We’ve read graphic novels that work in black and white before, but Persepolis is illustrated without shading as well. Gray in any shade just doesn’t exist in this book. And as I read I found myself tracking the ways that shadows appear and are drawn in the text. Having no shading makes the shadows very dramatic throughout the graphic novel. Even when looking at dead bodies, which have “shadows” cast under their eyes, there is no gray tone, only stark black. Why keep shading out of this text? Does shading affect the way a reader reads this story? How can creating stark contrast like this alter the emotions of a reader? These were all things I was thinking while analyzing Persepolis.
On page 25, Marji’s mother has a face cast in shadow. She is sharing the memories of her father in prison, how hard his life was. The following four panels all also contain shadows of their bodies. I noted this section because it was one of the first times when the characters are drawn with shadows. Why not always draw the characters with shadows? Or always draw them without? Why create these illustrations with inconsistencies in the shadows? I think the main reason for this is to accentuate more emotionally charged scenes. In this moment, Marji is learning for the first time what life was like for her grandfather, and it wasn’t pleasant. Her mother is crying, her father is consoling her mother, Marji removes herself by taking a bath. Although this is one of the first times the shadows appear as they do, it is not the most emotionally charged.
Page 51 is when Marji learns of the tortures that her parents friend Ahmadi went through in prison. These tortures are illustrated in the largest panel on the page, and Ahmadi gets shadows while other bodies in this panel don’t. In a way his body is replicated on the page, doubled, and allows him to take up more space in this moment than others. This is important because to me, it seemed as though the narrator providing more space for him in the illustrations is a sign of respect.
Going deeper into the novel, towards the end of this first volume, emotions run high while Marji prepares to leave for Vienna. From pages 148 to 150 we see a lot of black shadows in the panels. For example, on 150, we see Marji in bed with her grandmother. The whole panel/background is black except for the bed and their two bodies. I thought this seemed to encapsulate Marji’s emotions. The anxiety of leaving her country on her own, the fear for what was to happen with her parents, engulfing her body, while she finds safety and comfort in her grandmother.
Shadows throughout the graphic novel carry different emotions and intents. The moments that Satrapi decided to include shadows can be helpful, a sort of emotional guide to show how positive and negative emotions are playing out on the page. By using this technique as a way to show the characters emotions throughout the novel, there is more room in the text/dialogue to focus on historical context and present information about plot to the reader.
I thought it was interesting in how you looked at the lack of grey in the novel (I didn't even think about it!). I like the idea of using shadows and blank space to cause a character to take up more space on the panel/page. Similar to how certain human characters can take up more space with shadow, I think it's interesting how early on when Satrapi still firmly believes that she is meant to be a prophet, her depictions of God are large and white and don't necessarily have definitive space (pg 8 top right panel and pg 53 bottom right, in which his body flows down and fills the bottom of the panel) versus later on before she tells him to get lost (70) in which God occasionally has a more definitive form.
ReplyDeleteyou did a great job in relating the use of light and dark in the major and minor moments of the memoir. I appreciate your analysis and your observations
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I did not notice the lack of gray, or at least didn't pay much attention to that. The panels that do have shadow, however, are the ones that created the tension or express emotion by the lack of emotion (if that makes sense). They have that o_o expression that emotes fighting an internal struggle, made dramatic by the intense shadow on the face. There was one on page 146 where, if not for the white outline of Marji's hair, would look like she was being engulfed by utter darkness.
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