This book could be described as much as an homage to punk as
it is to the Iranian freedom fighters. Persepolis 2 shows freedom fighters as
the “true” punks.
Marjane finds herself lodged between the privileged anarchists
of her school and the “true” communists and revolutionaries in Iran.
She witnesses policing in her group of friends when she cuts
the hair of the “school’s lackeys” as her friends put it on page 191. They tell
her the peons are trying to control them like the cops, but that’s what they’re
trying to do to Marjane by trying to control her behavior and social contacts.
They attempt another form of control through ideology
presumably based in theory: “Life is pain, pain is everything, everything is
nothingness”. He then says people who give their lives for liberty are doing so
as a distraction from boredom. She’s pushed into a corner and challenges them
with her real, life experience based on her uncle’s experience: “So my uncle
died to distract himself?” Marjane depicting her friend’s comment about boredom
illustrates the privileged position someone being bored has.
When Marjane's boyfriend invites her to an anarchist party, Marjane is excited to see her new knowledge about Bakunin in action, perhaps something even more revolutionary than her childhood in Iran (209). She gets there and they are playing games in the woods and singing Janis Joplin.
The punk rock created at the time around Marjane was in
Austria was anti-authoritarian and anti-colonial, and the most popular bands
were writing and singing from relatively privileged positions (in the US, UK, and Europe), compared to the
young men Marjane knew in Iran.
I propose Marjane’s aesthetic was influenced by record art
that was lying around in Austria and I think she amped this up in Persepolis to
stay true to the era and the feeling of the time. Young people were disillusioned with capitalism, materialism, and war. Punk gave them an outlet to express their frustrations. In this context, black can be seen as a symbol of death, death of the current system.
While the content choices are more obvious, some of her visual choices are listed below:
While the content choices are more obvious, some of her visual choices are listed below:
Lots of black 187, 194, 210, 238, 256, 276, 309.
Flames: 174, 194, 209, 211,
Sharp edges: 157, 173, 179, 192, 193, 195
I assume Crass’ records were around Marjane's friends dorms.
Crass, “Nineteen-Eighty-Bore”,
1982:
Who needs lobotomy when we've got the ITV?
Who needs ECT when there's good old BBC?
Switch on the set, light up the screen,
Fantasise and dream about what you might have been,
Who needs controlling when they've got the cathode ray?
They've got your fucking soul, now they'll fuse your brains away.
Mindless fucking morons sit before the set,
Being fed the mindless rubbish they deserve to get.
Can't switch off big brother, they've lost all will to act,
Lost in drab confusion, was it fiction, was it fact?
Another plastic bullet stuns another Irish child,
But no-one's really bothered, no, the telly keeps them mild.
Who needs ECT when there's good old BBC?
Switch on the set, light up the screen,
Fantasise and dream about what you might have been,
Who needs controlling when they've got the cathode ray?
They've got your fucking soul, now they'll fuse your brains away.
Mindless fucking morons sit before the set,
Being fed the mindless rubbish they deserve to get.
Can't switch off big brother, they've lost all will to act,
Lost in drab confusion, was it fiction, was it fact?
Another plastic bullet stuns another Irish child,
But no-one's really bothered, no, the telly keeps them mild.
The Clash, “Police and Thieves”, 1977
Police, police, police and thieves oh yeah
Police, police, police and thieves oh yeah
Here come, here come, here come
The station is bombed
Get out get out get out you people
If you don't wanna get blown up
Police, police, police and thieves oh yeah
Here come, here come, here come
The station is bombed
Get out get out get out you people
If you don't wanna get blown up
In this post are 4 punk album covers from around 1984 they may have influenced Satrapi. Chuzpe was an Austrian punk band.
Sailor ~ thanks for this post! I find it really interesting to think about which specific bands may have influenced Marjane when she was in Austria. I find myself hoping Crass was one, and that would certainly make sense. Now I wish she'd included that in the book...we get a little about her musical tastes in the first section of the book, but not so much in the second, which is kinda weird because music had to have been a huge part of her life at that point, particularly as she was part of a "scene."
ReplyDeleteHi Sailor,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I couldn't help but consider the un-punk moments in Persepolis II. For instance, the Crass lyrics are anti-television, and Marjane glued to the TV on page 325. She is also watching "Oshin," a Japanese sitcom earlier, then she sheds her punkness on 274-275 in part because "body hair being an obsession of the oriental women (she saw on TV), I began hair removal" (274). The TV seems to play a significant role in Marjane becoming less punk, in appearance anyway.
Thans for sharing,
MargaretS.
Sailor- What a great post, I see a similarity in style between Black Flag's "Slip It In" artwork and Satrapi's depiction of nuns. Your assertion that "Persepolis 2 shows freedom fighters as the “true” punks," is so accurate. I appreciated your discourse on "policing" amongst the friend group and how this comes from a privilege that causes the punks to generalize/essentialize life. Do you see Marjane as "punk," and/or "true punk"?
ReplyDeleteNone of the movements she associates with has an honest connect to her life as an iranian during this period of war and suppression. It's interesting to read the influences and that's usually how they come--from reading, music and movies because it is often premature to find meaning in chaos until there is retrospective. So this guide and Margaret's unpunk moments are helpful in building her momentary beliefs
ReplyDeletee