As a person who loves to draw, I’m really
fascinated by the art style of Persepolis.
It’s simplistic, sacrificing a lot details for a more abstract but at the
same time straightforward depiction of scenes. The art is relatively clean: no
fancy color schemes (actually about as far from that as you can get), not much
shading or texture. And yet, everything is distinct and bold enough that you
can distinguish different characters with relative ease. So how does this
artistic style translate over to something such as blood and gore?
In class we’ve already gone over
some of the “violent” imagery in Persepolis. Main thing that comes to mind
being the POW being tortured. Iron on the back, whipping, with the “highlight”,
though I hesitate to use that word, being the dismembered body of the poor
fellow. It’s a far cry from your Sunday Garfield comic. But at the same time, I’m
not sure if we can really call it graphic either in the realm of graphic novels.
Anyone who’s read the Walking Dead comics
or Marvel Zombies for example will
know what I’m getting at. That stuff
is almost infinitely more detailed in its carnage: full color guts and
everything, going into the nitty-gritty details of every drop of blood and
whatnot.
And yet, something about Persepolis’
simplicity actually seems to amplify the message of what the pictures are
trying to depict. It really cuts into the “fear” motif that the book is trying
to convey, almost like such a gruesome image can’t fully be comprehended by a
child as young as Marjane so her brain is trying its best to make an image to
fit. Since that portion of the story is coming from 10-year-old Marji, it would
be a little bit odd to be depicted a fully “fleshed out” mutilated body, pun actually
not intended. No, Marji just shows what almost looks like a yet to be assembled
mannequin, but the message and the undertone of gruesomeness gets across fine.
Interesting to note as a person who has always liked drawing every single
detail I see, maybe it’s more effective to take the simpler route sometimes.
