Persepolis is Late

I am a slacker, and I fail. Go ahead, admit it...anyway, here are the words that everybody hangs off of their seats to read....

Religious-osity, (13)

In the words of Karl Marx, " Religion is the opiate of the masses.", and so it stands in many of the prominent governmental systems around the world. A few years ago, I thought my energies would best be spent on theology. Not so much di the world of religion interest me, but more so the fact that I could develop a better understanding as to why people still adopt gods as their own, but still seem to reject scientific actualities. I am what most people call atheist. I know this is not really appropriate school talk, but since it the topis at thand, I will not shy away from my own beliefs.

In the book, we see the young herione, Marji, a.k.a. the author of our beloved book, consistantly speaking to God. Her realtionship with him, so it appeared in the book, was almost on intimate terms. Also, our young activist was bent ever so earnestly on becoming a prophet when she was older, one of the last prophets, and if I'm not mistaken, to her own sort of religion-medley. Even though Marji seems to reference and pray to God every time she is faced with a difficult decission, at the end of the section entitled "Sheep", Marji's uncle, Anoosh, falls by influence of the government, captured as a Russina spy, and executed. This was Marji's greates hero; now she had one in her family like her little friends did. It seems that after this passage, after she renounces God, he appears no more in the illustrated text. This passage always struck to to be a major pivitol point in Marji's life. God had failed her, and so she gave him up. And whats more is that she was deeply religious.

Another key role that religion played in Persepolis was that the Shah used religion as a means to convince the people that his hold in power came from some sort of redeemable source, in this instance in the deeply religious community in Iran, God. We can look at other regions that had used a system of beliefs meant to be so peaceful to the detriment of the people following it. The former Soviet Union, (Communist Russia), seems to be an appropriate example. Though the people were kept in terrible living and working situations, they followed blindly not only because they were able to believe in what they believed in, but the government kept the people poor, unhealthy, and uneducated, so they followed blindly. Another great example is back in B.C.E. times. When rulers were moving through the fertile crescent to conquer all the other lowly races/places, they allow the conquered peoples to keep their religion, so long as they followed complacently.

A large role in the Islamic revolution was religion, as are most worldy conflicts. The author seems to try and "degrade" to a certain point the idea of fundamentalism in her religion. It seems as though in the begining of the graphic novel, she was one such strict and conservative follower, accepting the word of anyone and the religious text with a zeal only a child could express, just because someone said so. Example, when their textbooks said that the Shah was cohsen by god. I think that anyone who has had a doubt concerning religion, is apt to "make social commentaries" about it. Everyone gets so worked up trying to make other people believe what they do, and yet no one really says that what I believe in is all that matters to me, so I have no need to concern myself with the goings on of other peoples beliefs.

Also, i think it was said that the veil was used to keep men pious and true to form becasue the hair of women is too tempting. I hate it when religious authorities abuse their power!!!

I Ain't No Hippie Chick (9)

All children will do what they can to get a little adrenaline running through their blood; anything to excite them and their freinds. So when we see the young people in persepolis, despite the strict rules dissallowing it, trying to smuggle the trends into their lives. We see in the book Marji become intrigued and coaxed to follow these girls to skip school and meat up at this restuarnat. They are just kids, and breaking the rules is like gold to us. If there's on set, we go out of our ways to see that it is broken. Actually, as a word of advice, don't really tell us the rules, and we won't break them, we're faily docile under most circumstances.

Also, we see Marji's parents take a trip to Turkey. Marji is desperatley in need of a Iron Maiden poster, and new Nikes, and all of the latest and greatest trends in America. Paraphanela from America is on the "I catch you with it coming across the borders, you get arrested" variety of stuff. Her parents went though the risk of being caught just so their child could rock out in style. We see Marji don the leather jacket, defy the veil, don the shoes and a Michael Jackson pin, and strut through the streets, rubbing America's filthy trends in their noses. She even got "captured" by the brigade of women law upholders because of her risque wares.

Unfortunatley, I am one of those who will always be ten years old in mind, even thogh my body will have aged to forty. My actes of rebellion are unoriginal. I have done nothing that any other kid has'nt already done a decade before me. I am mostly complacent with the perameters that my parents set up for me, but I do have a tendancy to use my amazing word abilities on them and make them feel like shit like no one else can. At that I'm a genius.

Woman Powered Factories (12)

We have been alive as a collective people for thousands of years, yet still the differences in skin and sex play a pivitol role in separating us and ensuring the inequality rules at the reigns. Another connection with religion here, is that in many of the religious texts, especially Christianity, the woman was the downfall of her male counter-part. Such is the role we are given because men want us, and think we're evil for it. The same can be said for many other reilgions besides that one, and the same can be said for Marji's beliefs.

The older you were and the more connected with the government you were, the more you yourself, a woman, believed that your "kind" were bad and too tempting. The opposite can be said for those who were younger as well as older who had had some sort of ordeal in their family concerning the government and the ill treatment of their families. Those who followed, usually had no discernable connection to the government, and some were only following along for the fact that if they didn't, they could lose their jobs, and worse lose their lives. Such is the role that the gov. seen fit to put their people in; traitorious and blind.

I never really resolved my addition of Karl Marx in there. He is not only seen her in my blog, but in the pages of Persepolis also. I think he had some brilliant, yet quite utopian, ideals.

I know i fail for lateness, but read on everyone else!!!