Persepolis - Must Watch!

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RQ: What elements in animated films contribute to an audience’s believability?

First off, I believe that in narrative criticism, it is vital that we at least understand where the source or the film’s main character and where she is coming from. Thus it becomes important to listen to Persepolis’s DVD Extra and hear what Satrapi has to say about her film,

“Cinematic narration is very different from the narration of a graphic novel… Drawings have an abstract quality. If we use real images… right away it would be an ethnic film. It becomes the problem of those people who live over there and are crazy about God. But drawings, with their abstract quality, emphasize the universal… The drawings have enough of an abstract quality to make you consider that it could happen anywhere... Drawings also have this ability to adapt and still remain coherent.”

Everything else is art. Seriously though the main unique quality of the film is in its storytelling and it is postured that in narrative criticism the main defining quality is in a story that blends the many aspects of universal need for dramatism and its hextad or pentad with the eight other unique aspects.

The story though fused with an extra dose of what Satrapi in her drama not biography would call “cheating” or “invention” is tied in with the agent in Burke’s pentad. Yet the story in itself draws the audiences in a way that it is compelling and captures the audiences in that it’s setting in a land that is presumed to be far enough away, yet close enough to feel a certain sense of human transcendence. In that the story of regime change not only reaches out to the shared notion of common people rising up against the rich but that there was a metaphoric tearing down of the statue such as in Saddam’s removal. The conflict that arises and how one young girl is influenced by it forms the agent-act dimension and through it there is a political aspect of the film but that is only a part of the tremendous work undertaken to find the human aspect or the agent and how she reacts to the act committed. The media can tell the world the story in a superficial way but if we examine closely stories come from those who lived through these conflicts, there is a life in the animation. It is in this life that not only draws the audience but captivates them.

The characters or the agents of the film becomes more real with the direction undertook by Satrapi in that she directed the whole film and every single actor was in sync with what it took to play out the scene on the recording booth. The voices that were done were sometimes without the animation. Yet Satrapi was approachable and that she was able to know very well the relationships between each character and what he or she was doing at that particular time. What made it more receptive is not just the graphic novel that came before hand but that the characters spoke English in the shown film, yet the French part of it is intriguing as well. The English voice actors had to know how the French characters and the subtle language translation and Satrapi though fluent in both had to practice here decoding and encoding especially when it came to humor. What made the characters even more believable is the overwhelming maternal aspect of the characters and how likeable they become through animation. It is interesting that even though they are abstractions they take a life onto their own through what appears to be human emotions and even the eye movements and gestures grew them into not just animated characters but personifications of reality. In other words, I can associate myself with Marjane when she talks to authority figures, God, parents and grandmother. I am very sure that there are other states that have banned the film because they saw how real, how believable these personifications and sometimes stereotypes are and therefore the universal aspect of it can bridge the gap between nations of democracy and that of totalitarianism.

Satrapi in exposing her dramatic childhood story becomes the narrator or voice-over of the film and although another actress plays her, I could still feel her voice in the film. She put herself out there and made sure that by taking full creative control like Orson Welles in Citizen Kane, she provided a powerful narrative and is even keen to hear criticism or as she puts it, “It would be boring without it”. Yet she made it clear in her other press conference that this is not “an inspection of reality but we’re trying to get as close as possible to the truth”. In having a narrator aspect of her film, it allowed the audience to get into the mind of the main character and the insights gathered is invaluable of knowing what goes through a child’s young mind in an oppressed state and universally in growing up lesson by lesson, advice by advice, role-model by role-model to a being that has achieved nirvana in that Marjane can have no qualms about being Iranian. Her presence is omnipotent throughout the film and is extremely important in understanding the many acts taken place throughout the film. Fidelity is not lost in that many films are based on real fiction in that what is seen in film is what is played out by the narrator and in this case the range of truth is negated in that the film is as close to the truth as we want to believe it. Satrapi in denying interviews with Iranian journalist in search for polemic discourse with her could mean that there is at least an ounce of truth in that the truth is often suppressed in an oppressed state. Satrapi in taking control of her narrative tries to bring as much of the truth on the table as she can. For more on her influence, the DVD extras showed how Satrapi vetted scenes by encouraging her voice actors to get the intonation and animation just right.

The events or acts taken place is that of the process of change through humor and accessible introduction of Persepolis, the place that she must have grown up in. The main kernels were how culture is practiced in two different places and satellites were mainly the people Marjane met in her life, including her French boyfriend and Iranian husband. I think the main characters or the family figures are major kernels in that Marjane introduced them in every act. She was able to do it in a natural manner and created a contrast through the use of 92 minutes of black and white for the past and 4 minutes of color for the future. Besides the metaphoric aspect of having her past examined in a way reminiscent of sharp dullness or black and white truth, it also can mean her future is colorful and that she has more joy to look forward to than her past. Then again Satrapi would argue differently and saw it as a technical choice that allowed for time coherence. The epiphany of the film takes place with Marjane singing the Eye of a Tiger and though comical was able to capture the essence of humor in the eye of oppression. That allowed for the universal enjoyment of humor which for me is the universal language. Universal appeal it sees comes from humor and humor even animated comes with the liberation of what is now a grown-up Marjane and in doing so contributes audience’s believability.

In temporal relations, the black and white aspect denotes a jump in the past without having to narrate or explain it. These flashbacks allowed a smooth transition without obtusely destroying the natural order of a story. The scenes right after the bombing had no narratives and was much slower yet in keeping with the correct human emotions, the emotions dictated the flow and speed of the story. This can be seen in the suicidal drug scenes where metaphoric dream-like sequences were slower to allow for the audience to think of the many rhetorical devices used and what they represent. The depression felt by Marjane was in keeping with the rhythm of sadness and in arriving to talk to God was in deep contrast with that of the previous childhood scene of complaining to God for taking her uncle away. This cluster portion showed almost immediately the difference with young Marjane and older Marjane. Yet the arch of the story is not yet complete until of course she meets Him the third time. The musical arrangement differs too and can be seen with teenage Marjane in the Supermarket and the Disney-like background music of the many choices that she had. Also the ‘childish’ animated effects of her turning into a monster were much less especially when Marjane grew up.

In causal relations, as discussed before, Marjane meets God in different contexts and that the purpose each time was that there was a certain sense of accountability that I believe Marjane was suppose to have. Yet the more I think of it, the more I saw her dream sequence with God as less of an effect than that with her Grandmother. Her deep respect for her grandmother brings back the old nostalgic eras of bygone values that creates a universal audience. Grandmother and her sage wisdom outweigh that of anyone else in the film. The ending with advice over flowers was from her grandmother and highlights the voice that she would never want to forget. This encourages the audience to think of the advice that one’s grandmother gave. The coherent factor is in the frequency and intensity that comes from the grandmother and the overall constant theme is to never forget where one is coming from. Her grandmother in offering that constant advice provides coherence to the story in that she provides the constant anchor that Marjane needed. Marjane has to be reminded time and time again before the story ends with her being proud of where she is from. Telling it to a taxi driver who might not want to take her anywhere because she was Muslim and could just drop her off just for being part of a different religion or value than he was.

Throughout the criticism, the audience has been written about and the research question certainly had them in mind. The universal theme of a coming of age story coupled with the subtleties of humor in an oppressed society blends nicely through the materiality of hand-drawn animation. Hand drawn is more real than computer animation which not only becomes dated, but adds to the imperfection of human beings. Thus Satrapi in keeping with this older art-form which requires excruciating tracing is perhaps making a statement that beauty can be extracted from the past and the lessons derived from this older kind of animation should be practiced and in putting every effort, one can be proud just like Marjane is proud of being Iranian. Despite what the world thinks of one’s country, I like Majane accept where we came from and would gladly tell you our long story.