Monday, April 14, 2008

Persepolis, movie vs graphic novel

It's long post beware, ditch the 6 pack and go for the 18!


Persepolis

I went and saw Persepolis at the Kenworthy Theater in Moscow, on Friday. I was one of the only ones in the theater and I’m almost certain I was the guy by myself from WSU. Well the film was similar to the graphic novel, but almost right away there were some noticeable differences. I felt the graphic novel focused on the happiness in the times of tragedy, while the film seemed to focus on nothing but tragedy after tragedy, whether it was the revolution, Satrapi leaving, or other tragic incidents that took place.

As the film opened I noticed two differences right away. The beginning was in color versus the graphic novel we read was all in black and white. All the voice acting was in French with English subtitles while, what we read was in English. Also the film opened with Satrapi being a young woman returning to Iran. Furthermore in the beginning of the film, we see some of Satrapi as a little girl and her visits with her uncle and the talk of her becoming a prophet, but this moves rapidly away versus the graphic novel which focused on her growing up as a whole and the idea of becoming a prophet is emphasized a lot more.

The biggest difference between the film and the graphic novel was after about halfway through the film, the film moved away from what we had read as Persepolis and in the 2nd graphic novel which was about the time Satrapi spent in Europe drifting from place to place trying to find herself. She fell in love, got her heart broke at least 2 times, became a beautiful women, but she felt guilty. She felt guilty because here she was enjoying life in Europe while her family and friends were suffering in Iran under the new government and the war with Iraq. Eventually she returns to Iran and gets married and it seems that things will work out despite a divorce and her depression.

But the first part of the film I felt highlighted some of the important issues the graphic novel covered. There were plenty of scenes in the film about the oppression of the Iranian people under the Shah, which was oddly portrayed in the film as a miniature satire/play with mocking puppets of the Shah and the western powers. There was also a lot about the actual rebellion portrayed in the film such as the overthrow of the government, the protesting, and the drastic changes Iran underwent. There was a slow over emphasized bit about her Uncle Anoosh in the film meeting her, getting imprisoned following the revolution, and then being executed. With her uncle, the film focused heavily on this while the graphic novel moved away from this.
Two parts of the graphic novel I remember fondly were when her parents visited Turkey and brought back the posters, this was missing from the film. Another part from the comic that was missing in the film was when her and her friends follow the non-conformist guys to a street where teenagers can hang out and act like normal teenagers. But the film did make use of Satrapi' s love of Iron Maiden repeatedly, including when she went down and bought the tape and being confronted by those who worked for the Shah about her style of dress, and her jacket, which read, “Punk is not Ded.” Also the film showed Satrapi rocking out multiple times to Iron Maiden in her room and in the living room, something I felt the graphic novel semi-ignored.

Other parts of the film that tied directly into the graphic novel included when Satrapi stands up against her teacher. In the film her parents get the phone call after her uprising at school but the film doesn’t talk about how she had to transfer schools. The other two issues, which were portrayed extensively, were when the Iranian government was handing young boys keys and telling them they would die as martyrs while virgins and gold awaited them in heaven. Furthermore the secret party lifestyle resulting from the Iranian government crack down was over exaggerated. Just like the novel, everyone has to keep things a secret and in the film. Satrapi and her family get pulled over and they have to run home after being followed by the guards to dispose of all the booze.

Overall there were a few parts of the film and the graphic novel, which received the same amount of attention. These included Satrapi’s rebellion, the changes in the Iranian government, and how she grew up in the process. Now, if we had read the second part of Persepolis we might have seen more similarities.
The question here is, why were some parts of the film different? Well primarily there is only a limited time frame for a film and some of the issues the director and/or the producer may have felt were redundant. For example, the parts about her getting into Iron Maiden, including the posters, the director may have felt it was repetitive and not crucial to the story. Whereas the parts about her uncle and her family going to these illegal parties were stressed because one of the important themes to the novel I felt was the importance of family, and their support of each other in the time of hardship. Also from my perspective it felt as the director and the film producer wanted to focus on her growing up, her relationship with her family, and the conflict in Iran. Why? Well conflict and war intertwined with struggle make interesting films that sell well to the masses even if they have never heard of the graphic novel.

If I were the director I would have used more of the first novel, and less of the second. I would have kept it in black and white and started the film with her growing up. I would have used less of her parents and showed more of the ways she was rebelling against the oppressive Iranian culture.

2 comments:

Troy Warzocha Fan Club Leader said...

I'll watch the DVD.

The Proprietor said...

That's what I would recommend. Plus the popcorn was kinda crappy