Persepolis: Comparing the Media

Originating as a comic book and successfully adapted as an animated film, Marjane Satrapi's popular autobiography Persepolis is a great example to use for examining how an author can retain their quality of work when delivering it on a different medium. Movies based on books tend to be hit or miss so pursuing this medium could be considered a big risk. The story takes us through the early life of Marji Satrapi in Tehran, Iran. The fall and exile of the shah, the Islamic revolution, and the introduction of veils into Islamic culture are a few of the many experiences she faces and shares with us in these memoirs. Marji mixes in some history of Iran with real-life encounters by sharing some stories that her favorite uncle Anoosh passed on to her prior to his execution. There are several comparisons to be made, along with a few differences, between the book and the film, but I can easily say I enjoyed them both overall. Marji is an incredibly interesting and relatable character, and the style in which her story is presented is great. The two-dimensional cartoonish style of the graphic novel has been carried to the big screen and I believe the originality of it all carries a long way and has been a great contributor to the success of Persepolis.

The animated film adaptation of Persepolis is very consistent with the graphic novel version. Common elements become fairly prevalent after watching the movie. Without having any knowledge of the film even existing, this movie is exactly what I expected it to be and more. This is most likely because Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis, was directly involved in making the film by serving as co-writer and co-director alongside Vincent Paronnaud. French comic artist and filmmaker, Paronnaud is responsible for bringing Satrapi's simplistic yet efficacious black and white drawings of the comic book to life through the world of animation.

Visually the characters in the film are almost identical to Satrapi's drawings in the book; bare, with minimal detail, yet enough to distinguish between characters and their emotions. Upon viewing the film it is immediately obvious that Satrapi had chosen to use the same style from the book to deliver the story in an easy yet powerful manner. A great majority of the film is in black and white, for the exception of the parts (beginning and end) which switch to present tense where we see the narrator, Marji, at the airport reminiscing about her earlier years over a cigarette. I think the black and white color scale is a major strong point in the film because it complements the simplicity of characters mentioned previously yet adds to the overall mood of the film while contradicting the fact that Marji's life is anything but simple. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film and believe that if it was animated in a different style, say the three dimensional style of Pixar, it would lose some credibility. Originality is what makes this such a refreshing film. I could say the exact same thing for the comic book. The two-dimensional style in which it is drawn and animated makes it appealing to everyone because I think deep down inside we all want to sit back, relax, and enjoy a cartoon.

The book is split up into mini sections that play part in the story at large. Chapter 1, titled 'The Veil', starts off by showing Marji in 1980, aged ten, wearing a veil. This veil is a symbol of the changing Iranian culture Marji is growing up in. Alternatively, the movie starts out with Marji at the airport, where she heads into the bathroom and folds her veil upon her head. The movie tended to have a more story-like feel to it whereas the novel was just selected events from her life which still served the purpose of getting her story across. There are some particular events I noticed that were left out of the film. First, in the book, Marji's first true love Markus was in the picture for about ten pages including how they met and such, whereas in the film Marji is sitting in a park bench as she narrates "One morning in November, Markus came into my life." A few scenes later, maybe about a minute of time, she walks into his apartment bearing croissants and finds him in bed with another woman. Markus is the first love of her life and we do not really get to see how she learned from her mistakes. She just kind of sums up their relationship in a humorous montage of memories they shared together, where she puts emphasis on everything negative about Markus, making it apparent how little he really cared for her all along.

A scene from the movie that I noticed is not in the book is the ending. Color is added to the film for this scene, since it is present tense. Marji is in a cab driving away from the airport when the driver comments on how shitty the whether is and asks where Marji is from, to which she responds 'Iran.' I actually prefer this ending because throughout the story Marji's grandmother taught her many important lessons. The most established lesson being to always remember your roots. This theme pops up several times throughout the story, like when Marji tells this guy she is from France, and she overhears the guy's sister talking with her friends about how she had lied about her origins. In an act of anger she yells "You are going to shut up or I am going to make you! I am Iranian and proud of it!" (Persepolis 197) At a time when "Iran was the epitome of evil," this scene shows that Marji has courage and is learning to accept and be proud of where she comes from. This brings up another element that makes up Persepolis; humor.

Seeing the film, the animation of the two dimensional cartoon characters made the existing humor stand out even more. It is much easier to convey emotion when characters can move and interact with other characters in a scene, even if it is animated.

I once said a movie is never as good as the book, but this is truly an exception. Conclusively, though a completely different medium for Marjane Satrapi's memoir Persepolis, the animated film stays true to its graphic novel roots. If you asked me if I enjoyed it more on paper or film, I would not have an answer. Both book and film version have their strong points, but the story is essentially parallel, give or take a few scenes. In addition, the style of the book and film alike is completely original, lacking all signs of Hollywood, and makes for some refreshing material. Persepolis is highly successful, carrying an award for winner of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival which is enough to speak for itself.