The essay makes a comparison of “Maus” by Art Spiegelman and “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi. It would be challenging to express intense historic events and experiences through a graphic novel, but the readings are certainly beneficial to the readers. The visual formats of the graphic novel make a stronger connection between the reader and the characters, than just simply reading the word of text. The pictorial descriptions are helpful when introducing different characters, and one can recognizes their faces an on a page (Sanders 2015).
As one goes through the two graphic books, one comes across many similarities and dissimilarities. To begin with, while Satrapi is a direct partaker in her story while Speigelman gets his information as an oral history. However, both stories are being told by the third party. In Maus, the son of a Holocaust survivor tells the story that is put together by the interviews and facts collected for years (Sanders 2015). In Persepolis, the experiences of her family members with their shocking details are told by a little girl.
In Maus, the story develops by depicting characters and events that interact with each other and move around rooms and landscapes. The imagery in the drama is in accord with the techniques of cinema editing. In contrast, the imagery in Persepolis anchors the reading in a set of mnemonic devices and the images carry a minimal amount of expressive quality with few details. The emphasis is on the story as the graphical character are reduced to keep the reader from getting distracted as asserted by Drucker (52).
The scope intensified graphic work in Maus forces its readers to take it seriously, but Maus is not beautiful, and the images are not precious in themselves any more than those in Persepolis. Still, one finds high contrast, shifts of frame and scale crudely drawn by Satrapi in Persepolis, who finds the right balance between the amount of text and image (Drucker 53). As both graphic novels involve revolution and war, some elements are common in their depiction of the story such isolation from the world, sufferings, and violence because of the identity. Persepolis is told from an autobiographical and journalistic perspective and Satrapi uses a simple black and white graphic background to highlight the Revolutionary Iran during her childhood. Maus characters have distinct identities but minus the elaborate physiognomy (Drucker 53). The differentiation within the sequences can be seen as the characters are featured against a windowpane, wallpaper background or a curtain. The simplicity of the text and graphics allow the reader to understand the complex culture and politics of the nation (Rhett 2007). Both graphic novels show laws and rules under a supreme power that need to be followed in everyday tasks and how they impacted a person negatively. In Persepolis, the supreme power is Shah while in Maus it is the Hitler.
The graphic and art styles in the two books are similar, as they both use black and white color set for the professionally depicted images. The simply drawn images are often repeated to tell a certain message. However, the drawings in Maus look more professional than Persepolis and demand more seriousness from the reader. The dynamic lines in Maus are hatching and carry depth while the images in Persepolis are simplified shapes carrying high contrast. The imagery in Maus with those details in the facial features and characters serve as the pictorial depictions of absent referents. The line work, framing, and colors are substantive as compared to Persepolis. The drama in Persepolis moves forward with its shorthand mode (Drucker 52), compelled by the need to tell and constantly record the series of events.
As stated by Drucker (52), Spiegelman’s Maus follows a more conventional approach with a scene-by-scene recitation of action. The story drives the work in Maus with the complex development of characters, scenes, and locales. Satrapi’s approach uses detailed but repetitive imagery to keep the reader immersed with the extended graphical treatment.
The graphic elements in Persepolis enhance textual linguist information and reflects photographic principles and composition (Henderson 483). The light background of panels is unobtrusive as compared to Maus. However, the dark backgrounds in some panels show darkness and lack details. There is more play of light and shadows in Maus drawings and images. Several similarities & differences go on through the graphic novels such as the depiction of war and bombings, dictatorship. While Maus is based in Germany, Persepolis is based in Iran and based on the later historical event. There are violence and loss in both leaving many people dead.
Conclusion
Maus and Persepolis are similar and yet very different in several ways. Both depict different time periods but relate to dictatorship, war, and violence. The novels make use of visuals and graphics in black and white to convey the storyline, but the graphic work in Maus is more serious thanPersepolis . Maus and Persepolis are both horrific stories that have many similarities and differences. Both novels show how textual linguistic information with illustrations can help enhance the reception and interpretation of the story. Both the graphic novels narrate detailed human dilemmas and circumstances through visual means. The panel-by-panel unfolding of the stories develops a story line through the movement of a character. The facial expressions, postures, and other details register clearly and are based on a realist pictorial convention.
Works Cited
Drucker, Johanna. "What is Graphic about Graphic Novels?" English Language Notes 46.2 (2008): 39. Web.
Henderson, Casey. "(Re)Locating the Subject and Verb: How Graphic Elements in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis Replace and Enhance Its Linguistic Components." Weber State University1.1 (2012):482-489. Print
Rhett, Maryanne. "The Graphic Novel and the World History Classroom." worldhistoryconnected. 2007. Web. 9 April. 2016.
Sanders, Erin K. "Persepolis and Maus as Graphic Novels." tufts.edu. 2015. Web. 9 April. 2016.
