Persepolis

I can certainly appreciate this format, a graphic novel, for taking a weighty subject and delivering it in an almost entertaining way, with all due respect. The issues, characters and events were just as provocative as if Satrapi had written a traditional, text-driven memoire. I previously had no education on the history of Iran or its people. This was a good start.

Marxism, Dialectic Materialism. Frames like pg. 12 bottom left and pg. 23 bottom right

I must blushingly admit I know so little of the Islamic Revolution and past invasions of Iran. Unbeknownst to me, Iran had/still has a deep struggle with class, and its citizens once sought communism and Marxism as a remedy. This certainly has helped shape some thoughts about the Iranian people historically and culturally. I would never guess the radicalism of Marx could permeate into a country that has seemingly always been so tightly ruled. Same goes for Michael Jackson and Iron Maiden.

The Wine. pgs. 106-110

This section portrays what I imagine social life would be like under such a repressive regime- a clandestine party interrupted by sirens and a family being stopped and almost arrested on the way home. A parallel might be drawn to our own prohibition era in the States, much like Marjane’s uncle having his own basement winery and having to flush his booze down the toilet in order not to be arrested.

Likewise, Marjane's parents must smuggle posters home, and even little Marjane herself must buy her favorite music from strangers in dark alleys . Pop culture and music can serve as a helping hand in sparking an outcry. When I think of revolution and changing/helping the world, I think of Public Enemy and the "We Are the World" for Haiti just as often as I do Malcolm X, Jesus Christ or the framers of the U.S. Constitution.

The Moviegoer

“The ethical is that by which he becomes what he becomes.” - Kierkegaard, Either/Or

I’m torn now between whether or not Binx can focus and move forward, toward the ethical from the esthetic, and live with and be there for Kate. He is now starting medical school, however to draw a parallel to Binx’s father, he too, according to Binx’s mother was in the wrong medical field. And perhaps Binx will find himself going down the wrong path after all.

“You mean he wasn’t cut out to be an ordinary doctor, he really should have been in research.” “That’s right!”

As for their marriage, I hope Binx can settle into being Kate’s husband and learn what it means to cope with what will only become a different sort of malaise, one in which two people share and work through together. I think he’ll understand malaise better, and learn to live with it.

Binx himself needs a kick in the ass. He’s now lost Uncle Jules and Lonnie, and he hopefully will wake up and realize how fragile life is. And how fragile Kate is. She needs him, and to an extent and whether or not he knows it, he needs her.

Kierkegaard describes despair to be the sickness unto death. Inescapable, much like Binx’s malaise. But the married life will not deliver him from his malaise.

“Even that which, humanly speaking, is utterly beautiful and lovable- the womanly youthfulness that is perfect peace and harmony and joy- is nevertheless despair.” Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death

But to preface the quote above, Kierkegaard himself wrote from a chair of loneliness. He broke off what could have been a meaningful and life-long relationship with someone he admired, and for little understandable reason. A young lady, Regina Olsen. Much like Binx, Kierkegaard felt far too much melancholy to step into marriage. But therein is the difference- Thankfully, Binx has taken a giant leap in taking Kate’s hand in marriage. He’s facing his own loneliness. Kierkegaard’s choice in breaking off his engagement is very illusory, and Regina served him primarily but sadly as a muse for his many philosophical inquiries into loneliness, love, etc.

Despair, according to Kierkegaard, is not rare. It’s commonplace. It’s universal. We all go through it. We cope with it. Life is planned activities. Just add meaning. The final dialogue between Kate and Binx remind me of the simple niceties of a relationship. She wonders if he’ll be thinking of her sitting in the streetcar. He wonders if she’ll carry out the favor.

Twenty feet away and she turns around. “Mr. Klostermann?” “Mr. Klostermann.”

Kate’s quaint, fumbling insecurity about whom she is to ask for makes me think a search has ended.

The first sentence in the Epilogue refers to Dylan Thomas’ “A Poem in October.” Check him out. http://www.bigeye.com/october.htm