The most important change for me was the scene where Marjane falsely accuses the man of indecency. In the graphic novel, Marjane falsely accuses a man who happened to be an innocent bystander. His facial expression gave no indication of guilt of any kind. In the movie, the man does stare at her butt and only stops when he is caught staring. He is portrayed as perverted. In the story, we feel anger towards Marjane for having an innocent man imprisoned. However, the movie changes our view of the innocent man, making the viewer less angry towards Marjane and wondering just how innocent that man truly was.
An important omission from the movie was Kia, Marjane’s childhood friend who served for Iran during the war. In the graphic novel, the story of Kia was powerful. A young man who had lost both his arm and his leg in the war. Yet, his joke about the man who had been blown into pieces and reattached shows he still managed to retain a sense of humor, even if it was making fun of a serious issue. An issue that he could relate to. This could have served as a powerful scene in the movie, as although it shows the effects of war and violence, it also shows that even the most unfortunate can still be optimistic and retain a sense of humor. It was an opportunity to create a powerful scene that was wasted.
Although these omissions and changes are very minor, they did have a big effect on how I perceived the Persepolis movie.
Strack, I agree with what you said about the scene where Marjane falsely accuses the man. I agree that the movie gave a whole new perspective to that incident. When reading the novel I was shocked at Marjane's actions and could not understand how she could accuse someone so innocent. When watching the movie her actions were slightly more justified. I think that was a powerful scene in the novel and should have been replicated in the movie.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I have to say that I thought the movie was a great compliment to the novel. I found that for the most part, the novel and the movie were pretty consistent. I thought the movie did a great job at putting the novel to life. An interesting fact is that the author of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, was the co-writer and co-director of the movie. This is a likely reason that the novel and movie are consistent.
Strack, I have to agree with you when you say the omissions and changes from the graphic novel to the movie affect the movie. I believe the graphic novel was much more powerful than the movie. The events in the novel were much more meaningful and deeper compared to how they were portrayed in the movie. One of the major events that was left out in the movie was when Marji’s mother came to visit her in Austria. I believe the visitation was an important part of the graphic novel. Marji’s mothers visit is important because Marji’s mother was able to see how her daughter was living in the West, compared to back home in Iran. The visit gave Marjane’s mother insight to life in the West, including the types of food, and the overall lifestyle. Marjane’s mother did not know what spaghetti was until she visited Austria, and this is important because it shows a difference between Austria and Iran.
ReplyDeleteThe omission of this event is important because it did not allow the readers to see how Marjane’s mother viewed life in the West. The event gave her insight as to what life was like outside of the war zone in Iran; furthermore, agreeing with the idea that it should have been included in the movie. In the movie, the audience never gets to see the mothers experience in Austria, they never get to see how she views Marji's life outside of Iran. I believe this omission was extremely important; therefore, the omission took away some of the greatness of the movie. If the event had been included, the movie would have been even better than it already is.
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