This is Marjane Satrapi:
graphic novelist, director, and former rebellious teenager. Known primarily for
her autobiographical stories Persepolis
and Persepolis 2, Satrapi has had a
prolific career filled with other great works, such as her other novels Embroideries and Chicken with Plums. Marjane blends imagery and prose in a unique
and genuinely creative way.
Satrapi, now 47, was born
in Rasht, Iran to a very middle-class family. Both her parents and her uncle
supported Marxist causes against the Shah, and were horrified by the Islamic
fundamentalists’ success in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Marjane was
particularly close to her uncle, and was distraught when he was arrested and
executed by the regime. She began acting out and snubbing her nose at the
government’s rules over how women should dress and act. Worried about their
daughter, her parents sent her to Vienna to finish up school. Persepolis and Persepolis 2 focus on this incredibly pivotal part of her life.
When it comes to actually
writing a story, Satrapi defaults to graphic novels, or comics as she prefers
to call them. Words aren’t enough to get the point across, her brain functions
with images. She doesn’t start with one or the other, they both happen simultaneously
and the finished product sort of just comes together.
Marjane lists the old
poets Rumi and Hayam as huge influences on her world view. Their verse affected
the scope and perspective from which she saw the world. Satrapi’s upbringing in
an increasingly conservative Iran seems to have had a profound effect on her
outlook. The combination of two different mediums to express herself is
indicative of her creative spark, and reminiscent of “collaborative cognition,”
mentioned in the Smith and Ward article. Marjane isn't limited to just comics either: she's written children stories and helped direct films, most notably the adaptation of Persepolis.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjane_Satrapi
I loved this mostly because it is so different from the type of stories that I normally read. I enjoyed doing a little research to find out how Marjane combines the use of pictures and words. And while I think they are so neat and would like to read at least one of her books some day, I am wondering if it is her style that makes her creative (I tend to think no, because she is not the only, nor the first author to use this style) or is she creative in the way/what she writes and how it is paired with the pictures? Can't wait to read her stuff to find out for myself!
ReplyDeleteI think its really cool how she managed to incorporate the experience of her childhood in to her art. This really makes for a convincing story
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