Negotiating Identity: PERSEPOLIS

The beauty of cinema as a medium of representation is its ability to offer perspective and diverse expression of identity. Diasporic cinema is a genre of cultural negotiation regarding individuals in exile residing in a country away from their homeland. The medium taps into a selection of identity expression that deals with a complex conflict of cultural residue within the adaptation to a new environment.

Marjane Satrapi, is an acclaimed Iranian-born French graphic novelist, illustrator, and film director. Her internationally recognised graphic novel, Persepolis became an animated film adaptation in 2007. The film considers an autobiographical encounter of a young girl growing up within the backdrop of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Satrapi’s diasporic navigation through the complexities of coming of age in revolutionary Iran and later as an immigrant in Europe construct a tension between collective and individual identity. This case study approaches her narrative through a broader intergenerational discourse that supports the topic of identity negotiation, further intersecting into conversations on gender and cultural identity.

[Persepolis – Exclusive: Chiara Mastroianni]

The article, Out of the Family: Generations of Women in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis by Nancy K. Miller offers a redefinition of the notion of generation in terms of chronology. Her analogy states that generation can be understood in a parallel corporeal mental space through a collective coexistence of historic or cultural context. The realism of dialogue and memory, as recalled by Satrapi in her film, forms a collective intergenerational experience which transcends hierarchy in generation. Persepolis supports this coexistence of intergenerational identity through the lens of traumatic bonds and collective grief. The film uses its medium of animation to play with visual interludes to the narrative. After a democratic vote for the Islamic Republic, the three generations of the Satrapi family reveal a consequence of the change. Marjane’s innocent ignorance, her uncle Anoush’s reassurance, her grandmother’s distaste, her mother’s contemplation of escape, and finally her father’s reminder of their reality. With each generation, there comes a background of privilege, class and ideology in the way they face the consequences of the regime. And although Marji was granted freedom, it came at the cost of generational guilt, and conflict in cultural identity.

Marjane’s relationship with her grandmother is reflective of the tension she has with her cultural identity and the one she begins to curate to fit in abroad. The flower motif, for instance, is a recurring symbol throughout the film that toys with sensory recollection through visual repetition. The jasmine flower marks Marjane’s departure from her homeland, which becomes a reminder of her cultural identity in association with her grandmother. Yet, when she is confronted with her grandmother for rejecting her Iranian identity, their conversation is in the shadows. It indicates that as much as Marjane can attempt to alter her identity to adapt better abroad, her past will remain in her shadow and its rejection is futile. Marjane’s gradual acceptance of her dual identity is what liberates her to follow the dreams of those who did not have the same opportunity as her: their dream of freedom in identity and expression. It is with such acceptance though, that she is faced with the cost of distance and loss. Satrapi’s reason for writing the novel, and further directing this film is her attempt to reconnect with such distance and preserve what she can of her Iranian identity. And much like millions of exiles or immigrants, her story resonates universally.