November 13, 2014 - 15:45
gendering in persepolis
-she return to iran, interaction with customs “sister” and “brother”— non-offensive way to tell people to fall in line; brings familial relations into it, equalizing? aggressive? passive aggressive..
discussion of misgendering, how it can be aggressive/microaggressive.
power dynamics of terms of endearment.
* what particular contribution can the genre of the
graphic novel make to our understandings of feminism?
-softening the blow of a harsher reality; presents a difficult situation in a new way
-instead of just words,
-images also make you more uncomfortable , which is a good thing — reels you in then teaches you a lesson
-attempts to inhabit a child’s space in the first part of the book; again, reeling you in with comics/childhood connotations,
-persepolis IS a memoir.. a child’s perspective should not be written off. this book is not for kids, though.
-author drew it wrote it put it out.. her whole perspective (empowering in itself that it is her product wholly)
-simplicity conveys the crux of inequality, in ways that a dense theoretical text cannot. the accessibility that comes with the minimalism of satrapies graphic novel makes it so that it’s so much harder to ignore the blatant injustices.
-to counter: it doesn’t necessarily make it more accessible for everyone (i.e. disability preventing absorption of visual material/faces/etc.)
the question of whether accessibility is a good thing,
a "feminist" thing: equalize access, yes?
well, but…
-you engage in a relationship with a memoir that is similar to a relationship with a partner
-differently from people, you are not affecting that book.
-you won’t change thinking process of creating the book, but… in some ways in considering the author’s process for creating the narrative you are engaging in a give and take relationship
-also affecting it’s popularity/publicity
-but that’s the relationship with the author not the book
-BUT is accessibility a good thing? should we be reaching for full accessibility? do we really want equal access?
-can’t we just accept that they’re different ?
-standpoint THEORY: you can have 400 pg novel from dif person in same country at same time, similar things but different standpoints
discussion reflection