Comparisons

I really didn't like Persepolis the movie; I much more preferred the book. I think the movie felt too condensed, as if it was given a set time limit and as much information as possible had to be crammed into that time allotment. There were a lot of things from the book that were missing from the movie. For instance, when Marji's four years spent in Austria were barely covered. The movie depicted all of her moves within one scene, making it appear as if all moves took place within a very short amount of time. The book talked about her stay at each house, her experiences there and the reasons for her leaving. It also talked about her mom's visit, which I think is way too important to leave out. Her mother's visit was important for Marji and was something she looked forward to. They spent so much time together and this was the first time they were really able to talk and catch up. I think this visit also gave Marji hope to keep going in Austria once she had gotten back into such a good mood. This was also the first time she had seen any family in years. The movie also excluded most of her drug problem, which was a hugely negative influence on her life. It was how she started her relationship with Marcus but also the reason why it ended. Overall, I was not very impressed with the movie and will just stick with the novel.

So far Beasts of No Nation really parrallels an information session I attended earlier this week. It was a documentary called The Invisible Children. It's about the child soldiers of Uganda and night commuters. These are children who travel and hide at night so as not be kidnapped by the rebel soldiers. Children as young as 5-7 are being kidnapped and turned into soldiers. Both the documentary and the novel are focused on war against the government but as far as I've gotten in the novel, neither one of them really have a clear reason for why they are at war. They just fight and that's all they know - death.

Persepolis

I really love Persepolis; this is my favorite book so far this semester. I was really apprehensive of reading a graphic novel. I have been assigned them before in other classes and thought it was really dumb and boring. With this novel, the story line was so much like any other novel. I would get the same understanding if it was straight text. Sometimes I feel like graphic novels are too choppy and just captions. I was also apprehensive of reading this novel because I think pictures distract from the text. The veils would be one thing that wouldn't really have as much of an impact for me without the pictures. The illustrations of the women's faces and hair covered by the veil really hits at how oppressed they were. It also gave me a better understanding as to how they are worn and how the look. It was funny though, to see the scene of the kids playing with the veils on the playground. Persepolis is a really quick read, which is nice. It just goes by so fast, you never realize how much you've read in one sitting. The plot of this story has completely reeled me in. It's so heartfelt and you can really relate and feel for these characters because it is about Marjane Satrapi's life. It makes the text real. Also, I'm learning so much reading this. I never knew anything about the Iranian revolution or the war between Iran and Iraq. I heard of the war and heard of taking the American Embassy hostage, but that's as far as it went. I love learning about this and even though it's about such an emotional and difficult topic, it's so interesting. It's great to see it from the point of view of an adolescent/young adult who actually lived through and experienced everything firsthand as opposed to learning about it from a textbook or a newscast.