Wednesday, October 12, 2011
The extension of Persepolis's body
In Scott McCloud's "The Vocabulary of Comics," he explains that when we drive, "The vehicle becomes an extension of our body. It absorbs our sense of identity. We become the car" (McCloud 39). However, it can be argued that this effect affects more than just the driver of the vehicle. Such is the case for Persepolis, a child who places emphasis on who she is based on objects, such as her father's Cadillac. Whenever the car is brought up, it is done so with a negative regard. It is one of the reasons Persepolis wishes to become a prophet (McCloud 6). It is when she reads the stories of Ali Ashraf Darvishian, learning of children her age and younger having to work for survival, that she comes to understand why she despises the car so much. She sees the car as an extension of who she is, a representation of her status, despite the fact that it really is not her car, but her father's. This realization also leads her to another, when she starts reflecting on the divide between social classes and has a moment of clarity when it dawns on her that her family has a maid. Like the car, having Mehri reflects negatively on Persepolis's idea of how it contrasts with social classes and how it also reflects negatively on her. So, when Mehri identifies Persepolis as her sister for the purpose of attracting a potential lover, it is not surprising that Persepolis goes along with the ruse willingly (McCloud 35). Even after Mehri's trickery is revealed and Persepolis is chastised for the part she played, the two seem to maintain the close bond, as seen when Persepolis says in reflection, "We were not in the same social class but at least we were in the same bed" (McCloud 37).
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Ricky, the extension you're talking about might separate the physical from the social. When McCloud talks about a car being an extension of our bodies, he means that a car becomes our physical body. This is a mental process, of course, but it is our brains turning the car into our own physical body. What Marjane goes through in Persepolis is something completely mental. In her mind, the Cadillac becomes a part of her identity in the sense that she doesn't have to own it, doesn't have to touch it, and doesn't even have to see it. Her father owns a Cadillac, and that says something about her social status that she doesn't like very much.
ReplyDeleteI agree that one could use the negative aspect of McCloud's theory that we as human beings can humanize or attached icons to ourselves an see them as part of our identity to argue that Persepolis is trying to become a prophet in response to her social class.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Is she not, by wanting to become a prophet of Islam, simply participating in a different icon? I believe that she is simultaneously rejecting the icon of the upper class, because she sees in the moment the harm it does, and taking on the icon of Islam because she believes that with this icon she can do good.
It is still a little up in the air (at were i am) in this book as to what the power of Icons are. However i think that we can see even in the first few pages that an icon can change a country.