As we deepen our look into the conventions of graphic novels (panels, gutters, voice overs, symbols, etc.), we have identified juxtaposition as an especially effective technique. For this blog post, identify the panel transition/transitions between two or more panels in our most recent readings in Persepolis. Then, write an analytical paragraph in which you explore how these transitions work to explore or support a theme in the graphic novel. Keep in mind our discussion of the difference between a theme and topic.
As always, be sure that you support your ideas with evidence from the text. Also be sure to be as specific as possible in your evidence, explanations, diction, and syntax.
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ReplyDeleteAs discussed in class and evident in our readings, transitions are key to supporting themes in graphic novels. The aspect-to-aspect transition on page 99 of "The Key" is one of the most important ones. You see Mrs. Nasrine holding out a plastic key painted gold in her palm. Then, in the next panel, the reader is given a closeup of this key. Mrs. Nasrine is in pain, because her son's life lies in her hands. She says, "They gave this to my son at school. They told the boys that if they went to war and were lucky enough to die, this key would get them into heaven." (Strapi, pg. 99) In other words, the key is her son's entrance into heaven if he dies in the war. It is a difficult decision, seeing that her son must die in order to get into heaven. In our beautiful talk today, we touched on the recurring theme of religion being used to support warfare. Many Iranians were tricked / bribed into giving their lives for their county in order to live in heaven during the afterlife. The idea of spending their days surrounded by paradise, women, food, and golden houses is overwhelming. Their religious beliefs are what lure them into becoming soldiers, and the revolutionary guards take advantage of it. This theme is clearly evident in the two panels on page 99. In addition, the author uses the aspect-to-aspect transition to further emphasize this point. Strapi zooms in on Mrs. Nasrine's palm, showing the power of that plastic key. It represents the theme of religion being used to tempt the population into giving their lives for the war effort. Behind her, the frame is shaded in black, while all of the other frames on the page are white. The repetition of the key from a different angle, along with its unique shading, causes the reader to pause and realize how important this scene is to the novel's theme. The aspect-to-aspect transition perfectly highlights the theme Strapi is trying to convey to the reader. To conclude, Marjane Strapi uses transitions throughout the novel to explore major themes. The power of conventions, as seen on page 99 of "The Key", is apparent in Persepolis.
ReplyDeleteOn page 114, juxtaposition is clearly portrayed when Marji is engaging in a small argument with her mother about Iran retaking Khorramshahr. In the panels capturing this moment, Marji is shown in white while her mother is in black, demonstrating their contrasting opinions. This argument prompted Marji to go to the basement in an action-to-action transition. On the same page, then continuing to page 115, another action to action transition occurs. As Marji recounts Iran retaking Khorramshahr, she then states that the country thought the war would end with this victory. She goes on to say that because of this action, Iraq proposes a settlement, and Arabia offers to pay for reconstruction. She then reveals that the Iranian government refused the peace and wanted to conquer a shiite holy city in Iraq. Consequently, Iran plunged deeper into war, causing Iranians to write belligerent slogans on the walls. This demonstrated how one action (the retaking of Khorramshahr) can create a snowball effect.
ReplyDeleteThese action-to-action transitions supported a reoccurring theme in the book of: when the government uses religion as a tool, it changes what religion truly is. On page 116, Marji reports that, "they [the government] eventually admitted that the survival of the regime depended on the war." Because the government chose to decline the offering of peace to secure the religious regime, it changed what religion was. After this declaration, people started to believe that dying a martyr should be sought after (as quoted on page 115, "to die a martyr is to inject blood into the veins of society"). This proved that when the government used religion as a tool, it changed peoples beliefs and overall religious views, as well as their actions.
Many times throughout the book, Marjane Satrapi uses moment-to-moment transitions to show unexpected events and surprises. On page 108, she uses a series of moment-to-moment transition to explore the theme of the citizens of Iran turning against each other. Out of nowhere, a few armed citizens (or militiamen, possibly) stop the car and demand that Marjane’s father get out. They decide that he was drinking, and since he had a tie, they called him a piece of westernized trash. Luckily, before the situation got violent, Marjane’s mother convinced the man not to hurt her husband. These few moment-to-moment transitions show the two-pronged surprise that Marjane’s family is experiencing; That two men jumped out in front of their car out of nowhere, and that their fellow citizens are pointing guns at them and threatening them. Moment-to-moment transitions are useful for this type of situation because they are the most realistic to us, as readers. Real life is essentially flowing from moment to moment, and using this type of transition means that the story feels more relatable. If we imagine being stopped in the middle of the road by gun-toting civilians and having to beg for mercy and forgiveness, we begin to see how much power the Iranian government seized when it convinced people that it was necessary to threaten and hurt others when they didn’t follow Islam in a very specific and hardline way. By surprising us and utilizing moment-to-moment transitions, Marjane Satrapi displayed the absurdity of the situation, as well as the fear-mongering of Iranian government during this time.
ReplyDeleteOn page 101, Shahab is telling Marji about the children he sees being brought into the army, and then a subject to subject transition is used to show what he is talking about. Going from page 101 to 102, an action to action transition is used showing the children rushing into battle, then on the next slide getting blown up by mines. The first transition is useful for helping describe the horror of the story he is telling, and for demonstrating how ignorantly happy the children are to be going to their deaths. The action to action transition shows the children entering battle in the first panel, and in the next they are dying from the mines. These panels go from one action to the next, much more violent one, which is useful for demonstrating how terrible the war is. The children in the panel with the explosion can be seen to be holding 'keys to paradise.' This is another instance where the Iranian government is using religion to justify what really are atrocities. These transitions support an ongoing theme of the war affecting everyone and show religion's influence on the people of Iran. We can see from them that no one is safe, and that the Iranian government can change the minds of even children who ought to know better, convincing them that they should fight in a war where their only purpose is to die so others will not have to.
ReplyDeleteTransitions play a key role in the movement of the book. They portray the passage of time, action, importance and suspense. They give the book meaning and flow. One important transition is an aspect to aspect transition on page 99. This is when Mrs. Nasrine is holding the plastic key that was given to her son at school. When Mrs. Nasrine starts to explain the key in the next panel they key is brought forward into greater detail. This gives more emphasis on the item she is describing, the close up shot also shows the keys importance tot the book and Mrs. Nasrine. She then goes on to explain how the key was given to her son by the school who told them that if they wen't to war that this key would help them get into heaven. This ties back to our discussion, and shows how religion can help to support war. This key is religious, and for it to work you must die in war. Another important page is 108. This is a perfect demonstration of moment-to-moment transitions. It starts with Marjanes dad driving back home from a party, in the next frame they are stopped and Marjanes dad is asked if he has been drinking. Each slide shows the conflict moving along, until finally Marjanes mom gets the guys to let her husband go. Moment to Moment transition are perfect fro showing the quick passage of time in a tense event. This page also ties back to our talk on how this war is turning people in Iran against each other. Before the war a party was completely legal, now people are pulled over and harassed for going to a party. The fear drives Marjanes mom so fa as to cover their blinds so that their neighbors can't turn them in. These moment to moment transitions help move the story along, and give the appearance of a fast moving scene.
ReplyDeleteOn page 96, Marji and her fellow classmates are being told to hit themselves on their chests. At the bottom of the page, there are three panels that show three aspect to aspect scenes. The first panel is a picture of two men hitting themselves with their hands. The second panel shows three men beating themselves with metal chains. The third panel is a drawing of a man kneeling down, in what seems to be a pool of blood, with a knife. The man is hitting his head with the knife. All of these pictures have something in common; people hitting themselves for a religious ritual. The theme of religion in Persepolis is very prominent and important. Most of what happens in the book has to do with a religious rule or the breaking of one. Religion drives people to be who they are, and they always do what the religion states is the best thing to do. In Persepolis, the government starts to tell people that going into war and dying for your country is what God wants you to do. People believe this, and go into war just to be blown up. To me, religion is the backbone of this story. I believe this because everything is based off of religious beliefs and rituals. Religion is the story.
ReplyDeleteThroughout her graphic novel, Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi uses moment-to-moment transitions to show a rapid escalation in events. This can be seen on page 113, when Marji’s mom is seen scolding Marji about cutting class. The first panel illustrates Marji’s mom asking about her day, which, then, transitions into her calling Marji’s bluff. Through the transitions between each panel, Marji’s mother becomes angrier and angrier at Marji and vice versa until Marji, finally, stomps away. Instead of using a single panel to illustrate her mother’s frustration, Satrapi uses nine panels to show how quickly the story developed, from when Marji’s mother asked how her school day went to the two arguing. This argument would later represent Marji’s deep desire to be treated as an independent adult. This rapid escalation in events shows how quickly Marji decides that she wants to be grown up and fight for what she believes in. This same idea is seen earlier on page 108, when two people accuse Marji’s father of drinking alcohol. The first panel on the page shows the family driving home. It, then, transitions into two figures telling Marji’s father to stop the car. The next panels illustrate Marji’s father at gunpoint and the two men demanding to search the family’s home. Overall, the use of moment-to-moment transitions show how rapidly Marji’s surroundings evolve and how quickly she is expected to adjust to this change.
ReplyDeleteThroughout this novel juxtaposition has been key to showing importance and contrast. On page 102 the transition between the panels is subject-to-subject. The first panel shows poor children getting blown up with keys on their neck. The second shows Marjane, who lives in a rich family, at a party with her friends. Through the use of juxtaposition, the difference between the rich and the poor is very evident in this transition. Throughout the book, there has been a theme about the difference in classes. On page 33 Satrapi first incorporates the theme of the difference in social classes. On this page, Marji says, “The Reason for my shame and for the revolution is the same: The difference between the social classes” (Satrapi, pg. 33). Later in the chapter, when her maid can’t marry her beloved because of the difference in their social class, Marji experiences first hand what this difference can do. On page 102 the difference between the classes becomes very apparent. The poor kids were blown up in the minefields thinking they would have a better life in heaven, and the rich kids were at a punk rock party. The subject-to-subject transition is very useful in this instance because it allows for the juxtaposition of the different realities that these kids are facing. The key, which is placed around the necks of all the kids in the first panel, represents the religious theme in this novel. Throughout Persepolis, Satrapi has shown how the Iranian Government used Islam to promote their message. Through a misinterpreted version of Islam, this regime has been able to control and ‘brainwash’ a lot of people. Overall, these two panels show two big themes in this book: Religion and social class.
ReplyDeleteTransitions help to develop themes because of their ability to contextualize, compare, and contrast different scenes or moments. One of the themes in Persepolis, religion vs. government, evolves because of its transitions. At the beginning of the chapter, panels move in scene-to-scene transitions of multiple situations where students and parents rebel against school-imposed rules, which help to strengthen and exemplify the point/argument Satrapi makes regarding martyrdom and the futility of religious and political brainwashing. On page 99, the aspect-to-aspect enlargement of the plastic "key to paradise" turns the key into a symbol representing the government's manipulation of religion as a tool to coerce the uneducated public. On the same page, the moment-to-moment transition on the bottom two panels connects the two ideas introduced there. The first panel takes the symbol of the key and the second links it to religion, where the idea gets blown up into the theme of religion vs. politics when you see the link between radicalized government discouraging Mrs. Nasrine from her long-held religious beliefs. Subject-to-subject transitions on page 100 create the idea of government exploiting poverty by contrasting Mrs. Nasrine's son to Marji's cousin Peyman. Where the son's immaturity and lack of education is being utilized to promote martyrdom and warmongering, Peyman, an educated, upper-class boy, has no idea of what is going on, was evidently not given a key, and is not being manipulated by the government. In the last part of the chapter, more scene-to-scenes help illustrate the overall point of the chapter and on the last page summarize the final idea created by all the previous transitions. By employing transitions to create ideas and symbols, the author can reinforce themes.
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