Persepolis Film

Recently for my English 102 class, I was assigned to read the graphic novel Persepolis. Along with reading the novel we watch the film in class. This film is  entertaining and well put together, the illustration are simple but the message is clear. From the first time that I saw it back in 2008 the film still holds up. The novel/film follows the story of a young girl growing up in Iran and the struggles she comes across as a female in the country. Through out the story we are introduce to character of her family and the individuals stories and struggles they faced. The illustrations of the book are very simple but the message is clear, as a reader and audience you are able to distinguish nouns being described.  I should mention that the graphic novel mainly uses black and white to reference the story. This is where simplicity does not matter, the illustrators design concept was in the use of negative space to distinguish movement, emotion and overall characteristic. the black and white concept is used to reference the main character telling her story from the present. In the film we see movement of the human form in the solute form contrasting with the textural background. The characters do look similar but we are able to distinguish characters trough hair style, eye color with to fill and just stroke. I found it fascinating how the illustrator introduced the main character with a black mole to distinguish her. I know what your thinking what is so fascinating about that, well the simple reason is, the mole becomes the identity of that main character, Through out the story we get a sense of physical and emotional identity through that simple dot in her face. That the beauty of art and that the beauty of this Graphic Novel, of course the creative writing help.



This is a perfect example of the creativity behind the illustration.  We all remember grade school, where we had older school staff members creeping up like snakes to tell you what your doing wrong that day, well this is whats happening in this scene. This is a small example of the great reading and design you can find in this novel.