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October 19, 2005
Jennifer Camper's Graphic Review
Jennifer Camper's graphic review of Persepolis 2 presents the differing opinions that people living in America have of the novel. Camper's central point, however, is that the novel has a different appeal to different people based on their interests and background.
For example, Camper begins her critique by having the starting panels depict two Iranian women in the bookstore. They are excited to see American interest in their culture, which is apparent by the display of Middle East and Islam related books, but at the same time they are frustrated that Americans only seem to be interested in these topics because of the attacks on September 11. The two women return home with a copy of Persepolis 2 and have a discussion concerning Iran in the 1970's. The topic hits close to home for these women, as they remember what it was like to live in Iran during that time. For them, the appeal of the novel is that it is a personal trip down memory lane.
The subsequent panels show two artists viewing the novel. To them, the appeal of it lies in the artistic techniques Satrapi used to create the images.
Next, two young girls in a comic book store are attracted to the novel because they find it impressive that a female would dare to enter the male-dominated world of cartoons. This bold act by Satrapi is in accordance with these girls' feminist attitudes, thus they are interested in the novel.
Camper then portrays two young people who seemingly immigrated to the U.S. at a young age. For them, the appeal to Persepolis 2 is in the way it exposes the difficulty associated with the immigration process...something that I'm sure is universal no matter where one immigrates to or from.
Camper acknowledges that in the opinions of older Americans, Persepolis 2 seems like a meaningless and "dumb-downed" novel. This shows the resistance that some older Americans have towards the breaking of older and generally accepted conventions, whereas she depicts the youth of America as open and excited about the idea of a graphic novel.
Camper shows the impact of the novel on three Muslim women who are sick of being misrepresented by documentaries on Islam and the Middle East. For these women, the appeal of Satrapi's novel is the truth with which she wrote about Muslim women.
Camper ends her graphic review by showing educated women having a sophisticated discussion on the novel. The appeal of Satrapi's work to them is that it seems to be full of signs that can be semiotically analyzed.
All of the different scenarios that Camper puts forth in her review of Persepolis 2 serve to show us that the novel is popular for many different reasons and whether or not it will appeal to you depends upon your personal interests and tastes.
Posted by lcissullivan at October 19, 2005 03:54 PM
Comments
Brenna- Great entry. Interesting how Camper seems to appeal to every class, every type of person in her comic. I had never known that the writing of comix was a male-dominated society until now. Very thorough!!
Posted by: Christina at October 19, 2005 11:05 PM
Brenna,
Really good post, you really seem to understand what Camper was addressing in her comic review and you displayed that. You brought up points that I didn't even think of. This is a helpful blog and you did a thorough job analyzing this comic.
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