McCloud was Totally Right

After reading a ton of pieces by deceased theorists this semester, I am actually glad that we're stepping into something different. Reading Persepolis was truly a breath of fresh air, in a sense that it doesn't take much brain power to analyze this memoir. However, it's key to point out that one would have to be knowledgeable of historical events, especially middle-eastern culture.

I also found this to be rather entertaining, maybe it's because I'm a huge comic book fan. McCloud states that artistic depictions that represents an idea in our culture is considered an icon. He also states that those icons are recognizable no matter the form that is being presented. As for the icons in the Persepolis text, she tells the story assuming that the reader knows who she is referring to.

For instance, the depiction of God has always been an elderly man dressed in white with a lengthy white beard. He isn’t garbed in any other color because, in our society, white reflects purity and honesty. He appears to be an old guy because He's the creator of all and age is simply an indication of wisdom. It's also key to point out his omnipresent & uncompromising qualities He posses in the text. He visits her randomly when ever He wants. Clearly no one has actually been in the presence of God before, but He has always been depicted as this ubiquitous super-being. McCloud also talks about how an artistic could strip down an image, “in a way realistic art can't” (30). In other words, by making the characters appear like cartoons, the author is able to control the attention and reaction of the audience. The memoir has many illustrations of death, however the images are rather friendly and doesn’t allow the audience to cringe from the sight of it.

Works Cited

• McCloud, Scott. “The Vocabulary of Comics.” In Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York:Harper Collins, 1994. 24-45. 
• Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. New York: Pantheon, 2003.