Artist Inspo #1
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
I hope you’re wearing hearing protection because I’m coming out with a BANG for my first “Artist Inspo”!
Persepolis is one of my favorite films of all time. You heard me right. I did not say “one of my favorite animated films,” I said “one of my FAVORITE FILMS.”
Based on the original graphic novels of the same name, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
After years of living under the new fundamentalist government of Iran, Marjane eventually flees the war-strewn country as a child, alone; without her parents or family. Marjane goes on to live her adolescence in Austria where she experiences rampant xenophobia, falls in and out of love, and struggles with her sense of identity as a teenage refugee in Europe.
Part of what really enamored me to this movie is that it perfectly balances horror with humor. Marjane Satrapi may be telling a dark tale of war, but she is also hilarious. Marjane’s depictions of trying to fit in and find yourself as a teenager are spectacularly engaging with excellent comedic delivery. The humor really cleanses the palate for the harsher realities, making this story a near-perfect balance of dark realism and joy.
Before discovering this film I had not been familiar with the Iranian Revolution of 1979. This first-hand account of the fundamentalist take-over of Iran can feel overwhelmingly prescient, which is as scary as it should be. But the story is so much more than a nightmare of war. Persepolis is a story of tenacious survival and an undying hope for more.
Marjane Satrapi is a master storyteller, a cartoonist icon, and an absolute force of nature. She has been such an enormous inspiration to me.
As a final curated piece of media on Persepolis, I am including a behind-the-scenes video of Marjane, deep in the craft of animating the film. Her explanation behind selecting traditional animation, over computer generated, could not better match my own sentiments toward the dying art form.
Next week: Get ready for my first “Wild Card!” post.
Will it be a diary comic? Or poetry? Humor writing? Or maybe just a fevered regurgitation of generalized artistic emotion? Only the time shall tell!
See ya then my li’l nerds.
Listening to: