Chang's Narrative Ethic

I feel that Chang's narrative ethic lies in the honest depiction of the American tourists as well as Cindy's family. As I mentioned in last week's blog, "Chang juxtaposes American wealth and ignorance with the hard work of the Chinese cruise workers."He chose to show all sides of Cindy's story so that we are able to understand the tough decision Cindy's family had in sending her there, as well as the struggle they are enduring at home. Chang also chooses to show the ignorance of the American tourists on the ship, not to make Americans feel stupid, but simply to further highlight the hard work of the Chinese cruise ship workers. Had he not shown us both sides of the story, we would not feel as much compassion for the workers as we do in the ship scenes.

His narrative ethic is to be honest and dimensional when informing so that the audience can have the same understanding of the situation as he does. As we read in Chang's background story, he even left out some scenes that may stray away from his purpose in making this documentary.

Though the dams shown in the end of the film may solve some temporary problems, I feel that he too might be unsure of all of the repercussions. This is also why he shows the farm workers looking at these dams in awe saying that their country is so "strong" and "prosperous." I feel that again is highlighting the ignorance or naivete of the Chinese citizens who feel the worst is over. In all honesty, I have yet to find out whether this is true of China, but perhaps Chang's purpose was to drive the audience to find out.

His purpose for the story was not just to make us empathize but to also be informed of the young and struggling families along the Yangtze River. He also informs us of the actual damage caused by the flood as he shows modern and prospering cities going under water. Though we know Cindy's family was eventually aided by the government and displaced, the film ends in a way that leaves us unsure of their future. I feel that he did this on purpose as he too is unsure of China's future.

To Do For the Many

To “Do for the Many” is a key quote that can be paralleled to Up the Yangtze. Cindy is sent to work as a young teenage girl because her family cannot afford to send her to school. With their home and farmland going under (literally) they must do all that they can to support the family to stay afloat. Thus, Cindy was sent to work on the cruise ship with little concept on how to speak English and the proper etiquette she would have to use to speak to American tourists. This is also the first time Cindy had been away from home, let alone all by herself. Though this was very difficult for Cindy to do, and she said she felt home sick nearly every day, she did it for “the many”, her family. Though perhaps she had no choice, it is still a sacrifice she made for the sake of her family’s prosperity and health.

To “Do for the Many” is also a key quote for the country of China as it relates toe the joke made in the movie about the black and white cats. The joke was that it doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.” In my opinion, this joke means that, in China, it does not matter of your background or wealth. What is most important is that you do your part in the chain for their country. To “do for the many” is to do for the betterment of your country. Therefore, this quote is both relevant in Cindy’s family as well as the entire country.

Metaphorai in Up the Yangtze

How can we use “metaphorai” (Schirato/Web 82) to help explain this film (Up the Yangtze)?
In “Visual Narratives” by Tony Schirato and Jenn Web, Michel de Certeau defines metaphorai, root word: metaphor, as “a bus or a train, stories could also take this noble name: everyday, they traverse and organize places; they select and link them together” (Schirato/Web 81). Metaphorai can be directly related to the film, Up the Yangtze, by the mere fact that the entire film takes us through the progression of the water rising and how it effects China’s citizens. In Up the Yangtze, we also see the progression of Cindy’s family having to find and move into a new home, along with Cindy’s reactions with the other girls that work on the boat. Cindy’s family is extremely poor and they lived in a shack near the Yangtze River, as the river rises her family has to move to a new location. In the beginning of the film, we see that Cindy’s family has established a sad but well working household. They have their vegetables and seem to have a system for everything, only to be uprooted by the Yangtze. We see the journey/progression of this process because we see the story unfold from the beginning to the end.
In the beginning of the story we can analyze that Cindy does not interact with many other people other than her family before she works for the boat. As the story develops we see that Cindy becomes friends with the girls on the boat, this is a journey of growing up for Cindy. It was important to see the progression of Cindy because she is a young girl trying to provide for her poor family and through her friends on the boat she is able to be her age and have fun without the burden of the economy on her shoulders.
The term metaphorai allows us to grasp the importance of the progression or journey of China and its culture. This can construct the audience because then we can see the trials China went through to achieve their goal of the Three Gorges Dam. Taking an audience on a “metaphor” ride through the journey in China allows the audience to be informed of what is going on and how it is affecting people in China. It not only allows the audience to better understand China and its history, but we also get to witness citizens that were directly affected by the Dam and relate with the citizens in a personal way.

Film vs. Literature

I think some authors have been using literary devices which show conflicted ideas. For example, Shakespeare used so many ideas contrast each other in Romeo and Juliet.

Death vs. Life, Duty vs. Love, Good vs. Evil …

My theory is that whatever authors write about, to a degree, they can’t avoid using contrast effect to deliver a message. After seeing the film, Up to the Yangtze, my first impression was that Chang’s style is so close to Shakespeare who emphasized the contrast effect on purpose to make story, except that Up to the Yangtze is not love story. So, I went back home after the class and tried to arrange concepts which bear two contrast ideas or moods as much as possible. But if my trial about the film went so far beyond and don’t fit well to the class, please forgive me.

Land vs. Cruise Boat
Before Yu Shui got on the Cruise boat, she was on the land under the parents’ influence. But after aboard the boat, everything changed. Money, Social relationship and cry from other staff members. She grows through working on the boat.

Educated vs. Uneducated
Yu Shui want to study more to be a scientist. It could be a way to achieve her personal success but her parents can’t afford to let her study because of tuition fee. At the same time, education for Yu Shui, seems a way not to repeat the poor.

Mao vs. Western Presidents
Not just about Socialism and Capitalism. The translator on the boat (Chinese guy) mentions political leaders and global trend. Between two ideology and political strategy, money sounds a common important factor for human.

Inside vs. Outside
Inside of the boat, they look wonder about outside of the world while working and looking through the glass window. Outside world, they do shopping, having rest, meeting parents.

Social vs. Cocky
Chen Bo Yu (Jerry) does not hang out with other members well, even though their work requires interaction and teamwork.

Fengdu vs. Splendid downtown
In Fengdu, there is a mean, poor cottage. In the downtown of China, there are skyscrapers. The place us center of business and always crowded.

Cleaning dishes vs. Waiter (Bartender)
Some people are washing dishes and some people are getting tips as a bartender. Washing dishes look more hard and dirty compared to joking with drinkers.

Besides I think there are more couples like western tourist vs. Chinese workers. For me Chang made a film with a bunch of contrasts that he seemed to achieve to show a real life, which’s like a coin has two sides.

Elimination of the Implanted Image

I would like to indicate my opinion about the posted question in the class "How can this film challenge the idea that 'documentary writing is opposed to literature that is based on artistic imaging'". In Persepolis, some scenes are composed by several images that it would not be able to happen simultaneously. For instance, while Siamak Jari describes the Ahamadi's torture to Marji and her family, both of the description that the explanation by Siamak and Ahamadi's torture by cruel torturer are drawing in same scene. Although both of the description shows us clear information, it is impossible one in terms of our real optic angle. That is, although it is a advantage of the image that it can describe which cannot happen in our real world, there is a risk that the reader could not use their imagination by the implanted image.

On the other hand, the film "Up the Yangtze" provides audience the real description. In the documentary works, the dramatized events like as the above sentences in Persepolis would not happen in at all. Because of the elimination of the implanted and dramatized image, the audience can evaluate the movie by their own consideration. Furthermore, it is one of the characters of documentary works that a movie or program that gives facts and information about something. Therefore, the film "Up the Yangtze" is trying to describe the naked information about characters without dramatization. It shows the figure of two young boy and girl. Both of them are described their figure that is including the distress, the frustration, the affection for family, and ignorance for living in the society. Therefore, I think this film challenges to describe the documentary work which opposed position against the artistic imaging in terms of the elimination of the dramatization.

Unilateral Point of View for Audience

In Abigail Adams' "Letters to John Adams", while she mentions her opinion about the national affairs and let John know how she has been getting along in her correspondence, she also constantly begs him to answer her letters. She says that "I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors" (320). From her sentences of entreaty, we can see as if John is quite indifferent to her wish and her suffering. She sometimes avoids writing directly about her suffering and implies about her husband's character in the letter, which also shows us she has a humble attitude and tolerant character.

However, in terms of the universal understanding that correspondence is exchanged letters, should we consider that her letters comprehend the truth and every information, even John's opinion? In reading these letters, our point of view as a reader is so much third-person that we cannot get something that the author sends to the audience like Marji's sentences in Persepolis. Then we have no choice but interpret the situation believing her sentences in the letters.

When we read such documentaries like these letters, I think we should be careful in order that our view do not be moved by unilateral point of view. Even though we cannot see enough information to interpret the entire events, we should consider that her letters simply represent only one-sided point of view, not everything for understanding, because we may not be able to judge the logical opinion in the case of when we believe just her opinion.

Iranian's life rather than Iran

After reading Persepolis, I read a book (The Believer books of writers talking to writers) which includes an interview with Satrapi. In this book I could understand more about the author’s motivation and could feel how strong it was when she started drawing and writing her experience.

In her interview in Believer, Book of writers talking to writers, Satrapi says about her works. “There were things I didn’t plan, or really didn’t remember at first, that just came out." (Believer, p284) This shows how her motivation to write a novel was strong when she writes. Just like in Up to the Yangtze, Chang was shocked by modern China’s appearance, Satrapi was shocked by people who look Iran strangely and think they are different. She went to France and saw her nation was dealt with an extremely simple image in cable news, she says. “Just like in the U.S, where the people are not represented by Bush, in Iran the people are not represented by the Ayatollahs.”

She advocates for human’s similarities and she doesn’t say in her book which is right or wrong. I venture to guess this is related to her background that she could achieve as a “cultural bridge”. Her background is from a Middle East country but staying in the western country alone, it must be really hard. No question. Also she doesn’t say her family was very rich directly but we could find some clues. First her grandfather was prince and her father had a great vehicle. Second, she likes shopping in the book even when the war was occurred and her parents seemed highly educated if we see her parents’ dialogue. But when Marji was outside she could feel her surroundings and recognized how different it is compared to her secure condition. But whenever she interacts with people she finds people’s similarities, basic emotion such as love, grief, passion and so on. I think she tried to focus on human’s life in Iran rather than Iran.

Her novel is so popular that Persepolis was even translated to Israel. (I was surprised by this actually!) I think because she is not on a side but she embraces both of them. She is not only humanist but also fundamentalist. Her philosophy is that all human is same even they have some differences. Her neutral background and various experience seemed to influence her narration style and topics. If she was dealing with exaggerated national pride and telling about just Iran not Iranian’s life, I think it wouldn’t be successful like now.

Adams, the Progressive (Abigail, that is)

The letters of Abigail Adams are clearly not meant for the audience they are now given to. However they provide a sense of understanding to their audience. We see that Adams is quite involved in progressive rhetoric, meeting many of the ideals explored on page 49 of Jimmie Killingsworth's "Appeals to Time".

Killingsworth writes that essential to proggressive rhetoric is the idea that the "new reform and the old reforms will mutually reinforce each other" (Killingsworth 49). Adams, herself makes this clear in her letter, saying that men must "give up the harsh title of Master for the... one of friend" (Adams 319). She signs her letters to her husband "Portia", evidently understanding that she may be of help to her husband, more as a partner than as a submissive (Adams 321).

Another aspect of the progressive rhetoric, the idea that "not taking the contemplated action will bring disastrous consequences" is also suggested in Adams' writing (Killingsworth 49). She notes that if care is not paid to the cause of the "Ladies", then the said ladies will not be "bound by any laws" (Adams 318). It is clear also, what action Adams desires, the right to a vote, "a voice, or Representation" (Adams 318). She clearly understands the elements involved in idea of progressive.

Killingsworth's third essential of progressive-ism is the idea that the "contemplated action" is enforced by "powerful historical forces" (Killingsworth 49). Despite our small selection of Adams' letters, we are given support for this element as well. She mentions that "Men of Sense in all Ages" have been aware of the folly of treating women as only "vassals of [the male] Sex" (Adams 319). Adams is acutely aware that she is not alone in her thought. She urges that men not be the "Master" but the protector of women, using their "power only for [their] happiness" (Adams 319).

Adams' letters adequately show an understanding of the progressive idea. Killingsworth's article, though written much later than the letters of Adams supports her ideas and indicates that she is truly forward thinking.

Cats and Mice

We discussed in class the “cat joke” from Chang’s “Up the Yangtze.” I would like to add that this joke represents both the socialist and capitalist undertones that are grappled with throughout the film and how this is Chang’s way of having us question our own motivations and cultural paradigms.
The “cat joke” was originated from Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader from 1974 to 1999 following Mao. The saying is “it doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.” Deng Xiaoping was famous for the economic reform that he brought to China, so this quote is referring to the influx of capitalism in China.
My initial reaction to the quote was that it was referring to capitalism, and that Deng Xiaoping was comparing China with western capitalist countries, saying that they could both have successful modern economies. But, Taryn’s comment in class referring to the quote about how the cat was doing its job made me rethink this. The joke also made me think of the socialist idea that people should fill the place in society that they are best suited to fill, in order to eliminate suffering. This idea seems to contradict the social mobility that capitalism would ideally provide China. So, I was unsure about which way to think about the joke.
This dilemma reminded me of a quote from the director’s statement for “Up the Yangtze.” “You have Yu Shui and Chen Bo Yu, you have people who want change, who want a better life. And who can argue with that?” (Chang) When I first read this quote, I felt compassion for both characters and their desire for a better life. But, when viewed in the context of the “cat joke” and the human suffering portrayed in the film, I realized that the desire that Yu Shui and Chen Bo Yu have, though on a smaller scale, is the same as the desire of the Chinese government for progress. But, this is a catch-22 because the desire for change is causing the suffering and suffering is causing the desire for change.
So, this is representative of the promises that both capitalism and socialism make to the proletariat for a better life. But, as this movie suggests, neither can fulfill the promises completely. This conundrum doesn’t apply only to China though. Chang is prompting the viewer to question their own desire for a better life and the ethics and consequences behind such a desire.


http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/deng_xiaoping.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/deng-xiaoping

How Emotion is portrayed in Up the Yangtze

Emotion is something that we experience, whether through what we see or hear. In, Up the Yangtze, film by Yung Chang, we experience something called emotion come over us. When? Why? How? These are questions that we may ask ourselves. Chang does a great job by controlling or “constructing” his audience. I felt at times that I was just a viewer of the film, not intrigued or anything, but at other times, I felt very connected or felt the emotions the characters were portraying. How does Chang do this? Go from being detached but then the next minute, feeling like I am their relative or close friend enduring the same emotions with them. I find this thought interesting because I think that this director filmed and directed the film well. In films, like Up the Yangtze, it helps us understand this real life situation. By the director connecting us with the characters, helps us understand what China and its citizens were going through. It connects us emotionally with them, which I think is important when explaining or showing us their lives. If the audience does not connect with the film and its characters, then what is the point of the film? So, how does the director do this? Well, I believe that music and the emotion of the characters are portraying, have a huge impact on the audience. The times that I felt most connected to the characters are when they were going through a hard time and really showed their inner feelings. With that, the background music put us into a mindset that tells us how to feel, whether is it happy or sad.

Having the audience connect with the characters is key for a director. Emotion allows us to feel and experience what the characters are going through without actually being there. With that, if we understand, or feel like we understand, we are able to have a positive or negative reaction to what the director wants us to feel. All in all, Up the Yangtze is a great depiction of how a director/ author/ narrator constructs its audience to making them feel how they want. They do this through emotion with the characters and having dramatic music in the background. Emotion, I think, is important for a successful reaction to a medium of literature.

Becoming More Aware

When viewing "Up the Yangtze", I felt myself becoming more aware of the message when Cindy's parents cry while telling her that she must begin working in order to support herself and her family.

In the beginning scene when Cindy's brother is telling us of his dreams to go to high school, we are saddened when his father tells him they can not afford it. However, before this scene, we are told by the child that he feels his family lives and eats well, and that he feels fortunate. We therefore don't really believe or sympathize with the father because, from our understanding, they might really have some money saved for school. At this point, we still can not fully understand the struggle of their family because the perspective comes from an unreliable narrator.

This is why I found myself to be more enlightened during the scene when Cindy's parents argue over what lies in her future, and how they will tell her. I found this scene to be so real in it's dialogue because it is the first time we understand that it truly is difficult for the parents to send Cindy away to work. You can understand that they want what is best for their children, but because of the flooding and lack of money, they have no other choice. They have worked their entire lives for the betterment of their children's lives, but the sad truth is that they will unlikely escape their poverty.

This is why I found myself becoming much more aware of the author's purpose in this scene. He is not only trying to show the struggle of some Chinese citizens, but also the inevitability of their fate.

Another scene where I became more aware of the author's purpose was when the Chinese bar tender on the cruise ship was talking to wealthy German teens. As an American who has traveled outside of the United States, this scene really spoke to me. When traveling to another country, tourists don't often understand the real differences between worker and the tourist. This became very obvious in this bar scene because the German teens were the exact same age as the bar tender but likely have no idea of the differences in their wealth and upbringing. The tourists sat back and enjoyed luxury while someone at the exact same stage in their life was serving drinks and washing dishes to support their family. I feel this is exactly the message Yung Chang wanted to portray in this film.

Enculturation in a Disappearing Culture.

Upon viewing Up the Yangtze, our class was encouraged to think about how enculturation played a part in the film. I feel that the process of Cindy's enculturation was interrupted just as it was beginning. The farming culture she grew up in vanished before her eyes, soaked up by capitalist China's dam, leaving viewers to ask, what is she to be encultured into now?

Cindy has lived with her mother, father, and siblings, seeming to have little interaction with those outside her immediate family. Although she has attended school, she does not seem to have learned the same things as others her age. We are shown video material of other girls on the boat that they and Cindy work on, who refer to her hyegine and characeteristics in almost rude ways. However, viewers sense that the girls know Cindy is different from them not only in her appearance but also in how she deals with her problems in her job and in that, the girls have an understanding of the situation they all play a part in.

Cindy has not learned the skills for what she is now having to do. While she was going to school, she was able to perform the tasks her parents needed her to do. However, when her family learned that they would be displaced by the rising waters, they were thrown into disarray. The parents had no plan as to what to do without their plot of farm-land and the shelter that they owned on it. The girls on the boat note that Cindy does not know how to talk to people or to ask for things. This is true, Cindy has been raised by parents who must scrimp to make sure their children have basic care. Coming from this sort of environment, Cindy is not used to one in which she may just ask for things.

The fast paced way in which Cindy's life is changing leads viewers to believe that she may be able to become involved and even comfortable in the commercial culture of China, and viewers may hope that this happens quickly if she is to survive and help her family as well.

The Message

In response to the question posed in class: “In Up the Yangtze, when do you find yourself becoming more or less aware of the message or messenger,” I would like to focus on the message.

The message is fairly clear in the beginning. The dam is characterized by the ironic cruises that commercialize thousands of years of Chinese history. The employees of the ships are shown as catering to the Americans shamelessly. For example, the rules that they can’t talk about politics, and they have specific criteria for how they can describe passengers. The viewer is supposed to view the dam as bad and the influence of capitalism as detrimental.

The message is complicated though with the contrasting views of the life of the young girl and the prosperity of the cityscape. The teenagers in the city are portrayed as being slightly older that the young girl and maybe even working in the same capacity as her. They seem to be living a better life than her too. This gives the reader the impression that they are supposed to support the capitalist influence. But, then this is contrasted with the millions of people that are losing their jobs, such as the young girl’s family and their farm. So, at this point in the movie it is unclear about which way the viewers should lean.

Constructing an Audience

I feel that Yung Chang constructs us as an audience by showing both the perspective of Cindy's family as well as the tourists on the cruise ship. It seems that his purpose for this documentary is to inform the audience on the struggles of the families suffering from the flood by the Yangtze, as well as show the actual geographic change in this region. He chooses to show the rising flood lines in modern moderns cities as to show that this struggle is not due to lack of effort. Though China may have the resources to fight the rising flood lines, it seems from what we can understand thus far that it is nearly inevitable.

In order to further construct us as an audience, Chang juxtaposes American wealth and ignorance with the hard work of the Chinese cruise workers. He is then almost asking the audience to empathize with the struggling families as well as asking us to open our eyes as Americans. If these cruise liners are as common as the movie makes them out to be, then it seems a bit sad that so many people leave with an incomplete understanding of Chinese culture and the problems caused by the flooding from the Yangtze.

I feel, as a viewer of this movie, that this is how Yung Chang wanted us to feel. It seems that his purpose for this movie was to show a perspective that is not often given and may inform those who are not familiar with the issues in China.

Enculturation in Up The Yangtze

One of the questions Professor Graban put onto the board was, “How does the film represent “enculturation”? To define enculturation, here is the definition I got from dictionary.com, “the process whereby individuals learn their group's culture, through experience, observation, and instruction.” I think that this can be expressed or exampled by looking into Jerry and Cindy’s lives in Up the Yangtze, film by Yung Chang. This film is about the parallel lives of the young new workers on the boat. Jerry, a wealthy young man was taught new concepts of life by working on the boat. Cindy, like Jerry, was taught new concepts but she is from a poor family background. Yet they learned more about the life around them, they also learned new and different things about their culture.

Jerry learned how to be polite and greet people. While viewing the film, it seemed like he had trouble with this task. Maybe because of the language barrier or the fact that he comes from a family that is usually being greeted rather than the other way around. That question is still up in the air, but the point is that he was not comfortable with this; therefore he had to learn and practice this new concept. Cindy learned how to be around people and work with them. It seems, to me, that Cindy was not comfortable around people because she had been around just her family for so long. Maybe because she was shy or not use to being around people that were her age. Regardless, this was an aspect of life that she was learning and working on.

Enculturation was exemplified through the film through the lives of Jerry and Cindy. This showed that by working on the boat they were exposed to different types of people, as well as, learning how to work with them. The boat is a symbol of a new chapter for the both of them. Although they are experiencing something for the first time together, their lives are on completely two different spectrums. Jerry goes from rich to control, by being polite and obedient. Yet, Cindy goes from poor to direction, by learning how to have patience and guidance with doing the dishes.

Why does this analysis matter? Well, by breaking down this observation we learn how one thing, working on a boat, can affect people differently and what their experience is. They get a feel of what the world or culture is like outside of their normal lifestyle.

Mr. Chang's Audience

Up the Yangtze, a heart-wrenching documentary directed by Yung Chang, exposes the hardships faced by peasant families living in China.  The film takes place on the Yangtze River, while a cruise ship offers tourists the last opportunity to see “old China” before it is flooded forever because of the Three Gorges Dam. 
Yung Chang particularly follows the life of one teenage girl, Cindy Yu Shui, who was sent to work for the cruise company due to the extreme poverty of her family. The success of this film comes from Chang’s ability to mold the audience and make them sympathize for Cindy’s situation as well as the state of China overall.    

In order to help understand how Chang shapes his audience so well, one can use Jimmie Killingsworth’s “Rhetoric Situations” as a lens. Killingsworth points out the relationship between ethos (the author), pathos (the audience), and logos (logic). 
In Up the Yangtze, Chang places the emphasis on “pathos [involving] the audience, especially the emotions of the audience” therefore creating a persuasive discourse and successfully making his film powerful (Killingsworth 26).  However, in the case of Cindy and her family, it is not difficult to find situations in which the viewers can sympathize. 
For example, Cindy’s brother “was in a meningitis-related coma…Hospital fees and school fee’s combined with school fees put the Yu’s in severe debt”(Chang 1). This forced Cindy to abandon her education and home to work for the cruise line in order to support her family. 
This reveals to viewers an aspect of Chinese culture that effects a large number of people and is occurring partially because of the politics of the country.

China is currently filled with “nationalist fervor” meaning that people view the government’s dam as the best thing for the country and “the small family must sacrifice to help the big family-the nation”(Chang 2). 
By directing this film, Yung Chang is addressing the concept of kairos, “a timeless awareness of the present situation of the audience and the need to act or change”(Killingsworth 26).  By exposing the truth behind the working class of China, it calls the audience to action, action against poverty in rural China as well as the future of the country and where it is heading.

Visual Narratives as the Aggregation

In the article "visual narratives", Schirato and Web explained that "We cannot know this for certain without knowledge that comes from outside the image"(p.89), and "Because the story illustrated in these ways were so well and so widely known until fairly recent times, the story itself could direct the reading of the visual text"(p.89), and "No more would need to be contained in either image, because each composed the sort of allusion--extremely popular in Western art up to the twentieth century---which worked because people shared knowledge of the stories being represented. Now that these stories are no longer nearly so widely known, other allusions have taken their place"(p.89). That is, according to these sentences, the premise of an image must be shared by people living in the same society, and therefore the image of the object would be able to be distinguished by their knowledge. In other words, people discover the image of object as its character in order to distinguish.

However, if the image is provided us individually, we are hard to catch the information from the single object even if we have already shared the image as a premise. For instance, the picture Figure 4.3 in page 88, if this picture depicts just the image of the woman without any other description and any other background, how degree of the information people can obtain? I think people can obtain just the information at best that the woman is closing her eye, or she is sleeping just now, probably. The reason why people who look this picture can figure out the information that she would be sleeping in the train because of exhausting is that they can also look other information like as background and some elements. Because many elements which are already given the premise image and shared the meaning by people in advance exist simultaneously, the aggregation of the visual images can lead people to the view. That is, the reason why people can obtain any information from object and the image is based on that the images exist as the aggregation.

Same Genre, Different Effect

Schirato and Webb, in visual narratives, explain that understanding the qualities of a genre will give the reader knowledge about how that genre tells a story, how it narrates. They say perceiving certain qualities of genre helps reader to get direct knowledge. Also they showed about flexibility of the genre boundary which hints to us that same genre also may vary with each one’s specialty. I brought here Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel, Maus to compare with Persepolis in the concept of genre. In this essay, I examined what differences they have, and what kind of direct knowledge helps us to understand context.

First of all, they report in a similar way about cruel times under corrupted power, when their nation was extremely unstable within an abnormal state. Second of all, they are telling about themselves who survived among countless victims. Some of them are family members and some are their close neighbors. These graphic novels have similar qualities of a genre in terms of story which are very familiar to us. Many students, at least heard once about The Diary of Anne Frank from their text books. And if they love movies, they must have seen Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List or Roman Polanski’s Pianist. Even Persepolis is not dealing about Jew’s history, but it is on the same line since it has many cruel scenes full of bleeding and dead people during the hard times.

First, if we see the book cover of Persepolis, we can see the color of the book cover is red. In the center, a girl in the veil stares at us while crossing her arms on the desk. The subtitle, the story of a childhood seems unnatural with the provocative red color, because the color reminds us blood and violence. Readers might be intrigued by unharmonious design and girl’s expression on her face. Similarly, a Holocaust story Maus uses the color red on the main title which located at the top of the book. At the center, there is a Nazis symbol with a skull of the cat which directly represents the symbol of Holocaust, victim’s story. Down side, two mice wearing human’s jacket are kneeling and staring at us with small black eyes. The subtitle of Maus is also red that is survivor’s tale. This gives critical information that this is a survival’s story from the Second World War. However, compared to Persepolis we are intrigued about the character’s animal portrayal and connection between red color and the word bleed from my father bleeds history which is another subtitle at the bottom.

As we turn the page, Maus starts its story with a short episode before showing gun fires or concentration camps. When Spiegelman (son mouse) was young, he was racing with friends. He lost and cried out to friends who made fun of him because he fell down. To his son’s frustration, Vladek (father) advised with remembering past “If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week, then you could see what it is, Friends!”

By contrast, Persepolis first provides episode’s title the veil which draws readers’ attention because we saw this veil before reading on the cover. Directly she uses the words like “Islamic Revolution” and shows her memoir in school. She is telling her story to the reader, but not to the characters in a novel. Narration seems to be first point of view which comprised of dialogue balloons and captions. However, in “Maus”, main narrator is the father (mouse); he is telling his memoir to his son who visits regularly. Direction of narration is not directly toward readers but his son that we as readers become son. The structure is different from Persepolis that readers get more information from the father’s voice with dialogues or captions between son and father.

Both graphic novels are dealing with sad episodes during their hard times. But they have different structure and different drawing style. Compared to Persepolis, the Pulitzer awarded novel, Maus uses indirect narration that we may feel like observing a person who experienced the Second World War. And also the way to start its story affects readers that when we read first page we may change our mind which we expected before in terms of genre.

The picture from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maus.jpg

Captions and Emotions

After reading “visual narratives”, I examined how captions (thought-balloons) resolve to support images’ uncertainty as a narrative and guide readers to right interpretation, in the last chapter of Persepolis, the dowry. Persepolis is easy to understand because of its simplicity; the black and white color and the simplified character images. However, in order to understand the emotions of character, we need to think about how the captions and images (frames) work together. The captions reveal emotions.

On page 152, Marji and her parents go to the airport for her to leave to Austria. In most frames, Marji does not say anything, but “I love you” when she moves to departure passage. Her mother and father console her with many dialogues which contrast with Marji’s silence. She shows her horrible expression on face and crying. Here, readers may not understand what kinds of emotion she has and what situation she faces until she provides her thoughts with captions, because she cannot show her inner-thoughts within visual image. In addition, readers may interpret this leaving scene in their own way in the given context. To send her inner thought, one frame explains her repeated concern with a caption in box, “What I had feared was true. Maybe they’d come to visit, but we’d never live together again.”

The caption helps readers to perceive that narrator’s preoccupied thoughts. Without the caption, we are not sure how sad she is, though leaving parents is heartbreaking moment. To this, Scott McCloud, said in his book Making Comics (Ch3 the power of words, p128) that thought balloon can offer a glimpse into any character. After hearing the news Niloufar is dead, she finds her parents who strangely persuade her to leave to Europe. At this time she couldn’t directly ask her parents. Leaving was shocking for her, and she was preoccupied with her thoughts and was silent. The reason why she slept with grandma and gave her precious posters to her friends is that it could be the last time. And this thought appears again at the airport with a caption. The next caption, when she looks her parents, is “It’s a little like dying.” She is continuously silent, because she never meets her again. She decided to turn around and see her parents. All these thoughts are provided as caption.

Only after hearing through caption, we feel in right way, how her emotion changes from repeated concern to inconsolable grief. These inner reports seem to recognize reader’s existence that it makes scenes more vivid and dramatic. Scott McCloud says that caption is “equivalent of a movie over-voice” (Making Comics, Ch3 the power of words, 155p) that it is an only way to guide readers to storyteller’s narration. In Persepolis, Marji seems to acknowledge the readers and to locate her thought balloons on purpose in certain frames, which results in dramatic effect and also helps us understand context.

Aligning Persepolis and Up the Yangtze

Two parts of the curriculum of this class have dealt with the stories of young girls, one, Persepolis, written by Marjane Satratpi as a sort of memoir and two, Up the Yangtze, a film by Yung Chang that details a bit of the life of Cindy Yu Shui. Readers are able to relate both narratives to the writing of Tony Schirato and Jenn Web. Chang and Satrapi seek to impart knowledge on viewers or their art. In Viaual Narratives a description of a narrative is given; something with "narrator, character plot ,event, time, place, causality" (Schirato and Webb 97). It stands to reason that if we view each work as such, we may compare them despite the many initial differences they have.

As humans, we encounter many things in narrative form. "We make sense of our own lives, as well as our connections to other people... in terms of the narratives we craft. If this holds true then we may safely say that we make sense of what we encounter in the same way and perhaps we may make connections between other things in such terms. The girls who feature prominently in the film and graphic novel seem to be similar in age. However they have quite different social and cultural experiences. While Cindy is sent to work on a cruise boat, Marji is sent to study abroad.

One interesting thing about the two girls is the way in which they are viewed by those around them. Although there seem to be those in both narratives that would dismiss the girls, the support they receive from others seems to decide whether or not each girl will let others decide her life. However; the fact that Cindy does not continue her education as she would like to is not a sign of weakness. She must do this in order to support her struggling family. Marji is never hampered by what she owes her family. She is in a position of privilege and her independence is less impressive when we see what an environment she has grown up in. With parents that support her whims, she is knows what she wants and she knows she can desire things. Cindy, on the other hand is unable to communicate what she wants to those around her. She is able to let her parents know that she would like to continue in her schooling but after this dream is squelched, she quickly becomes silent about her wishes.

The Chinese government seems much more successful at achieving the supposed goal of the Iranian government. The girl in Chang's work, 'Cindy' as she is named by the boat director, has lost identity indirectly because of type of country she lives in. She is lost in the commercial and quickly-moving-forward industry because she is unsuited to it. She has not been prepared for what her future holds. The Iranian government seeks to quiet those who speak out against them but are unable to hide facts from the inhabitants of their country. In contrast we are told in Chang's film that the Chinese people don't care about the specifics as long as they are moving forward. This is evidenced by the story that parallels the progress of China and the United States as capitalist and socialist countries that do not actually differ all that much from one another.

Chang, the Messenger.

Up the Yangtze, a deeply moving documentary by Yung Chang about the Three Gorges Dam in China, opens with a stimulating quote from Confucius:
"By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection which is noblest; second, by imitation which is easiest; and third, by experience which is bitterest."
This immediately caught my attention, making me dive into the story with an even more analytical eye asking the simple question; what makes this quote significant to the film?

"By three methods we may learn wisdom..."
This easily proved not so simple, it became evident that the documentary was a lot more complex then I had first imagined. I found myself having to break apart this 'simple' question and let it mold itself. This quote soon delivered a deeper message involving a Chang-Audience relationship, Chen Bo Yu (Jerry), Yu Shui (Cindy) and each of their Realities.

"First, by reflection which is noblest..."
One of the first things I noticed about the film involved Chang himself. We hear his voice, we hear his story, we hear his motivation for making the film, but we never see him. He establishes himself as the 'man behind the curtain' and makes it pretty clear he intends to stay that way. His narration itself almost says that the story is not about him at all, that he is just there to speak in the empty spaces between those that are filled with his subjects and their lives. The questions he poses, the descriptions he applies, and the explanations he provides are all set before the audience for a specific purpose. As a messenger of the story, Chang is asking us to reflect upon what we are learning. It is our duty to dispel our misconceptions and see the Reality of the people being displaced and affected by the Three Gorges Dam. By speaking, faceless, to us, it makes us focus on the situation and story rather then him. He forces us to open our own eyes and start drawing our own conclusions. In this reflection, we gain the wisdom to thoroughly begin to understand the film and it's subjects, namely Chen Bo Yu and Yu Shui.

"Second, by imitation which is easiest..."
Chen Bo Yu is an only child from a middle-class background and its immediately evident that he's a little spoiled and cocky. He was hired onto the cruise boat because he was tall, speaks good English, and was handsome. His Reality is fitting the mold in a luxury tourist industry. Excited to throw himself into Western Culture and 'modernity' he embraces his role on deck. Even though his family too will be displaced by the dam, he tries to forget that Reality and look to what he thinks will be the future of China. Old Maoist China does not really exist to him, and much of the development of 'New' China is where he is. He imitates his modernized surroundings, gaining wisdom as a more contemporary setting emerges... being the person he is, its definitely easier reacting and learning in this way.

"Third, by experience which is the bitterest..."
By far Yu Shui's Reality is the hardest to watch and endure. Her family lives on the very banks of the Yangtze in extreme poverty and her story becomes the center of the film. With siblings, something not unusual to peasant families, her parents are in extreme debt thanks to a hospital bill and school fees. Yu Shui's dream is to go to High School and then on to a University in furthering her education, however her family's distressing situation dashes those dreams to pulp. In an emotional scene, the audience sees the mother crying and apologizing for having to exploit her own daughter to go make money for the family instead of going to school... something much of Western Culture takes for granted. They send her off to work below deck on the cruise ship and its a shock to her system. She has a break down in the kitchen when she grasps that this is now her Reality; washing dishes to survive. For Yu Shui, she had to learn by experience, she was not given a choice, its a hard and bitter Reality and one she must cope with in order to move up, however she (probably more then Chen Bo Yu) will accumulate solid and stable wisdom about the world around her and will grow from it.

Chang is the Messenger for Yu Shui and Chen Bo Yo's stories. He is the Messenger for the Reality of the Three Gorges Dam. He is the Messenger asking us to question the ethics presented in this documentary about the lives both above and below deck. Both Yu Shui and Chen Bo Yo's families will be displaced by the flooding of the Yangtze, and he has shown how both sides must cope in order to survive. Through the quote in the beginning he shows that we must reflect, imitate, and experience to really learn and gain the wisdom to endure whatever Reality comes our way. In the end Yung Chang's faceless narration forces us to create our own conclusions, to think about what we have seen, discovered, and learned... So here is mine:

"He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger."
-Confucius

Yankee Doodle

As I was watching the first part of “Up the Yangtze,” I was surprised to hear the familiar tune of Yankee Doodle in the background music. I found this odd, but after further review of other music in the movie and Schirato and Webb’s theory on visual narratives, I think I can shed some light on this.

According to Schirato and Webb, “[the pianist] musically interpret[s] the affect” in movies (99). This principle was practiced in “Up the Yangtze.” In a majestic shot of the Yangtze river and its steep banks toward the beginning of the movie, presumably traditional Chinese music, based on the pentatonic scale, plays. This is juxtaposed in the urban scene with the Chinese teenagers set to western classical music. This juxtaposition makes sense to me because it is showing both the great history of China and the economic progress that they have achieved. Since the movie’s major theme is the “biggest engineering endeavor since the Great Wall” and its effect on the rest of China, this comparison seems appropriate (http://www.uptheyangtze.com/up-the-yangtze.php). The question then is how does Yankee Doodle fit into this narrative strategy.

Yankee Doodle was originally meant to make fun of the Americans and their troops, but it was adopted by the Americans as a humorous sign of patriotism (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200000025/default.html). I thought that this was interesting and relevant to the idea of enculturation in “Up the Yangtze.” The irony of the story in Up the Yangtze is that the economic miracle, the pride and joy of the Chinese government, is causing the loss of the livelihood of millions (http://www.uptheyangtze.com/up-the-yangtze.php). This is reflected in the idea of a highly profitable cruise ship that is literally showing off the destruction of a part of Chinese culture and history, the river and its neighboring inhabitants. This irony I believe is captured by the playing of Yankee Doodle because it represents the Western influence and is being used to “make fun” of the Chinese economic miracle by the director.

The Moments I am Aware of Becoming the Messenger Myself

In the film "Up the Yangtze", because the subject which is sending the clear message is the film, the role of the watcher is just to engage and accept the message--like a "receiver".

However, if the messages are ambiguous and hard to catch, watchers have to be not only "receivers" of the messages but also "messengers" by considering themselves the subject. Because of ambiguous messages, people have to use their knowledge and their background for identifying themselves with the characters in order to understand the scenes.

For instance, the scenes that depict the sightseeing along the Yangtze are ambiguous in terms of the view that the watcher should catch. It may be about submergence, or to remind the watchers of a life of people who living along the river with poverty. It would be depend on the watchers and their point of view. Although the scene does not send specific message at all, the watchers would imagine something and interpret freely.

Furthermore, I think the relationships between "message" and "messenger" would be able to relate with Killingsworth's article. According to this author, he explains that "Kinneavy suggests that the three elements constitute the three points of a "communication triangle"---which, following information theory, he calls the encoder (author), decoder (audience), and reality (the world), with the signal (text) filling the middle of the triangle, as if to hold the other elements together".

The film sends messages to the watcher (author+audience), and the watcher considers and creates messages in his own way for identification (audience+the world), and when these elements work each other, then the text will have a meaning on all of three elements.

Is Satrapi a Storyteller or a Documentarist?

"Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images, and sounds often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture and in every land as a means of entertainment, education, preservation of culture, and in order to instill moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot and characters, as well as the narrative point of view." (Wikipedia)

“Documentary: Presenting facts objectively without editorializing or inserting fictional matter, as in a book or film… presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting of actual news films or interviews accompanied by narration.”
(Dictionary.com)

Is Marjane Satrapi a Storyteller or a Documentarist? Before you say anything consider this; In Documentary: Is every fact in Persepolis presented objectively and informatively? In Storytelling: does Persepolis’s plot follow the generic plot diagram?

Plot Diagram:
(http://waxebb.com/writings/plot.jpg)

Satrapi, as the author, places herself in a grey area open to speculation and scrutiny. How can Persepolis consider itself a story without thorough structure, or a true documentary with biased insight?

Satrapi as a Storyteller is plainly evident by the fact that she has written a novel about a main character (herself) and the events in that character’s life. She has laid down and expressed a series of narratives in chronological order explaining the character’s life and setting for entertainment, educational, and moralistic value. But is that all Persepolis is? A story?

Satrapi as a Documentarist is shown by the narration she presents given certain situations. Although a reader may immediately think she is biased when it comes to the Iranian Revolution and other historical contexts and reactions, one must take a step back and shift the documentarian view onto the characters themselves. For Marji, how can one dispute a documentary about her private young life? How can a reader produce evidence to support that Marji was not sad when her Uncle Anoosh was executed? Or how her mother did not faint after saying goodbye to her at the airport? For Persepolis, the major documentary may in fact not be about the Iranian Revolution, but of Marji’s life.

So how are we to make a decision? As readers, we must be flexible and open-minded, ready to trade lenses in order to understand a piece of literature. One argument is that Persepolis is actually a work of Art (since it is a graphic novel), and how can any decision be objective in the light of that understanding? Well, considering I have asked a rather subjective question in the first place, perhaps this is the lens we the readers must look through in order to define our decision. Art, however, is something nearly impossible to define; there are infinitely many components which all, in the end, depend on the person in question’s approach. Art, as the form, is evident in the cartoons and graphics Satrapi uses to tell her story. Art, used symbolically, is shown by how the pictures are characterized by strictly black and white coloration, proving any number of points... but what about Art as expression?

Artists often create art just so they can express themselves; have an output for their inner turmoil, their memories, dreams, desires, life etc. It is something that they impulsively must do. In some ways Artists are considered Storytellers, explaining a moment in time in a piece they create. Schirato and Web’s article ‘Visual Narratives’ supports this idea in that “…Pictures—visual culture—can communicate or present not just forms, but stories too… Images and visual objects… contain a story, or a body of information...” (80) However, we also see that Art can infuse with Documentary, for example the famous painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by Emmanuel Leutze. This painting depicts the real historical moment December 25th, 1776, when George Washington crossed the Delaware River in a surprise attack on the Hessian-held town of Trenton during some horrendous winter weather.

“Washington Crossing the Delaware”: (http://dic.academic.ru/pictures/enwiki/87/Washington_Crossing_the_Delaware.png)

In this light and lens, we begin to see that Art can be both expression and narration; a story and a documentary. Returning to Persepolis, it is suddenly easier to see that Satrapi’s memoir combines both these forms. Satrapi is a Storyteller because she conveys the events of her life through artistic and literary means, expressing herself, her history, moral values, and culture. Satrapi is a Documentarist because she sets before us “The Life and Times of Marjane Satrapi—Between the Ages of 6 and 14” with historical contexts narrated through her eyes and her experiences, and information about the events of the era and its’ impacts on her directly.

So if Art is the lens and we see Storytelling as an equivalent to expression and Documentary equivalent to narration, then Persepolis has the potential to be both; Satrapi can be both a Storyteller and a Documentarist, despite the clash in definitions. Schirato and Web again explain that “Visual works may not easily tell stories, but they have huge narrative potential and great expressive power: the ability to convey emotions, ideas and attitudes, and to direct readers to particular narratives.” (104)

So, given this, what do you think? Is Satrapi a Storyteller or a Documentarist?





Bibliography


Documentary. Dictionary.com. Web. 21 Sept. 2009.
.

Storytelling. Wikipedia. Web. 21 Sept. 2009.
.

"Washington Crosses the Delaware, 1776," Eye Witness to History,
www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2004). 21 Sept. 2009.
.

Web. 21 Sept. 2009. .

Icon and Identification

Artistic appeal occurs “in the ‘margin of overlap’ between the writer’s experiences and the reader’s” (The Dial p.168). A poem bridges individual experiences by focusing attention on similarites of experience and shared knowledge. A poem does not merely convey feeling but gives the reader the opportunity to identify with author as they share feelings in a cathartic release. Burke called this poetic experience “the dancing of an attitude”
Extending this notion to support his theory of rhetoric, Burke reasoned that identification allows people to share views they need in order to collaborate with as well as compete against one another.
(Encyclopedia of Rhetoric by Thomas O.Sloane, 375p, Oxfor University press)

To lose one’s mother and meet again in the end, is not a new subject for the readers. It is especially a conventional theme for a young narrator. In Persepolis, the episode“Shabbat” (p135), I want to analyze how Satrapi used “drawing pattern” in order to identify with readers. While Marji and her friend were shopping, Marji hears the news from the radio (with sound of BOOM!) “A missile has just exploded in the Tavanir neighborhood”. (p138) She madly runs off to catch a taxi.

However, time slows down, even though she has to go fast and figure out whether her mother is O.K or not. First of all, she relatively divided space with many small frames to show her anxiety. As she approaches to the building, she was on the road, in the taxi and near the building where people crowded. Second of all she expressed sun light with using contrast, white and black. While she is outside, background becomes white. On the other hand, if she is inside or surrounded by other people that she is shaded, blocking the sun light, making it become black. This skill adds dramatic time change.

Satrapi must not forget this moment, since she thought at this moment that her mother was in the area where missiles exploded. The more the background changes from black to white and white to black, it seems more vivid. Existence of sunlight helps reader how nervous she was and worried. But, soon, detailed background pops up, which clearly contrast to other backgrounds, when she walks the building where her friend lives. If we recall ‘the effect of mask’ from understanding of comics, we can measure, how frustrated she was. Compare stark white color air and building destroyed.

Satrapi does not present all backgrounds in detail, because in most episodes like ‘Shabbat’, the subject is close to Marji, her family and her friends. The author cared not to make her true story conventional and expected results, she put her memory, how long it was and how bright it was? In her vivid memory we can find emotional similarities and sometimes dissimilarities. These effects make more empathy, and then we are closer to Satrapi’s experience.

Is Alex Really Reliable?

In ‘Type of Narration’, Booth made his own definition for ‘narrator reliable’ after explaining several ‘aesthetic distance’. It is a narrator in the novel who speaks for or acts in accordance with the norm of the work, which is implied author’s norm. Under the author’s intention, we can say, specific literal strategy is made by narrator. Hence, it is necessary to focus on how messages are sent to reader with narrator’s reliability. Again, I brought three parts from ‘Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess, to see how narrator’s reliability is designed under the Burge’s philosophy, and what strategy makes reader rely on narrator.

Billyboy had a nozh, a long flick-type, but he was a malenky bit too slow and heavy in his movements to vred anyone really bad. And, my brothers, it was real satisfaction to me to waltz – left two three, right two three – and carve left cheeky and right cheeky, so that like two curtains of blood seemed to pour out at the same time, one on either side of his fat filthy oily snout in the winter you could viddy Billyboy felt not a thing, and he went lumbering on like a filthy fatty bear, poking at me with his nozh.
(Part One Ch1 p16 Heinemann: London)

In this part, Alex fights against Billyboy. When he cut his enemy’s cheek, he sees blood on cheeks as red curtains. In his mind, violence is his satisfaction that he doesn’t feel guilty at all and doesn’t want to stop. He simply regards his evil behavior as artistic performance. Readers might feel distance from his mind because it is not only forbidden in a society but also harmful action to readers themselves. However, he doesn’t know how to explain his cruel desire clearly.

And I was patronizing the other shop. More, badness is of the self, the one, the you or me on our oddy knockies, and that self is made by old Bog or God and is his great pride and radosty. But the not-self cannot have the bad, meaning they of the government and the judges and the schools cannot allow the bad because they cannot allow the self. And is not our modern history, my brothers, the story of brave malenky selves fighting these big machines? I am serious with you, brothers, over this. But what I do I do because I like to do.
(Part One Ch4 p40 Heinemann: London)

As story goes on, he starts to relate his bad behavior (does he really know those criminals he did was evil?) into the concept of self. One thing is clear that Alex can’t accept society’s rule and its limit, because it literally limits his own instinct which is his ecstasy and innate rapture. In this dilemma, Burgess naturally asks a question to his reader, like Alex, “Is that what you want and is it where you belong to?” Old question, however, Burgess induced to make moral difference between Alex and readers that he pointed out most people are not doing their instinctive job that is what they really feel excited and satisfied. At the same time, he provided its danger ‘If people in society do what society forbade, they go jail and get brainwashed’.

‘All right,’ I said, standing up in all like tears still. ‘I know how things are now. No body wants or loves me. I’ve suffered and suffered and suffered and everybody wants me to go on suffering. I know.’
‘You’ve made others suffer,’ said this Joe. ‘It’s only right you should suffer proper. I’ve been told everything that you’ve done, sitting here at night round the family table, and pretty shocking it was listen to. Made me real sick a lot of it did.’
‘I wish,’ I said, ‘I was back in the prison. Dear old Staja as it was. I’m ittying off now,’ I said. ‘You won’t ever viddy me no more. I’ll make my own way, thank you very much. Let it lie heavy on your consciences.’
My dad said: ‘Don’t take it like that, son,’ and my mum just went boo hoo hoo, her listo all screwed up real ugly, and this Joe put his rooker round her again, patting her and going there there there like bezoomny. And so I just sort of staggered to the door and went out, leaving them to their horrible guilt, O my brothers.
( Part Three Ch1 p142 Heinemann: London)

What he cost for his innate happiness was long distance with his family, basic form of society. After getting out from jail, the world became against him. First of all, in his family, uninvited guest occupied his room and even parents couldn’t make his room.

The violence in the narrator’s voice, readers come to believe they are far from Alex-type and ask about their own innate pleasure which is against the social norm. In addition, the reason why the novel is curious is that it shows possible danger if we pursue our own work for instinctive pleasure. In this novel, the narrator’s character and statement in his mind helps us to think about the novel’s theme effectively.

The Importance of Education in Persepolis

Persepolis by Marjane Satropi is set in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Education therefore was a necessity during the time, especially because people are constantly enforcing a common mind set, particularly regarding the established government.  With education, Satrapi’s narrator Marji, was able to realize the faults of the Iranian government on their society.

 

Marji and her parents used several strategies to keep her informed about current events. For example, in order to enlighten her they bought her books. She says, “I knew everything about the children of Palastine. About Fidel Castro. About the young Viatnamese killed by the Americans. About the Revolutionaries of my country…But my favorite was a comic book entitled “Dialectic Materialism” (Satrapi 12).  This is an incredibly mature statement to be made by such a young child. Her knowledge exceeds that of the majority of adults. 

 

Marji became intrigued with the ideas of socialism.  Because of her parent’s active participation in the revolts against the Shah’s regime, she became obsessed with the activism. Because of her advanced knowledge base the reader may forget that Marji is still a child; however, there are certain instances where her age truly shows.  For example, she says, "The year of the revolution I had to take action. So I put my prophetic destiny aside for a while. Today my name is Che Guevara…I am Fidel…And I want to be Trotsky. We demonstrated in the garden of the house…Down with the King!…Down with the King” (Satrapi 10). This performance clearly reinforces Marji’s age, but does not diminish her intelligence.

 

Education  serves as an important tool especially in a politically driven society. Not only does Marji’s intelligence keep her informed and grounded, she is able to understand the current problems of her time. 

Sharing with the Simple Style of Cartoon

In the article "Understanding Comics", the author explained that "The Cartoon is a vacuum" (p.36). According to him, the more the style of the cartoon is a simple such as icons, the more the readers seem to be easy to share with the world view of the cartoon. He said that "The cartoon is a vacuum into which our identity and awareness are pulled an empty shell that we inhabit which enables us to travel in another realm", and "We don't just observe the cartoon, we BECOME it!" (p.36). I think this opinion has an advantage in terms of education for children.

The author said that the readers can identify themselves with the abstract icons in the case of the cartoon described by a simple style. The reason why a complicated style would not be accepted for identification is that the character is described so complex in detail that the readers cannot consider that the character is same as themselves. However, if the character is described simply as if he does not have identity, the readers are easy to cause delusion on themselves. In other words, the readers become the character at the moment when they are drawn into the cartoon.

Then, I think this opinion is really useful one in terms of the audio-visual education. This means that the specific medium such as TV, radio, and movie helps the development of learning effectively on children, but just text books and literature works. In this education, it is one of the important ideas that children can develop their imagination by themselves. For example, if children look the simple picture like as icons in the middle of P. 41, they would be able to work their imagination than the complicated picture. At that time, they would remember and put their real life into the picture in order to figure out the situation. If the picture is more complicated, children would consider them unfamiliar situation, and then they cannot develop their imagination from the established images.

"A Black Cloud Covering the Country"; Darkness in Persepolis

I feel that a theme of Darkness plays a huge role in the story of Persepolis.

The quote that I have used in my title can be found on page 78 when Satrapi's family tries to interpret the news of Iran that they have seen in Spain. Because the news is presented in a different language than their own, they can not understand what happened in their country. As they return, however, they find that their country has been invaded for the second time in 1,400 years.

Though the darkness in this scene literally represented the invasion in Iran, I feel that it can be a symbol that shows a much greater meaning and is often repeated throughout the story. In this case, the "dark cloud" can foreshadow a lot more oppression and war in the future. Because this was the first invasion, there was a huge loss of hope for Marji, as well as for the citizens of Iran. Darkness also plays a huge roll in the illustrations in Persepolis. On page 71, Marji is portrayed as a single person floating in space; a small child plopped in a page of black. In this image, the reader can understand that Marji is feeling alone, hopeless, and confused with her faith in G-d and humanity. The darkness of the image can be seen as a representation for a loss of hope, as to say she is "in the dark" with how she feels.

Another example of a dark visual image can be found on page 103 to 104 when the Satrapi famiy and friends take shelter in the basement from the bombs. Because the basement is shown as pitch black, we can understand the fear and confusion that the characters felt while hiding. Then again, when all of the guests are allowed to leave the basement, they are still portrayed as in the dark because they are unsure of who was hurt by the bombings and what the implications of it were. The darkness can also be a huge symbol in the story, as all of the women's veils are black. Though the vail already takes the form of oppression and conformity, the intensity of it's darkness also plays a role it's ability to shield hope. In the perspective of Marji, it seems that as soon as the women of Iran are forced to wear the veils, the revolution begins. Therefore the darkness in the veil can also foreshadow the loss of liberty and innocent lives that came along with the revolution.

Darkness and a "Black Cloud" are therefore two major symbols that are portrayed visually and metaphorically throughout the story of Persepolis.

The Depiction of Violence in Persepolis

Violence is shown to be very much a part of Iranian culture in Persepolis. The pervasiveness of violence that Satrapi felt as a child, I thought, was reflected well by the comic style. The frames of violence seemed to be shocking interjections into the main plot of the story, as I’m sure they seemed to be to Marji as a child. Satrapi used these interjections as a means of denouncing the violence.
Torture is shown in the scene on page 51. Ahmadi is being tortured for his political crimes. The frame is not surrounded by a black border like most of the other frames in the novel. It is divided arbitrarily into four parts, three of which show the torture Ahmadi endures. The parts are his being urinated on, whipped, and burned with an iron. Other than the narration of his fate by Satrapi at the bottom, the only dialog is shown as large speech bubbles, unconnected to a specific person, that depict yelling “ How do you like this?” and Confess! Where are the others!” The torturers face remains hidden in two out of three of the scenes, but in the other it is visible with wide eyes and angry eyebrows and mouth. Ahmadi is shown screaming with his eyes closed. Marji did not witness this scene, which means that the icons used to depict it were from her imagination. This depiction was used to emphasize the terror employed and to make the audience condemn the torture.
Other types of violence, other than torture, are shown is slightly different ways. The violent scene of the execution of Siamak’s sister on page 66 of Persepolis is divided again into three parts, but these are all in individual frames with defined borders. The perpetrators this time are shown to be calm with their faces shown. The victim also has her eyes wide, even when she lays dead in the street. This depiction shows the more cold nature of the execution versus the torture on page 51. The differences in this scene are because it is from the point of view of Satrapi instead of Marji, and the scene directly followed the death of Mohsen, so there is a sense of numbness. But, Satrapi still wants the audience to have an emotional reaction to the violence evidenced by the father and mother’s prominent tears and accusations (Satrapi 65).
Satrapi uses the comic medium to depict the violence in Iran in such a way that it will evoke an emotional and even angry reaction in the readers.

Having To Grow Up Fast

In the time that Persepolis was taking place, everyone, young and old, had to change their thinking due to the government and the surrounding culture. There are multiple accounts where Marji shows that she has grown up and acts more mature than her actual age. My assumption to why she becomes more of an adult at times is because she is engrossed in the revolution and wants to understand everything that it has to offer.
For example, on page 32, Marji is confused as to why they would laugh about death. Satrapi says, in the block above the picture, “Something escaped me,” this means that Marji did not in fact understand why her family was laughing about death. At that point, Marji wanted to understand what she did not understand at that time. Satrapi then stated, “I realized then that I didn’t understand anything. I read all the books I could,” signifying that she was going to try to understand regardless if she was suppose to at that age.
Another example is on page 46, the bottom right picture, Satrapi states, “I had the feeling of being really, really, really good.” This was said when she apologized to Ramin for accusing his father of murder. This is a turning pointing point in Marji’s behavior because she was making right what she did wrong. For her to realize that she did wrong and actually fixed it, is a great example of her growing up and not wanting conflict in things that she could control. Another
The last example is when Marji does something that an adult usually does. First example is from page 76, when there is a meeting against fundamentalism and Marji wants to go but her father says no, but her mother lashes back with a response saying, “she’s coming too.” In this example, it is shown that her mother sees that she is growing up and very interested in what was going on in her country. Another example is on page 87, when Marji and her mother go to the grocery store. While at the grocery store, Marji’s mother witnesses’ two women fighting over food and she intervenes. In doing so, her mother gets yelled at and that is when Marji steps in and convinces her mother to forget about the two women. For Marji to intervene this fight, involving three older women, it takes a lot of courage and maturity.
In conclusion, in Persepolis, Marji tends to treat every situation as if she was a mature adult. Although she is still a child, not yet a teenager, Marji strives to make mature decisions and reactions to what is going on around her. The events around Marji and her family cause her to grown up because those times were tough and I am assuming that she wanted to be mature for her parents. Marji wasn’t not always mature though, at times, she would cry and fall back into her child-like reaction to the events going on around her. This is natural of Marji and at her age, she cannot be so grown up all the time.

The Effects of War on Religion

In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, religion manages to play an important role in the lives of its characters. The story takes place during the Islamic Revolution leaving those involved questioning their faith. This can be specifically seen through Marji, the young narrator. Throughout the course of the story, Marj’s relationship with God weakens as the revolution gains strength. Originally, she believed that she was born with religion; she said, “At the age of six I was already sure that I was the last prophet. This was a few years before the revolution” (Satrapi 6). Not only did she speak with God every night, but also she had a Holy Book and plans for what she would do as a prophet.

In her young age, Marji had a strong relationship with God and stable religious identity. However, as the Revolution continued, Marji was exposed to every detail of war. Tragedy and death surrounded her in every aspect of her life. When her Uncle Anoosh was executed, Marji lost all faith in God. The pain of loosing a loved one in an untimely manner overtook her, she screamed at God to “Get out of my life! I never want to see you again!”(Satrapi 69). Suddenly, she no longer aspired to fulfill her supposed destiny as a prophet; she now longed to be a great revolutionist. Satrapi makes it clear in Persepolis that war has devastating effects in various ways. In Marji’s case, the war costs her relationship with God. The pain and tragedy she was exposed to at such a young age most likely caused her to believe that there was no God. Consequentially, this caused her to become interested in politics, for politics could effect the Revolution.

The Comparison between Persepolis and Japanese Comics in terms of the Masking Effect

Generally speaking, Japanese comics which are called 'Manga' always have the various masking effects. The effects are including many resources. For instance, many lines are used to emphasize about representation of speed and attention. Furthermore, much national style is very often used to describe the sounds. Especially, using this national style is very useful means for emphasis. Because of these masking effects, the readers would be felt drawn toward the comic much more. It is true that the effects are so strong for emphasis that the scenes in the comic sometimes do not need to include the speech by characters.

For example, we can see the Japanese masking effect in the article "Understanding Comics"(p.43). In spite of the fact that the character of girl who holding the figure of bear does not speech anything, the reader must be able to figure out the situation that she is running away from the car even though we cannot know the reason. Because of many lines and the Japanese style, the reader can catch the image that the scene has a tension and emergency. By the way, the function of the letters "ギャァァン" which the sound is happened from the tire just emphasize the speed and a tension, but no meaning.

On the other hand, many scenes in Persepolis sometimes do not use not only any masking effect but also the background. For instance, in the beginning of the chapter "The Cigarette", the author does not use any effects and even background over whole of the page (p.111). And then, the reader would be really hard to see where they are meeting and chatting. Because of Marji's narration, the readers can know that they are in school. However, because of Marji's narration and the lack of the background and any effects, the reader would be able to focus on just their conversation that is trying to skip the class. Actually, I think this is also one of the masking effects that she dare not use any effects.

Therefore, it depends on the purpose of the scenes what the author wants to emphasize whether the author use the masking effects or not. It is important that the author use the masking effects effectively for the readers that they can draw the appropriate representation in each scenes and chapters.

Fact or Fiction

Satrapi’s Persepolis is an example of documentary literature that blurs the lines between fact and fiction.
The comic is an account of Satrapi’s childhood in Iran told by two narrators. The first narrator is the young Satrapi, Marji. Marji is depicted in the comics and, for the most part, the reader is meant to feel her emotions in order to understand her story. When the people begin to celebrate the martyrs of the revolution and Marji’s parents begin to laugh, she says “Cadaver, Cancer, Death, Murderer...Laughter?” (Satrapi 32). This shows her confusion regarding the situation and the reaction of the adults, a feeling that the reader shares. The complexity of both Marji’s shifting from childhood to adolescence and the effect of the revolution and the war in her life is shown by her shouting at her mother “Dictator! You are the guardian of the revolution of this house!” (Satrapi 113). This shows the complex emotions and reactions Satrapi wants the reader to have through a child’s perspective.
The narration is complicated by the background narration of Satrapi. For example, she describes Marji’s early aspirations by saying that “at the age of six, I was already sure I was the last prophet. This was a few years before the revolution” (Satrapi 6). The past tense indicates that Satrapi is looking back on her childhood. This quote is also in a box at the top of the frame, which throughout the novel indicates that Satrapi is speaking. So, the narration includes not only the emotion-evoking child narrator, but an adult perspective. The historical explanations and distance from Marji of Satrapi help the reader to clarify his or her thoughts.
Also, the use of comic as a medium distorts what would otherwise be considered the “truth” to Satrapi’s own version of the truth. On page 83 in Persepolis, the center frame is completely black in the background with only the emotion-filled faces of Marji and her family. This emphasizes the emotions that the family is feeling instead of the historical context that the frame is set in. Also, on page 102 in Persepolis, the top frame depicts the death of countless young boys in the war with the “keys to paradise” around their necks. Satrapi leaves out the faces of any of the boys, and the silhouettes emphasize the great toll of the war.
Persepolis is not purely fact, it is also fiction, in the sense that the reader views the truth through the multiple perspectives of the narration and the comic. This blurring of the lines between fact and fiction accurately reflects the confusing childhood, filled with half-truths, lies, and confusion, that Satrapi is depicting. Satrapi’s purpose is not to show the reader the whole truth, nor is it to lie to the reader. The purpose was merely to shift the paradigms, if only temporarily, by which Iran is judged.

Individuality, Expression, and Unification

An in-class discussion led to a question about what the very first pictures in Persepolis were supposed to show.

A class photo has been taken of the main character, Marji’s class and she has been cut out (Satrapi 3). The point was raised that perhaps readers are supposed to note that all the girls in the picture are not viewed as individuals thus it does not matter to those in charge that the picture is not quite right. This may be the point that Marjane Satrapi is trying to show readers. “Understanding Comics” by Scott Mcloud can be used to support this idea.

Mcloud defines cartoon (Satrapi’s chosen form of illustration) as “a form of amplification through simplification” (Mcloud 30). If we use this to look at the first panel, we may note that the picture is quite simple. Satrapi has drawn the schoolgirls in identical outfits and with almost identical expressions. In fact the only aspects of the girls that are unique are their bangs. If we follow Mcloud’s logic, we may decide that perhaps Satrapi wants us to focus on these small details. Although, minor, these detailed aspects are brought back to our attention at the bottom of the page, where another panel displays the same or similar students playing, mostly with their veils off. The different bangs are attached to varying hairstyles and the hairstyles to heads full of different ideas (Satrapi 3). Ranging from monsters to execution to teasing, the girls use their imaginations to entertain themselves in numerous ways. They are children and they seem to show even more similarity in this panel than in the previous. The girls share attitude and imagination, much more than clothing and distaste for pictures.

In the first panel readers may at first think that Satrapi is glossing over individuality among the girls. However she may be trying to display their unification on a matter, such as getting a picture taken. The girls have minds of their own and they often choose to show this by uniting against something or someone. This is evidenced several times later in the book, where they unite to support Marji against the school’s religion teacher or refuse to snitch on a classmate who uses toilet paper to decorate for the anniversary of the revolution (Satrapi 97, 144)

Simple, Yet Beautiful

The art style in Persepolis is extremly simple. There are almost no details and there is no color. Satrapi chose this perhaps to emphasize the fact that the Iranian people are not as different as the western world believes. Just as McCloud says in "Vocabulary of Comics", "when you enter the world of cartoon, you see yourself." Satrapi's main point in telling her story is to enlighten those who don't understand the Iranian people. (Although there is a bias and you only get one side of a story that involves politics, ethics, and many other topics, yet you still get a better look at the people. The bias further supports her purpose by showing that Iranians feel like everyone else, even if it is bias.)

To show that Iranians are people after all, she must get the reader to relate to her characters. Without a relationship with the characters involved, the reader will simply just read through the story and find nothing more then a one sided account of the history of Iran. Doing this would miss Satrapi's point. Furthermore the simplicity of the art style can be used to emphasize the more important details.

Satrapi uses the art to her advantage by emphasizing certain details such as tears. A better example would be on page 71. Here Satrapi uses an almost all black background to emphasize how alone the character of Marji feels. This moment is probably the loneliest moment in the character's life, and the black background with a couple of icons of spacial objects helps illustrate this. There is nothing more lonely than the cold of space.

While some artists can use vibrant colors and loads of details to help create a world readers can get lost in, Satrapi chose to be simple and relatable. Without a mass amount of details, she has tricked the reader into focusing on what she feels is important.

The Combined Narration in "Persepolis".

The narrator in the book "Persepolis" is obviously Marji as the first person because the subject who explained the information of the development on the story often begins from "I" and "my". However, I think the readers can obtain many information from many characters who appeared through the story, not just from Marji. This means that the author make characters the vehicle on her purpose as if they dare explain any information to let us know it in detail. For example, Siamaki Jari and Mohsen Shakiba explained about the conseqence of torture against their other friend was in the jail like that "Ahmadi... Ahmadi was assassinated. As a member of the guerillas, he suffered hell. He always had cyanide on him in case he was arrested, but he was taken by surprise and unfortunatelly he never had a chance to use it... So he suffered the worst torture..."(p.51). The readers would be able to them the third person.

The reason why the third person often explained the information would be the idea that the readers can retain the point of view and the sence of value about Marji as young child. When she narrated every information not only any inpressions through her eyes but also the details which are hard to find them for her, the readers would not be able to share her experiences as a child, but just the main character. In terms of this reason, the way that the author use not the first narrator but the third narrator simultaneously into the story must be often useful methods for the development.

Booth also said that "It is true that choice of the first person is sometimes unduly limiting; if the "I" has inadequate access to necessary information, the author may be led into improbabilities"(p.150). In the "Persepolis" case, I can consider that Marji (the first narrator) should not explain the difficult information and special knowledge unlike children speak because of the fact that she is still child (unduty limiting), even though she could get them from the books (p.12 and p.32). Because she is learning many knowledge in the sociey which is including much complex principle, the third person is required necessarily as the narrators.

Different kind of voice in same point of view

Booth insisted in his article "Types of Narration" that we need to get a richer tabulation of the forms the author’s voice can take. In addition, even though novels use same point of view, those can’t be grouped together and defined by the one simple term. To test how case by case differ when they have the same point of view, I brought two novels. The first one is "the Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess and the other one is "In Search of America" by Nathan Asch.

“ ‘What’s it going to be then, eh?’ There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening, a flip dark chill winter bastard though dry. The Korova Milkbar was a milk-plus mesto, and you may, O my brothers, have forgotten what these mestos were like, things changing so skorry these days and everybody very quick to forget, newspapers not being read much neither. Well what they sold there was milk plus something else. They had no license for selling liquor, but there was no law yet against prodding some of the new veshches which they used to put into the old moloko…” (Clockwork Orange, Ch1)

Clockwork orange was narrated by Tim, very self conscious and violent boy. He uses the dialect even most English users don’t understand. This sounds weird, first, because you never heard, but he continues to use. However, as you read further, see those words repeatedly, you may figure out naturally what those words mean? He uses specific names of people, places and objects. By using his-own word, readers might be more curious and feel difference between narrator and them. Here, you might wonder what “Korova Milkbar” is and what is “mestos.” Burgess used the words to make people ask deliberately. At the same time, it tends to produce grotesque and terrific mood. Tim is telling through this novel how it was by his strong impression.

“I walked along the street in Texarkana, Texas, where Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas almost make a corner, and I wondered how I could get to live a week with a sharecropper family. I had crossed Arkansas and come here because I wanted to see the most isolated, the deepest cotton country, untouched by the world and not knowing the outside world.” (In Search of America, part of the beginning)

Compared to "Clockwork Orange", Asch’s novel is less self-conscious, because he less dramatized and shows less of his own thought and view. Of course, he uses the name of the place and what he is doing like what Tim was doing. But the intensity of impression is low after reading "Clockwork Orange". Therefore, the narrator’s own voice sounds pretty much reliable to the fact narrators observed. He depicts poor people by using formal words and publicly known place with using controlled tone. He concentrates on the truth more than a person’s impression.

After comparing the two novels’ beginnings, we found the level of impression is different and it is affected by the narrator’s character and reliability. It is not that Tim’s voice is unreliable, but the level of reliability is different. So when we say one narrator’s voice is reliable and credited; we should care to find out how it is reliable and what makes it reliable.