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from still images to moving images

spleenfiend's picture

One of the interesting features of the movie Persepolis is that it is in black and white, which is not typical of modern cartoons.  Since some of the narration by Marjane Sartrapi was shown in color, I am under the impression that the effect of the black and white was meant to make the entire movie look like a memory or flashback, as opposed to the present narration.  This gave the movie the same "layered" effect as the original "autographic."

When we began studying graphic novels, I said I preferred movies and traditional books to them because movies give you more pictures (and moving ones!) while books give you more words.  However, the movie version of Persepolis seemed to me less detailed than the original and seemed to fly by a lot more quickly, not giving me the same opportunity to become engrossed in each stage of Sartrapi's life.

I liked the ending of the movie better, as it extended beyond the "freedom always has a price" line and brought us to the present (Marjane in color, in a taxi) and then back to the past again, with her memory of her grandmother.
 

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