NOTE: If you misssed the film, or simply want to re-watch it, you can find Persepolis in the following link to watch for free (with ads) on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRTzV9m5YP0
We watched all but about 15 minutes of the film in class, so we'll finish it on Thursday and then do a Writing Workshop which will bring us into the conversation of the film--how it connects to the other essays in class, and what other issues it brings up related to the "Ugly Truth" theme of your Paper #2.
Here are some ideas to consider as you think about the film (you do NOT have to respond to these as homework):
* Why do you think they told this story from mostly a young girl's perspective? Since she's an adult at the beginning of the film, why not stay with that perspective? What do we gain from seeing her world change as she's still maturing herself?
* Related to our last essay, "Unsafe Passage," why doesn't Marjane's family leave Iran when it becomes more and more dangerous? And related to this, why does she eventually leave toward the middle of the film?
* How does life change the most for normal Iranian citizens from the Shah's government to the Islamic Republic? Whose life changes the most?
* Why do so many people risk their lives for small freedoms which seem unimportant compared to jail time or exceution? For example, why would Marjane risk buying tapes on the black market when getting caught with them could get her arrested and/or killed?
* How does the government instill a very strict form or propaganda to the masses through the media and in schools? What are they learning about their new government?
* Why does she have a nervous breakdown in Vienna? Though she has all the freedom she longed for in Iran, why doesn't it set her free?
* Similarly, what makes it hard for her to adjust back in Iranian society when she returns? What no longer 'works' for her, at least at first?
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