1. Introducing Persepolis

2. “Why are we reading comics in English class?”
GRAPHIC NOVELS v. COMICS
GRAPHIC NOVELS and COMICS
both use illustrations and words to tell a story
but

3. Graphic novels are not a hybrid of graphic art and prose fiction…

4. …graphic novels are their own literary form.

5. GRAPHIC NOVELS. . . Are longer and more complex than comics.
Tell a story start to finish instead of in serialized form (weekly or monthly ‘episodes’)
Often take on ‘big ideas’ – such as social or cultural criticism

6. Icons, ink, ideas

7. Why use a graphic novel to convey your ideas?

9. So how do I read a graphic novel?

10. Reading the Graphic Novel
Essential Questions:
What terms do I need to know to help me navigate this unique type of text?
What are the basic components of the graphic novel?
How does the graphic novel engage with time, space, emotion, and story?

11. Consider transitions & composition
isolation

12. Consider
Arrangement of panels
Use of ink

13. Words in the panel:
Speech bubbles
Captions
Dialogue

14. Outside the panel Indicator that space or time is being divided.

15. Past memories future possibilities
contained in the same plane at once, visible all around
Graphic novel images
can:
Show emotion
&
** make visible the
invisible **

16. There is meaning in the gutter
Gutter = space between the cells
Graphic novels ask the mind to do the “in between” work of reading the meaning between the cells.
(What has happened in the ‘blank space’ here?)

17. Persepolis: Cultural Context

18. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
Genre: Autobiographical graphic novel
About: Marjane Satrapi’s childhood in Tehran, Iran in the 1970s.
Perspective: Child’s perspective – of “Marji” growing up during the revolution -- born into a world that she does not quite understand -- trying to find meaning in her life.
Cultural Backdrop: 1970s-80s - Iranian Revolution & Iraq-Iran War

19. IRANIAN REVOLUTION

20. Iranian, or Islamic Revolution (1979)
Overthrow of “the Shah”:
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi
“The Shah” replaced by an Islamic power, led by Ayatollah Khomeini
Because of the Revolution, in 1979 Iran became an Islamic Republic

21. WHY WAS THE SHAH OVERTHROWN?
The Shah ruled Iran as an absolute monarchy and was pro-Western.
Islamists & many in Iran felt the Shah was a puppet of the West and had been making bad political & economic decisions.

22. The Shah:
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi

23. UNDER THE SHAH…. Significant corruption and social injustice
human rights violations;
brutality of SAVAK – Secret Police (supported by CIA!)
No tolerance for forces who opposed the Shah
Iran ‘westernizing’, modernizing
moving in a more secular direction
U.S. was an ally, joined in opposition to Soviet Union
Huge inflation & economic mismanagement
led to strikes, food and employment shortages

24. Rise of the Ayatollah & an Islamic State
Khomeini was arrested in 1963 after declaring the Shah a "wretched miserable man" who had "embarked on the [path toward] destruction of Islam in Iran.”
Khomeini was sent into exile for 15 years until the Revolution.
Khomeini & followers preached that Western culture was a plague to be eliminated
Viewed Islam as the one true liberator of the Third World from oppressive colonialism and capitalism.

25. Ayatollah Khomeini

26. In summary… IRANIAN REVOLUTION was when
Monarchy of the Shah was replaced by an Islamic Republic
When “The Shah” was replaced by “The Ayatollah”

27. Saddam Hussein

28. Iran-Iraq War
Armed conflict between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq from Sept August 1988.
Iraq invaded Iran in 1980 after years of border disputes
Iraq threatened by the Iranian Revolution (worried the revolution would inspire its suppressed Shia majority to revolt against the Sunnis, who held positions of power.)
Iraq wanted to be seen as the dominant power in the Persian Gulf.

29. Cost of the Iran-Iraq War
The war cost both sides in lives and economic damage:
Over half a million Iraqi and Iranian soldiers dead
Over half a million civilians also believed to have died – and at least that many injured.
The war brought no changes in borders.

30. Now, back to Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi

31. Author: Marjane Satrapi
Born in 1969
Middle-class; well-educated family – supported Leftist / Marxist movements against the Shah’s monarchy.
She was 10 years old at height of Islamic Revolution
Pre-teen/teenage years – during Iraq-Iran War

32. Persepolis: the capital site of the ancient Persian Empire