced?
• What is she trying to do?
• What does the film show us?

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What is established in this scene?

• A binary is introduced
• Marjanes two identities one with the veil and
  one without the veil
• Marjane is compared to the French woman in the
  two-shot

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What is established in this scene?

• Identity is questioned
• The mirror is used to reflect Marjanes veiled
  identity back to her (and the audience)
• When asked for a passport, she is being tested on
  her identity
• This is a test that she cannot pass putting on
  the veil is not enough

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What is established in this scene?

• Marjane is caught between cultures
• She cannot return home to Iran
• She is Othered in France
• But why is she caught between cultures?
• This short scene gives us a lot of information,
  preparing us to explore how she has ended up
  without an identity that she can claim as her own

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Mediated History

• Mediated History is a theme that has been
  important to the last few films we have seen
• In Redacted, every scene is shown through a lens
  that the audience is able to contextualize
• We are meant to notice the fact that we are
  voyeurs to a horrible experience

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Mediated History

• Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir are mediated by
  the very fact that they are animated films
• While both films are composed traditionally, they
  are also unapologetic with the fact that they are
  not bound by the rules of reality

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Marjanes reaction to Markus Writing
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Mediated History

• Persepolis narratively mediates history through
  memory
• We experience history through Marjanes personal
  narrative
• This mediation distances us and allows us to
  consider the broader context of history, yet it
  also privileges Marjanes personal narrative and
  allows her story to be relatable
• The film is much an artefact of history as it is
  a autobiography

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Mediated History

• Mediated history is also seen in the structure of
  the narrative
• The framing device of Marjane trying to fly to
  Tehran is not in the graphic novel
• It serves as a reminder that we are reliving
  Marjanes history
• We are being told how the history of Iran has
  shaped Marjanes identity and lead to her living
  in France

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Mediated History

• Finally, the film mediates history visually
• The use of colour and the type of animation
• Black and white, Shadow puppet theatre
• Each depict a layer of history and memory
• Black and white representing Marjanes personal
  historical narrative
• Shadow puppet theatre (and other forms of
  stylization) representing Irans historical
  narrative

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Mediated History
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Who is Marjane?

• How does the film connect history and identity?
• Marjane and Iran grow up together
• Both are in transition throughout the film
• Majane is unable to cope with a new Iran, just as
  Iranian society is unable to cope with a mature
  Marjane
• Some examples...

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Marjanes first of many acts of rebellion against
the oppressive structures of Iran
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Marjane going through puberty as war rages in Iran
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Marjane compromises her beliefs by entering a
loveless marriage
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The Iran of today and the Marjane of today
cannot coexist
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Living on the Margin

• Marjanes Identity is defined by Irans history,
  but she is only defined by what she is not and
  exists only in the margins
• She is not Iranian she fails at her attempt to
  reintegrate into Iranian society and ultimately
  lives in exile
• She is not European despite sharing cultural
  values with her European peers, she is always
  Othered by being racially different

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Living on the Margin
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Living on the Margin
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Living on the Margin

• Marjanes hybridized identity leads her to be
  homeless
• Literally, when she lives on the streets after
  being kicked out of her home
• Figuratively, when she is unable to live in Iran
  and is forced into exile

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Living on the Margin
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Living on the Margin
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Living on the Margin

• The ending returns to the imagery of the
  beginning
• The driver looks at Marjane in the mirror, but
  Marjane herself does not appear in the mirror
• By living on the margin, Marjane is rendered
  invisible, neither Iranian or French
• She comes from Iran but is driven off into Paris,
  her fate is always to be in transition, never
  really at home

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Feminism in Persepolis

• Despite the fact that history is defined by men,
  including Marjanes grandfather and uncle, the
  moral center of the narrative lies with Marjanes
  grandmother and mother
• Both insist that she does not compromise her own
  identity in order to assimilate into either
  Iranian or Austrian culture
• And of course, ultimately Persepolis is Marjanes
  story

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Conclusions

• Persepolis is a film that considers how history
  can shape identity
• Marjane is indelibly linked to Iran, but this
  link is highly problematic
• As such, Marjanes experiences are mediated to
  remind us of the distance between her present
  self and her past