Okay, many of you will have probably read this. while many others, in addition to having read it, will have also seen the movie. But there will certainly be some people who have either no idea of what we are talking about, or know what we are talking about but have never been particularly interested. So I want to write something for everyone, to have a discussion with those who have read it, and to allow others to discover it and maybe I’ll be able to spark some curiosity. I’m talking about Persepolis, the first Iranian comic every published.
As I read the blurb of the book of the first complete edition published by Edizioni Lizard “it’s the year 2000 and in France the book of the decade has been released.” Yes, because this autobiographical graphic novel designed and written in French by Marjane Satrapi and originally published in four volumes and then later reassembled in a complete edition, was the subject of criticism and censure for many different reasons, but also of a lot of praise.
But let’s start from the beginning: who is Marjane Satrapi and why did she decide to write an autobiographical comic? Satrapi, born and raised for the first part of her life in Iran, in Tehran, belongs to a family who is based on communist ideas and, of course, is considered revolutionary and contrary to the policies of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who, following an agreement with the US, was trying to make Iran the leading power in the Middle East. Because of his repressive regime, all the revolutionary parties united under the leadership of the Ayatollah Khomeini and with him began to protest, which led to incarceration and death of hundreds of revolutionaries. This was followed by the exile of Khomeini, who, when he returned, assumed power sparking a violent repression against members of the former regime, until the birth of the Islamic Republic was sanctioned, with 98% of the votes. Needless to explain that the figure was not exactly and truly that.
A real civil war unleashed that did not spare any victims from any of the sides involved, a civil war can only get worst when, in 1980, the Iranian borders where crossed by Iraqi soldiers led by Saddam Hussein, thus leading to the birth of a new and bloody war that exhausted the country for eight years. It’s in this political climate that little Marjane grows and begins to form her opinions, who attends a French school in the city. Her revolutionary ideas were based on those of her family, with an attitude of rebellion and indignation, but also of loss. She begins to wonder why all women should wear the veil and cover themselves from head to toes and can not dress as they wish, so the regime responds by saying that “women’s hair contain rays that excite men”; she wonders if there really is such a big difference between the social classes; she begins to question in a period of prohibition and of almost total cancellation of the rights of women, how she will in the future be able to attend university, she who wanted to be “an educated and emancipated woman”, she who had a passion for science and wanted to be the next Marie Curie.
In 1983, Marjane’s parents decide to send her to live in Vienna, in an attempt to protect her and spare her the cruelties of war and the further loss of people dear to her.
And that’s how at fourteen Satrapi moved to Europe, where she spent her teenage years attempting to integrate, in contact with some of the strangest people, drug use and abusing of parties. But among all this, Marjane also starts doing something that was forbidden by the regime: she starts to read, to inform herself.
She reads her mum’s favourite book, The Second Sex by Simon de Beauvoir, she reads Bakunin, she reads Marx and she was so shocked by what is happening in her country that her outrage becomes overwhelming. Marjane also tries in Europe to claim back her origins, her homeland, where she comes from, but she is very often suppressed and disappointed in some way or another, just as it happened to her in Iran.
So, after a series of failed attempts at integration and a romance that ended badly, Marjane decides to return to Tehran. However, even though she did feel at home, she struggles to recognize the roads and streets, now all named after the martyrs of the revolution. But the discomfort is not only hers: in fact her parents are the first to not recognize her when they pick her up at the airport, after years of not seeing her. She grew up, she became women, she partially emancipated herself, but all this is of little use after she returns to Iran, since she’s once again forced to wear the veil, to weep for those who have sacrificed for the cause, to seek friends who are now dead or left disabled by the war.
Once back, Marjane would simply like to get back into college, do what she really wants to do, but this is obviously a problem since she is a woman and, above all, she is a woman with a different mentality, more open, because she experienced a different reality from that of all the other girls around her Tehran. Things start looking up when Marjane meets Reza, a mature and responsible boy with whom she is able to build a relationship based on reciprocity and respect, even if only a few years later, their marriage will end in divorce, as Marjane’s father had already predicted. But also in her relationship with Reza the aftermath of the war has a repercussion: before getting married, the couple can’t kiss in public, they can’t even walk alone in public without guards who come to stop them to know what their relationship is.
Marjane feels increasingly oppressed, she is no longer able to cope with all the prohibitions and restrictions which are imposed on her and it’s just when she is able to get into the art school that her rebel soul explodes in all its force.
“Why should I, as a woman, remain indifferent to the sight of these guys and all their curves and they, as men, should instead get excited for my five centimetres of less veil?” And again, she turned to one of her classmates: “Can you explain to me why I would be indecent to make love with my boyfriend? My body belongs to me!”
That’s how Marjane decides to leave Iran, this time for good, to move to France, where she still lives and where she works as an illustrator and writer of children’s books. And it’s in France that her fame grew thanks to Persepolis. Well, at this point, you are probably thinking that a comic all about war and repression and explosions and of the mutilated and the dead is pretty boring.
But no. Because Satrapi has been able to tell a tragic story, her story, with a touch of freshness and humour that leave us amazed and that allows us to read the entire comic without getting bored and with a hint of smile, sometimes even a good laugh. The characters of the grandma and of her roommates in Vienna give an extra sense of lightness to this comic.
This is not a comic book on the history of Iran, this is a comic that also talks about the history of Europe, which makes comparisons, which represents a woman trying desperately to feel fully a woman anywhere she is in the world, by even listening to forbidden music and always following the advice of her grandmother:
“You’ll meet a lot of jerks in life. If they hurt you, remember it’s because they’re stupid. Don’t react to their cruelty. There’s nothing worse than bitterness and revenge. Keep your dignity and be true to yourself.”
