while i was reading persepolis 2, i was randomly reminded of a quote from rebel without a cause, when judy's mom speaks to her daughter's behavior (acting out and such) and says she's in "the age where nothing fits." it's interesting to read persepolis 1 + 2 and think about it within the framework of western "coming of age" novels, films, etc. or less so "coming of age"-related media, but the genre/trope of teenage rebellion and marginality. rebel without a cause is a case in point... 1950s film about three white suburban teens who, for their own reasons, are outsiders, don't belong, find each other... their difference is threatening and dangerous to those on the inside, and while scrambling to escape and dream together as outsiders, tragedy ensues (CONFORM OR ELSE).
though, "the age where nothing fits" for satrapi extends on and on even into her adulthood (in spite of it?). nothing ever really fits because her status of being on the outside isn't age-specific or singularly related to her adolescence. in a lot of ways, in iran, it's impossible for anyone to fit. strictures, though attempting to equalize and make everyone fit, prevent it.
persepolis 2 definitely speaks to the ubiquity of adolescent marginality, feelings of isolation, ambivalence, rebellion that pepper the experience of growing up, but from a different angle and for different purposes. so much of this book is about fragmentation of identity, being pushed and pulled in different directions, trying to find footing and groundedness, a sense of wholeness and a secure self. the adolescent experience is all about this, of course--the struggle to find yourself, to feel whole, to belong. but the way she goes about telling her story of coming into herself, for me, embodies just how the personal is political. the political landscape is inextricably linked to her development. her and her family's personal choices are motivated by and reactive to that landscape. her exile is charged. she's lucky enough to have the resources to leave iran for austria, but it's not a simple transition without its difficulties.
she is between languages, sometimes communicating from the middle (as with some of her experiences in the boarding house with her roommate lucia and lucia's family). her body is changing and she's awkward--between sizes, cartoonishly misshapen and larger in some places than in others. she spirals into depression. she's idle, disinterested, suicidal, feels like nothing, no one, empty. she feels artificial when around others and can't relate to her old friends.
she struggles with the intellectualism of her punk/weirdo friends. even among the misfits, she doesn't fit. she's between homes and doesn't fit in either place upon arrival or return. too iranian for the west. too western for iran. prudish in austria, whorish in iran. though kinda exoticized in both settings (punk weirdos thinking she's so cool for having witnessed war and death; old friends in iran excited about her experiences in austria.. though they find out she didn't really go clubbing or anything).
back to this text in the context of/in comparison to the adolescent/outsider narrative. it seems like she's taking back this type of narrative/genre for herself, to represent a personal (and national) reality that wouldn't normally come to light in this form. and of course, the form is atypical, being a graphic memoir. also, like i said before, a lot of the western books and films we're used to revolve around male teens in a state of suburban crisis. pensive mysterious loner boys who smoke cigarettes in leather jackets and have weird relationships with their square parents (slash maybe the momos in life?), not necessarily a feisty, angry female with intellectual parents who frequently support her acts of rebellion in and out of a form of exile.
'she struggles with the intellectualism of her punk/weirdo friends. even among the misfits, she doesn't fit. she's between homes and doesn't fit in either place upon arrival or return. too iranian for the west. too western for iran. prudish in austria, whorish in iran. though kinda exoticized in both settings (punk weirdos thinking she's so cool for having witnessed war and death; old friends in iran excited about her experiences in austria.. though they find out she didn't really go clubbing or anything).'
ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed this out. She's displaced in every circle of friends, and only finds her place among her father, mother, grandmother, and the books she loves. I loved that about her and enabled her to sympathize with her. In a weird way, she experiences a double-sided reductive privilege--her punk friends honor her because she has known "war and death," and yet they trivialize death (though, Momo allows her to have the last word), and with her Iranian female friends, they are jealous of her Western experiences and yet accost her for being too "Westernized" / a whore.
Rex, right on and it's true that she is in every kind of dilemma i can imagine. You capture it: " so much of this book is about fragmentation of identity, being pushed and pulled in different directions, trying to find footing and groundedness, a sense of wholeness and a secure self. the adolescent experience is all about this, of course--the struggle to find yourself, to feel whole, to belong. but the way she goes about telling her story of coming into herself, for me, embodies just how the personal is political."
ReplyDeleteYes, it does all that.
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I totally agree with all of this. The identity question is so key in this work, and the idea of a coming of age story is a common western narrative- all of this leads me to think that the fundamentalist regime only prolonged that coming of age time period- creating stagnating the period of growth that comes with the change form adolescence into adulthood. It is already such a daunting task, to accept one's own identity, but to have it dwarfed by outside forces seems to me, to be cruel and unusual punishment.
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