“According to McCloud, there are two important effects of
cartooning: the first enables a focus on specific details; the second is ‘the
universality of cartoon imagery. The more cartoony a face is, for instance, the
more people it could be said to describe’ (31). Cartooning, her argues, is a
way of seeing, not just a way of drawing, so the simplification of characters
and images toward a purpose can be an effective tool: ‘[W]hen you look at a
photo or realistic drawing of a face – you see it as the face of another but
when you enter the world of the cartoon – you see yourself’ (36).”
– Estranging the
Familiar: "East" and "West" in Satrapi’s Persepolis1 Page 228
Marjane Satrapi strongly utilizes the graphic novel style.
Although the cartoon faces are simple, it is still possible to see the way each
event affects Marji as she goes through them – the worry and trying times.
Furthermore though, and I had never thought of this until reading Naghibi, the
simplistic illustrations do allow readers to place themselves in the position
of characters and consider how they would be acting. Although Western readers
may have never had to deal with the processes that Marji goes through, the practice
of becoming the character develops more in a graphic novel than it may in a
normal novel. Readers who never had to really deal with cultural differences,
like the Western vs Iranian in Persepolis,
are able to relate to the cultural differences with other differences – not fitting
in, not feeling like you belong, etc.
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