Persepolis  Introduction › Persepolis: Graphic Fiction & Film › Review: Purdah from different perspectives › Purdah/the veil in Persepolis  Discussion Questions  A child’s perspective on religious fundamentalism and war  The cultural identity of an exile  Next Week • The books have sold over a million copies worldwide; • the film won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007 and was nominated for Best Animated Film at the 2008 Academy Awards. History Autobiography in Film Shah period Childhood The Revolution 1) Believer in Shah in 1979 2) A Revolutionary Iran-Iraq war Teenage Year (1980-1988) 3) Westernized, Rebellious at School Dissidents killed Vienna 4) Westernized, 1990s Young Adulthood 5) In Love Tehran 6) College Years 7) Wedding 8) Leaving Home again for France 9) At the airport  Persepolis 1: The Story of a Childhood, Ending w/ the death of uncle Anouche  Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return (1984 in Austria ~ leaving Iran again)  Our selection: Convocation, The Socks , and the Wedding ~ Maraji and the other women’s responses to their limitations ~ Marji as an art student –at school and in private lessons //their “discrete struggles”; about having sex ~ Marji telling the story of her wedding and explaining why it does not work.  Graphic Fiction: chronological; Film: flashbacks  both 2 D, but film with movie-style editing (e.g. jump cuts, zooming-in-and-out, close- up)  “With graphic novels, the relationship between the writer and the reader is participatory. In film, the authence is passive. It involves motion, sound, music, so therefore the narrative's design and content is very different” (Satrapi qtd in Quigley).  Different ways of “framing” the narrative Narrative Methods & Graphic/Filmic Techniques 1. › of personal stories › of political events Marji’s Rebellion and growth in the three 2. periods › 2-1 presentations of martyrs and dissidents › 2-1 responses to authorities (Gods, nuns, teachers, landlord) › 2-2 responses to Western cultures › 2-2 family, love and friends Women & Women’s positions: mother, 3. grandmother, Marji (& her husband) Exile and Home 4. Symbols: cigarette (Harris), Jasmine (Monica) 5.  As a woman, Marjane experiences lots of restriction from her religion, as well as other Muslim women do. In the comic, one way to express her genuine thoughts is to take off her veil and hold party with her friends (which violates some religious codes). I wonder if it means that women liberation is contradictory to being a reverent Muslim? (Vivienne)  Purdah深閨制度 -- Purdah is the practice that includes the seclusion of women from public observation by wearing concealing clothing from head to toe and by the use of high walls, curtains, and screens erected within the home. Purdah is practiced by Muslims and by various Hindus, especially in India. (http://departments.kings.edu/wome ns_history/purdah.html )  Burqa = body-covering, head- covering + face veil  types of sartorial hijab (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_types_of _sartorial_hijab )  Mostly believers in Islam see purdah as a very positive and respectful practice that actually liberates women.  Different Views: e.g. – 《回教女性的面紗》 › Muslim girls in UK – a choice and a source of pride › in Iran --depends on which generation of women › In Egypt –not required; some elites proposed to ban it. › Indonesia – optional › in Nigeria, Afghanistan.--required  In France, 2004 -- a law was set to prohibit students to wear any clearly visible religious symbols; thus wearing the burqa has been banned in public schools.