Persepolis: Hybridity in Design
Citing Robert Young, Ania Loomba
points out that “a hybrid is technically a cross between two different species
[...] However, in postcolonial theory, hybridity is meant to evoke all those
ways in which [the vocabulary of the extreme right] was challenged and
undermined” (171). In The Complete
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi presents another level of hybridity for us to
consider in her use of the graphic narrative as her chosen medium for her
autobiography. Professors Hillary Chute and Marriane DeKoven, in their
“Introduction: Graphic Narrative” explain that “Graphic narrative, through its
most basic composition in frames and gutters—in which it is able to gesture at
the pacing and rhythm of reading and looking through the various structures of
each individual page—calls a reader’s attention visually and spatially to the
act, process, and duration of interpretation” (767).
Certainly, Satrapi could have
utilized traditional literary means to tell her story, yet opted to utilize the
hybrid form as a method of asking us to not only read, but to look at moments,
both real and imagined, from her life. The decision seems clear when
considering Chute and DeKoven’s comment on the hybridity inherent to graphic
narrative: “We read this hybridity as a challenge to the structure of binary
classification that opposes a set of terms, privileging one” (769). It is
important, then that we as readers and academics, abide by these terms and
avoid privileging either the text or image in any given cell as we consider any
interpretations of the work.
In the introduction to Persepolis, Satrapi does opt to
privilege text, orienting the reader in a more traditional literary form that
lends itself to framing the narrative as authentic and to be believed, as she
discusses the history of Iran from the “second millennium B. C.,” to the
modernization brought on by Reza Shah, and lastly the Islamic revolution in
1979, which serves as the backdrop for the beginning act of the graphic
narrative (i-ii). Satrapi sets out her thesis in the introduction, informing
the reading that “Since then, this old and great civilization has been
discussed mostly in connection with fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism.
As an Iranian who has lived more than half of my life in Iran, I know that this
image is far from the truth” (ii).
She returns to the idea of truth
in the section “The Heroes” where we find young Marji scolded for telling
Siamak’s daughter, Laly, “Don’t you know that when they keep saying someone is
on a trip it really means he is dead?” (48/4). Satrapi punctuates Laly’s disbelief
and her mother’s disapproval with “Nobody will accept the truth” (48/8). The
truth, here, is not as simple as her youthful decryption of Siamak’s trip, but
rather Siamak and Mohsen’s discussion regarding the treatment of another fellow
prisoner Ahmadi. Whereas most of this chapter is depicted with black walls as
background, the image of torture is highlighted with a white backdrop, which
causes the reader’s eyes to be drawn to the contrast. Instead of individual
cells, separated by gutters, Satrapi display’s Ahmadi’s torture as one
continuous image, with Siamak, Mohsen, Marji, and her father occupying the
upper left corner, connecting them directly to the actions described (51/4).
Siamak narrates the image, explaining: “Ahmadi... Ahmadi was assassinated. As a
member of the guerillas, he suffered hell,” a statement punctuated by an image of a whipped Ahmadi on his hands and
knees, in nothing but a pair of briefs, being urinated on as a guard asks “How
do you like this?” Without visual interruption, we see Ahmadi tied down while
another guard whips him demanding: “Confess! Where are the others!” and another
image of Ahmadi crying out in anguish as “they burned him with an iron.”
Separated by a page break, we are shown an image of the assassinated Ahmadi cut
into sections, like the graphic narratives story is often cut into sections,
with the simple narration “In the end he was cut to pieces.” (52/1).
It is this violent truth,
described to a child and her parents that “nobody would accept.” And it is this
same truth that highlights that the acts of terrorism experienced in Satrapi’s
life were often visited not on the foreign Westerner, as is often depicted in
the media. No, these acts of terrorism and brutality were visited on these men
and women by their own government. By utilizing the hybridity of the text,
though, Satrapi asks us not only to consider the truth of her text, but also
the messages conveyed in the image as we gaze at the torture seen. By stating
that “nobody would accept the truth,” she is asking us to not only accept the
truth, but be moved by it and in doing so, we might reconsider our notions
regarding Iran and its position in the Middle East and the world.
Works Cited
Chute, Hillary L., and Marianne
Dekoven. "Introduction: Graphic Narrative." MFS Modern Fiction
Studies 52.4 (2006): 767-82. Web.
Loomba, Ania. Colonialism-Postcolonialism.
2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2015. Print.
Satrapi, Marjane, and Marjane
Satrapi. The Complete Persepolis. New York: Pantheon, 2007. Print.
