outline Kiara Deolio

Out line

Intro/ Thesis: The graphic memoir Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi published 2000 is about the life of Marji who was growing up at the time of the Islamic revolution. She leaves and then comes back to Iraq years later, no longer wanting to be controlled by the government or anyone she as an adult decides to move to France to continue her studies and become a person of her own. Using Linda Costanzo Cahir three types of literature-to-film translations the end scene of when Marji is at the airport on her way to move to France in the film maintains its plot and settings but leaves out minor details that are in the graphic memoir making it a traditional translation. A traditional translation maintains the overall traits of the written work (its plot, settings, and stylistic conventions) but revamps particular details in those ways that the filmmakers see as necessary and fitting.

Film Concepts:

Color – At the end of film it switches from black and white to color when she arrives in France almost like Marji is starting a new life with great possibility and leaving the end of the war which most see as bleak and depressing, but in the graphic memoir it stays black and white because it ends at the airport in Iraq with Marjs grandmother crying which is a sad scene. Even though both film and memoir end in different scenes they both maintain the plot and story line which proves it’s a traditional translation.

Sound- The sound in the film is non- diegetic at the end scenes the music changes from sad to a slow calm guitar as Marji leaves her parents and grandmother and arrives in France, almost like she is sad that she must leave but she’s content with her decision. In the graphic memoir the writer Marjane Satrapi makes you feel content with Marjis decision to leave which translates to the film.

Exchange Concept:

Sacrifice- In the film in The End scene when Marji was leaving and saying goodbye to everything and everyone, she knows to make something of herself in France the shots of the settings fade to black before changing to a different setting, when it changes to the airport setting the shot is a wide shot before Marji starting talking then it zooms in to show the emotion of what she’s giving up to pursue her dreams. The End scene in the memoir the scenes are almost all medium shot only showing from the knees and waist up and they don’t fade to black, sacrifice is shown when she’s saying goodbye to her family the illustration shows her crying but smiling at the same time and then waving at them from a far, which translates different in the film because she doesn’t look back once she says goodbye almost like if it was too hard for her to.

Termes From five Part Reading:

Character- Marji grows up and matures as a person in the graphic memoir and film the translation of this is similar but is also different.  In the end of The Dowery scene in the memoir Marji is leaving her parents to go to Vienna it illustrates her being scared of leaving by herself and crying while all the shots are medium and in the film there is movement in the background as well as her parents facial expressions giving her an encouraging smile as to not worry her, which isn’t shown in the memoir making it a necessary edit to show that even though they need her to go they don’t want her to go. In the End scene in the memoir, now as an adult she is sad but happy and content with her decision to moving on to bigger and better things when she’s in the airport and in the film she’s sad that she’s leaving her family and home country but doesn’t want to look back because it’s too hard for her meaning that she no longer needs her parents even though she wants them making it also a necessary edit to show how she’s grown up as a person.

Setting- In the memoir the scene The Dowery shows the airport where there is a guard checking Marjis bag the graphics aren’t as sharp and detailed there are figures in the background, but they are all shaded in black. In the film everything is more detailed even the people in the background and the guards face aren’t shown which helps with the translation because it gives the audience more feeling of her being in an airport with other people traveling. In the scene The End in the memoir they don’t show much of the airport like they do in the film which helps the audience see what happens after she leaves her family giving the revamp of the scene necessary.