This post is mostly related to what I (accidentally) read in the McCloud text on understanding comics. If you also read this feel free to comment.
McCloud essentially says that humans are selfish, so we see ourselves in everything. Any number of items we see day to day can be interpreted as having human characteristics, because we naturally make those connections. He uses the example of the headlights of a car appearing to be like eyes, or a socket in the wall appearing as a smiling face.
Because of this artists in comics can use abstraction to connect with the reader. This means altering the level of detail for different purposes. A highly detailed drawing of an individual clearly portrays that individual, but no others. A less detailed drawing could be any number of people, and so has more universal appeal, while a smiley face is almost without detail, but could be used to represent almost anyone.
Satrapi uses a moderate level of detail, almost the minimum possible to represent a personal family story. She uses enough detail so the reader can differentiate between the main character, her parents, uncle, secondary characters,etc. However she doesn't use so much detail as to limit the imagination. The reader looks at each image and can say that, yes, this drawing is the character of Anoosh, but it isn't so specific that it couldn't be my uncle, or my father. By doing this Satrapi gives the reader the chance to make these substitutions and therefore create a feeling of personal connection to the characters and the story.
As McCloud sees humans as selfish and reflecting themselves in images they see. Connections made between an individual and the content they are consuming are what helps to establish a common relationship or commonality that provides basis. This basis can then help for the author to explain and express their message to the reader. A technique of inter text is common where the author builds on other theories of narrative.
ReplyDeleteThese theories of narrative can be helped to built up through things such as cultural icons as a method. For example in class we discussed how in Persepolis Satrapi chooses a character to wear a Bee Gees t-shirt and makes a Michael Jackson reference. These clearly aren’t a large part of her culture but rather were done for other audiences to help draw them in and relate and as a result getting them to listen to the stories messages better and more intently.
Satrapi keeps her characters all separate and clear even with the restriction of black and white. With her leaving other things to the imagination keeping in the traditional flow and feeling of cartoon traditionally directed towards children and creativity. With the example discussed of Anoosh, that along with other religious symbols help to show structure while still leaving variation and the ability to create a unique storyline and perspective still up to the individual reader.
Ryan I agree that Satrapi uses cultural references to allow different readers to make connections with the text. For example as an American I found it refreshing to hear a familiar name when She mentions Jimmy Carter. Although she has nothing nice to say about him it allows me to put the book in a certain time frame and allows me to see the book in context of my own experiences and knowledge of the time period.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with you, pqbowers, that the levels of abstraction help connect with the reader, and we can easily superimpose ourselves as children over the relatively androgynous character of Marji (there are few distinguishing features on Marji that indicate that she is a girl, save the long hair in a band, and the occasional veil), so that we can see ourselves in her shoes, and thus relate to her character more easily. This is similar to what you mentioned about Anoosh being generic, allowing us an easier time of transporting us to their world and relating with the issues.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I would also like to suggest that the point of a simplified form is to portray a picture with precisely that quality: simplicity. We look at a sort of simplified human form being cut to pieces, and think of the horror, both to the man, and the expositor in a child's context (namely, Marji/Satrapi). We see a few burning black figures of teenagers in exploding mines, and the same page we see happy young teenagers at a punk party (p. 102). Such is Satrapi's contrast: complicated social and cultural issues, represented in a world of black and white, and simplified, childlike forms, allowing us to relate and the issues to be illustrated in an easy manner.