It was a hard decision to choose just one animation, but I found that “Persepolis” was the movie that caught my eyes the most. I found this film interesting and different because if we did not watch this film I would have never heard of it. The film is based off of by Marjane Satrapi French-language autobiographical novel series, that tells about her childhood in Iran after the Islamic revolution. Satrapi with the help from French comic artist Vincent Paronnaud brought a story and a type of animation different from all American movies.
The film takes place during 1970 Iran, with a girl named Marjane Satrapi and how she interprets her world through her childish eyes. It shows how much her family struggles under the great leader the Shah and how in 1979 the Iranian Revolution defeated the Shah and how the government became a brutal tyranny. It shows Marji’s life as she becomes a woman trying to express her point of view to the people in her land. Because of her outbursts and strong opinions her parents send her to Vienna to live a better life and not live through the cruel horrors of war. The film shows the struggles of living in a new culture and learning to grow up without a family.
The movie is a coming of age film that gives a point of view from a person from a different country. I felt this movies animation was very unique and Satrapi and Paronnaud executed the style perfectly with the story. When reading reviews I found a review similar to the point of view I found interesting in the film. We both felt the style of animation was well used. For example, in the film the story is told through the eyes of a young girl who does not understand the political crisis that is going on in her country. So the animation shows not very detailed sketches, like the crowds protesting in the streets. The film also uses a family member (the grandmother) as Marji’s conscious through the film telling Marji to not forget who she is and to be proud of her roots. I found the message of this film great because most Americans cannot imagine what life is like in another country especially during a revolution. We also do not realize what it is like to live in another country and be treated as a lesser class of people. The film uses a great technique of using color for the present day and using black and white for the past. Using this technique gave the effect of a flashback and gave the feeling of oldness. When reading reviews on Netflix and other websites people did not really complain a lot about the film people found it different and surprising. A lot of people found that the animated style was the shocker because its not what people expect.
The film had a lot of controversy when it first was released. In Iran the government complained about giving Iran a bad image and not showing the good results that the Islamic Revolution brought to the country. In the United States some schools tried to ban the film and graphic novel for obscene content. Unfortunately the Curriculum Materials Adoption Committee felt that people should not shelter their children from disturbing themes and content. Besides these controversial reactions to the film, the film was listed on top ten lists of thirteen critics. Some including Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly), Stephen Holden (The New York Times), Richard Corliss (Time Magazine), and Claudia Puig (USA Today). The film was also nominated for Best Animated Feature and is the second film to ever be nominated in this category to be rated PG-13. The film also won Best Foreign Language Film, Rogers People’s Choice Awards for Most Popular International Film, and Best First Work in 2007. The films budget was $7,300,000 and the films gross was 4,443,403. Even though the film did not produce as much as planned due to complaints in Iran, to not show the film. The film was a success and is on the top charts list for best-animated films.
In the end I found this film very moving and I grasped the emotion of the characters and felt her pain going through the revolution and living in Vienna. I felt this film is a great lesson teacher in technique of making an animation. The animators thought about what style to use because the story was told from the point of view of a child and from a woman in Iran. The film also teaches lessons on coming of age and learning to not be sheltered and be grateful for what you have. Overall I felt this film was a very moving story and I liked it because it was a film I would have not seen if we did not watch it in class.
