As some of you have noted, both Maus and Persepolis tell first person stories, but Satrapi's book, in contrast to Spiegelman's, narrates the tale of the Iranian Revolution and its aftermath (see the post on resources on Iran below for more detail) from the perspective of a child. How does that perspective affect the story Satrapi tells, especially given the stereotypical view of comics as a medium for kids? Oliver's post below asks us to think, in various ways, about how the school setting functions as a site for exploring the role of ideology in everyday life. How do you define ideology? How might comics--especially comics focusing on childhood and schooling--provide a unique purview for the exploration of ideology?
Check out the clip below for more on how Satrapi's own childhood played into the construction of Persepolis.
I think a deep investigation of childhood can tell us a lot about the ideology of a society. We like to believe that our ideologies were formed in a natural and unbiased way, however it is important to note how children mirror their parents. Before we can begin to formulate our own view on complicated subjects like politics, and economics our parents form a major role in shaping our ideals. Even if a parent isn't directly educating their children on these subjects they begin to form a view based on the cues they pickup from their parents. As a child I can think of several instances where I proclaimed to have political views that emulated my parents to make them proud. I think a lot of children believe their parents to be infallible and this creates an interesting dialogue when children talk about ideologies, I think it really reflects what the adults in the society hold sacred for ideology.
I think a deep investigation of childhood can tell us a lot about the ideology of a society. We like to believe that our ideologies were formed in a natural and unbiased way, however it is important to note how children mirror their parents. Before we can begin to formulate our own view on complicated subjects like politics, and economics our parents form a major role in shaping our ideals. Even if a parent isn't directly educating their children on these subjects they begin to form a view based on the cues they pickup from their parents. As a child I can think of several instances where I proclaimed to have political views that emulated my parents to make them proud. I think a lot of children believe their parents to be infallible and this creates an interesting dialogue when children talk about ideologies, I think it really reflects what the adults in the society hold sacred for ideology.
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