Stereotypes are defined as a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of person or thing, according to Oxford Dictionary. In the novel Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi, it corroborates how society tends to put things into boxes; primarily good or bad, and how the media tends to portray different stereotypes. However, the habitual practicing of stereotyping is dehumanizing, whether it be religious or cultural, and is further explored in Satrapi’s Persepolis. The novel mostly discusses the stereotypes of Islam and the Middle East, through the viewpoint of Western society and explore what it’s like to grow up in Iran, and to be misunderstood no matter where you go, simply because of where you came from.
Satrapi’s use of her own experiences and opinions are to express to her readers that the stereotypes that are placed upon Iranian society, which have become a common image that many people foreign to Iran, are skewed biases. Throughout the novel, she contradicts the idea that her country is either little more than a nation founded by fundamentalists and home to terrorists and extremists, or an oppressed and isolated society, by depicitng her family as the ‘normal Iranian family’, a part of the middle class. Marjane and her family consider themselves to be very “modern and avant’garde” as they did not follow the traditional Islamic Religion, and were even against many aspects of it as they often attended dangerous and illegal protest rallies and demonstrations. Nevertheless, they were still forced to follow the rules; such as the wearing of the veil, which was often ridiculed by young girls just like Marjane, who “didn’t understand why they (the young girls) had to”. The use of the veil and the frequent mentioning of the protest rallies that her family participated in symbolise oppression, and the refusal to wear it, and also the ridiculing of the veil, challenges the stereotype that portrays them and others like them as ‘blindly following their religion’ and that they needed ‘saving’ from it. She illustrates the veil in such a way as to symbolise oppression, if seen from the stereotypical Western point of view.
The author’s use of pop culture references contributes to the contradiction of the stereotype that the Iranian people are oppressed, and isolated from the rest of the world, including the differences in interests and what we find fashionable or cool in Western societies. In order to demonstrate this belief, Satrapi emphasises the Westernised values of her family, which includes various mementos of American pop culture that are seen throughout the series. The pop culture references include various everyday items from the clothes they wear, "I put my 1983 Nikes on… And my denim jacket with the Michael Jackson button…" to the music they listen to, "We're the kids in America whoao", which are both seen in the panels where Marjane is almost arrested by the Guardians of the Revolution for being improperly veiled. These mementos also included the basic way they live, and the activites that not only we in the Western society enjoy, but them as well, "Hey mom, dad, let's play Monopoly” is seen in the first few pages where Marjane’s parent have just come back home exhausted from a protest rally.
Although many parts of their culture are influenced by Western society, being called westernized is an insult in Iran, as shown by the Guardians of the Revolution when Satrapi’s father was caught wearing a necktie and checked for alcohol consumption. Considering how many people secretly admire western culture and involve themselves in it through the pop music and movie stars, this is very ironic. Iranians believe that Europeans are ignorant about the conflicts and situations in the world and how they only use their power to interfere in what interests of benefits them. The desire of the Western countries in controlling the Middle-East are evident in the scene where Marjane’s father explains how the Shah’s father came into power. They are also seen as manipulative as they deceived Reza and had him become king while they gained money in the form of oil. However, it shows that the portrayal and use of stereotypes upon a society can go both ways, as not only do Iran have stereotypes placed upon them by Westerners and their media, but that Iranians have misconceptual ideas of Western society as well.
However, by portraying her family in this ‘modern’ way shows that they may not have complete understanding of Iran as she grew up in a family that practices little, or if any, Iranian culture as it was not mentioned once in Persepolis of the family eating Iranian food, celebrating traditional holidays or even showing a house that had Iranian decor, but instead decorated their house with American mementos, as seen in the novel, when Marjane shares her bedroom with two children seeking refuge after their own house was destroyed. Marjane's room was decorated with the same patterns as seen in the American flag. By emphasising her family values and their ‘normal Iranian way of livng’, it could instead show that Marjane does not have a complete understanding of Iran and their culture due to her family’s daily life resembling that of a Western family, instead of a traditional Iranian family.
To combat the misconception of her country being aggressive due to their religion, Satrapi enlists the assistance of examples of scenes in the novels where the new conservative regime is introduced by the government and is shown dissent and disaggrement from many people in Iranian society. She writes that during the first few years of conservative fundamentalism in Iran, it was met with unified national dissent. Although Satrapi successfully challenges the stereotype that Iranians are ‘blindly following’ their religion, her writing may be limited as the first-person narrative of a child cannot be taken as a historically accurate piece of evidence, even though it may be persuasive, it is also biased.
During Marjane’s adolescent years, there were many instances that accentuated her family’ defiance to the extremist government as they continually displayed a lack of faith and unwillingness to follow their conservational new regime. Satrapi illustrates the family’s defiant values when she states, “we had everything…that was forbidden. Even Alcohol, gallons of it” when had a party, that was interrupted by sirens warning them of an incoming bomb. By using her family as an example, Satrapi aims to show that the defying attitude and opposition of the new regime extended to not just her family, but the majority of Iran. The method of using a smaller sample size and then applying the same results to generalize a larger population is normally used in scientific experiments and studies and is generally effective. Nevertheless, by writing from a first-person perspective of a child may be creating false facts, and instead of challenging these generalizations, she is confusing her readers.
By reading Persepolis, readers can understand the events that occur in Iran and Iraq. While reading the novel, some may realize how daily life occurs in Iran. Not everyone is Islamic and not everyone wears “the veil”. Iran society is similar to the society in the United States, or other Westernised countries. Satrapi challenges these stereotypes that Western society has by either convincing them that the way that the media perceives them to be, as wrong or, in fact, correct. One impression that some people might have about Iran prior to reading Persepolis is that the Iranians live their lives in torment and oppression because of their strict practices and religion. This impression is based on the way media perceives them to be, whenever we switch a television on or look at our phone, the news about the Iranians seem to appear as if it is all negative, all about oppression, war, torture and torment. Satrapi successfully convinces her readers that this impression that we have is actually correct. On the first page, panel 5, she illustrates young girls, possibly including herself – Marjane, playing with the veil in so many disrespectful ways, as a result of being forced to wear it.
Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel series, Persepolis, was written with the purpose of dispelling many of the generalisations that are formed by the western world about Iran and to show them that the country is more than a home for terrorists, and that they aren’t all oppressed and blindly following a religion that they don’t fully understand. But instead, Satrapi writes Persepolis, through the first-person mindset of a child, to show us that not everybody in Iran follows the conservative regime, and in fact scorn it, and that they are just as involved with pop culture and other ‘trendy’ societal pleasures as we are. Satrapi uses her novels to remind us that having or using stereotypes towards other individuals or countries is not a ‘one-way street’ and that Iranian society has misconceptions about Western society and culture, just like we do towards their culture and way of living.