PERSEPOLIS ESSAY

The movie Persepolis, which is based on the graphic novel series of the same name written by Marjane Satrapi, is an autobiographical piece about Marjane’s life living in Iran through the course of the Iranian Revolution and the following war between Iran and Iraq. Even though I had read the graphic novel beforehand, while I was watching the movie everything felt somewhat new and exciting again even though I had already read it in its original context. One thing that really stood out in the movie was how closely it stayed in sync with the book. When I was reading the book one of the things that stood out to me was the simplicity of the images but how much of a visual impact they have with the contrast of the black and white. I am glad that they chose not to use actors because that would have made the visuals far too complex for such a complex story. The beauty of this film is that it is a complex story being told in a simple and readily accessible format that anybody can easily follow and comprehend. The black and white animation in the movie was just like the animation in the book only it was moving which also made it just as easy to follow and understand the mood a little bit more. I also enjoyed how the movie began with an older Marjane in the airport in color reflecting on her entire life up until that point instead of the way the book started explaining the veil. However, there were a few things that differed between the movie and the graphic novel. For one, Marjane’s uncle Anoosh is never introduced. I was surprised at this seeing as he had a big influence on Marjane and when he had died she was devastated and overcome with grief. Also the movie never shows Marjane sneaking out with the maid to go protest in the streets ever even though in the graphic novel she had done quite a bit of that. The movie portrays Marjane as a revolutionary that just speaks with no actions to back herself up but in the book she attends protests and riots against her parents’ will because she has a mind of her own. Even though there were some parts form the graphic novel that never made it in to the film, there are a few parts that were never in the graphic novel that I am glad were a part of the film. The part that I like a lot that was not in the book was the “Eye of the Tiger” cover by Marjane as she struts down the street without a care in the world. I thought that it really showed how much she desired to be part of western culture even though she was stuck in the Easter hemisphere. Other things such as the Michael Jackson patch and the “PUNK IS NOT DEAD” leather jacket just seemed to speak to me so much about how much of an influence western culture had on the main character of Marjane even though a very heavy eastern environment surrounded her. It makes me wonder how she had ever come across names such as Iron Maiden and Pink Floyd when everything was so controlled by the government.
All in all I thought that the movie was fantastic and I want to watch it again immediately after reading the book so that I can pinpoint any inconsistencies right on target so that I can rewrite this paper and make it more thorough.

Gilchrist V Ebert

Gilchrist and Ebert appear to agree on many things about Spiderman 2 for the most part. They both definitely agreed that it was an accurate adaptation of the comic book. The also both seem to enjoy the film. Ebert liked the movie alot more though. He thought that the movie was overall done very well like the length of Aunt May's speech and how the movie kept his interest the whole running time. He also stated that he loved the way the movie portrayed Spiderman as a superhero and as a human being with emotions and personal life. Gilchrist on the other hand said that there was alot to enjoy in the film but that the plot devices were a bit too elaborate and many never resolved as they should have. Overall, both critics enjoyed the movie but Ebert did more as a whole.

PERSEPOLIS

I really enjoyed the movie adaptation of persepolis. i feel like it most definitely did the graphic novel justice. it didnt change they way that i view the characters either since it was animated in the same way the graphic novel was. I also like that it was subtitled and not dubbed because usually when movies are dubbed for translation it almost ruins the work entirely. one major difference i noticed was that the book started off with marj wearing the veil and talking about how much it sucks and then it went to her growing up as a child and from then on out even passing the age she was when she started narrating. In the movie it started with her in the airport as an adult in color telling her story which appears in black and white like the graphic novel. The movie did however leave out a few characters and events such as her uncle and the woman and her husband among several other things. but i did enjoy the movie overall.

Chapter 1 Exercise 1

1. Scientists' experiments suggest that there are dangerous levels of Chemical X in the Ohio groundwater.
2. Some critics' view is that this novel has certain flaws.
3. Many people believe that football is boring.
4. The majority of students say that male students dominate class discussions.
5. Some people hold the view that the film is really about the problems of romantic relationships.
6. Some readers are afraid that the templates like the ones in this book will stifle their creativity.

Eisner & McClaud

The comic guides by Eisner and McClaud were both interesting and informative. I never thought that there could possibly be more to comics than just reading them but apparently it's just not that simple. Sure there are pictures and words right in front of you but there is a lot more to it than just words and pictures. Eisner's take on the subject was informative but a little boring for my taste seeing as most of it was typed up in a traditional writing format. McClaud showed the magic of comic books by talking in that style. I also like how he made it so that he was on the page talking you through it all so that you could even get imagery of him teaching you. Also since he wrote it in comic style he kept me more interested in what he was talking about and made it easier to read unlike Eisner's approach.

Exercise 4m

Whenever i have any kind of written assignment I usually start off with my laptop in my lap, recline my desk chair, pull out the middle drawer on the side of my desk and rest my legs on it and then type away. I tend to not listen to music with words such as rap, hip-hop, or rock. Instead I listen to trance usually. It keeps me focused and it always has a nice beat to work to without lyrics to distract me. When it comes to the prewriting process I usually type out a body for the point im trying to make and try and structure the premises around that purpose. I do it by paragraphs. Then when it comes time to make a draft I basically freewrite but loosely base it on my outline. Revision does play a certain role in my writing based on how I feel about the changes suggested and how they would affect the piece. Naturally, my ideal writing circumstances would involve being assigned an interesting topic that I wouldn't get bored with such as religion, music, art or philosophy. I don't have any experience with workshopping. Infact, I'm still not even quite sure what workshopping is supposed to be. But I have been doing peer reviews for as long as I've been assigned writing assignments.