Persepolis and Pride of Baghdad
Introduction
Persepolis Novel denotes to the autobiographic series of the bande dessinees written by Marjane Satrapi. The novel explains the childhood of Marjane Satrapi up to her early adulthood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Additionally, the novel illustrates her life from childhood to adulthood, even after the Islamic Revolution. The title of the story is used to denote the Persian Empire’s Capital City. Initially, the novel was published in the French language; however, it was later translated to languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Georgian, Italian, among many other languages. However, despite the relevance of the story present in the novel, there are still contradictions whether the novel should be used in a classroom in the United States due to graphic images and language present in it. Pride of Baghdad, on the other hand, denotes a form of graphic novel inscribed by Brian K. Vaughan, proved by Niko Henrichon. The novel was released on September 13, 2006, by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint. The novel is based on a true story of the four lions that fled from Zoo of Baghdad after the American bombing, which occurred in 2003. The essay is going to explore how McCloud’s concepts assist the reader in gaining a good understanding of graphic novels.
Scott McCloud inscribed the understanding Comics, and it analyses the comics as a form of art. According to McCloud, the work of comics has been there for centuries. However, most of the significant artwork is mistakenly considered as other types of art rather than being categorized as comics. McCloud explained the various significant factors surrounding the comics, such as motion depiction, the passage of time, and the broad interpretation by the reader. All the elements play a vital role in the reader’s interpretation of the comics. McCloud highlighted various concepts that are significant towards the understanding of the graphic novels by the reader or the audience. One of the most significant concepts highlighted by McCloud is the concept of closure.
Persepolis Marjane Satrapi
The concept of closure plays a significant role in enhancing the reader’s ability to interpret the graphic novels. The concept of closure plays a substantial role in the interpretation of the hidden meaning being portrayed by a Persepolis novel (McCloud & Manning, 1998). The concept enables the reader to understand the true meaning behind the illustration of the life story by Marjane Satrapi. The reader can understand what Marjane Satrapi is trying to communicate in her graphic novel; she is portraying the aspect of “witnessing” (Satrapi, 2004). The aspect of witnessing motivated her to inscribe the novel; she describes the story of her life from the viewpoint of an individual witnessing the social and political chaos. Additionally, the concept of closure brought forward by McCloud enables the reader to understand the aspect of survival being portrayed by the Marjane Satrapi in her novel. She managed to survive through the social and political chaos right from her childhood until she became an adult.
The other concept that was put forward by McCloud was the concept of visual literacy, the difference between the realistic and ionic figures play a significant role in enhancing the reader’s understanding of the graphic novels. Also, the concepts of the photographic increase the reader’s understanding of the Persepolis novel. Since the Persepolis novel is a graphic novel which is characterized with photographs and images, having a good understanding of the McCloud’s photographic concept enables the readers to quickly understand the true meaning behind the graphics present in the novel (Satrapi, 2004). Through the McCloud Concept of visual literacy, the reader can interpret images present in the novel. For instance, the reader can comprehend the meaning behind the image of the cut-up body seen in the black background. The body is cut proportionately and in a neat manner. The image represents the torture that people were suffering; it is a presentation of what torture looked like from the young mind of Marjane’s perspective.
Moreover, the concept of narrative character plays a significant role in enhancing the meaning of the Persepolis novel by Marjane Satrapi. The concept lets the reader derive a clear understanding of the significance of each character present in the novel. For instance, the execution of the Marjane uncle (Uncle Anoosh) by the current Islamic revolutionary movements represents the considerable number of the people killed during the regime of Islamic Revolutionary Movements (Satrapi, 2005). The concept of the narrative character enables the reader to have a significant understanding of the social and political chaos being represented by each of them throughout the novel. McCloud’s concept of narrative is a great and significant concept that facilitates and enhances the readers understanding of the message being portrayed by the author of the novel (McCloud & Manning, 1998).
Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan
The various graphic concepts highlighted by McCloud play a significant role in enhancing the reader’s understanding of the meaning of the novel. The multiple concepts, such as visual literacy, the concept of closure, dramatic conception, narrative characters, and photographic, plays a significant role in enabling the reader to develop the true meaning behind the novel. The story employs the usage of the innocent third party to help illustrate the story behind the war in Iraq (Vaughan & Henrichon, 2006). Vaughan employs the usage of the animals to illustrate the story and to escape the prejudices characterizing human beings.
The concept of closure by McCloud played a vital role in enabling the reader to develop the true meaning of the novel. With the existence of the concept of closure, readers can pull a deeper meaning of the story behind the lions running out of the zoo. The reader can understand the representation of the four lions that freed from the zoo. The concept of closure also helps the reader understand why the author decided to use lions as characters rather than humans (McCloud & Manning, 1998). The reason for using animals in the novel is that animals are free from national, racial, and political allegiances (Vaughan & Henrichon, 2006). It lets the reader understand that the story represents the war in Iraq and the issues regarding the meaning of liberation. Additionally, the concept of narrative character enables the reader to have a significant understanding of the symbolism being exhibited by each character.
Additionally, McCloud’s concept of masking plays a vital role in enhancing the reader’s understanding of the novel. The concept of masking is employed to help illustrate the negative emotion (Frustration, anger, and sadness) through the use of positive emotion. The masking concept lets the reader develop a deeper meaning of the story behind the lions that escaped from the zoo (Vaughan & Henrichon, 2006). The four lions symbolize the innocent human beings that lose their lives as a result of the war. They represent the sacrifice, struggle, and issue of liberation.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the various concepts established by McCloud play a significant role in enhancing readers’ understanding of graphic novels. The concepts of closure, visual literacy, and concept of mask play a substantial role in enabling the reader to have a clear understanding of the Persepolis novel. The multiple concepts help denote the reader’s understanding of the social and political chaos during the time Marjane Satrapi was raised. Additionally, the concepts of literary narrative portrayed to the reader the adverse effects associated with the socio and economic turmoil; people lose lives. Moreover, the graphic narrative concept lets the reader have an excellent understanding of the Pride of Baghdad. Concepts of the mask, the concept of closure, and the concept of literary narrative allow the reader to understand the deeper meaning behind the escape of the four lions from the zoo. The four lions symbolized the people who lose their lives as a result of the war.
References
McCloud, S., & Manning, A. D. (1998). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communications, 41(1), 66-69.
Satrapi, M. (2004). Persepolis 2. Pantheon.
Satrapi, M. (2005). Persepolis 2: The story of a return (Vol. 2). Pantheon.
Vaughan, K., & Henrichon, A. N. (2006). Pride of Baghdad.