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Iran Maiden: Marjane Satrapi
By Joe Sweeney
On the day that the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, I was in the company of a man who hooted and hollered like he’d won the lottery, gleefully exclaiming, “You know who’s next? Iran!”
I want to give this well-meaning idiot a copy of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, the autobiographical coming-of-age tale that’s part heartwarming character study and part Iranian history primer. The landmark graphic novel—and the ensuing animated film inspired by it—looks back on the author’s formative years in Tehran in the turbulent seventies and eighties, where she was raised by loving Marxist parents and a tender, hilarious oracle of a grandmother. It’s a story about family and Middle Eastern strife that has struck a chord with readers around the world.
Satrapi will be speaking as part of Just Buffalo’s Babel series on April 1, an incredible opportunity to hear a storyteller of uncommon gifts. Persepolis weaves universal adolescent themes into the horrible sociopolitical climate of the time—the details of Satrapi’s mid-puberty awkward stage are discussed with almost as much earnestness as her country’s catastrophic war with Iraq. As a result, the author is able to tell a story of captivating tensions and charming releases.
For example, at a point in the book when Islamic revolutionaries are cracking down hard on civilians (e.g., outlawing liquor and pop music, enforcing appallingly chauvinistic rules regarding the dress and behavior of women) Marjane’s parents take a vacation to Turkey. Knowing the potential consequences of their actions, they smuggle a pair of rock posters back into Iran for their daughter, setting the stage for panels depicting Satrapi’s teen worship of Kim Wilde and Iron Maiden.
It’s moments like these that have the potential to open the eyes of a bigot, using the lowest common denominator of Western pop culture to underline how similar we all are. Whether you’re in Middle America or the Middle East, that solo from “Run For The Hills” is going to make you thrash around just the same.
Of course, Persepolis is so much more than this. It’s a touching, witty drama, a deftly constructed war novel, and a treatise on what truly defines a nation—not the people who make rules, but the people who make families. And it erases as many misconceptions about comic books as it does about Iranian culture; Satrapi’s expressive black and white illustrations describe these characters’ struggles more effectively than any adjective.
Having tickets to Satrapi’s Buffalo sold-out appearance—now there’s a reason to hoot and holler.
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