Persepolis Essay

The movement of people across borders is a common feature of today’s increasingly global society. However, when there is a forceful movement of people to a new religion, this migration results in a diaspora where the group is removed from their country of origin. An example of this is visible in Persepolis, a film adapted from Marjane Satrapi’s novel. The story shows the life of Marjane as she flees the Iran following the Shah’s overthrow in 1979. It shows the struggles of assimilating into a new community while maintaining a cultural identity, and the re-assimilation that follows when returning to their place of origin. It brings forth the question of religion and more specifically the role of a secular government in regards to
authority. When entering into a new host country, the new migrant often will be coming from not only another part of the world but also a different culture.
There is a constant struggle upon moving to fit into the new society and to become an active and successful participant in it. However, assimilation can be hindered due to cultural differences, racism, and fear. For example, in the movie Persepolis, Marjane encounters remarks regarding her nationality as an insult. This causes a separation between herself and the Austrians she is living with. It begins to make her consider ditching her identity and adopting a more appealing background. As with many refugees, she finds herself homeless, this is the fate of many migrants trying to make it on their own in a new place. This forces her to return home, which upon arrival she realizes that she no longer belongs in her old country either. She was a stranger in Austria and became a stranger in Iran. The diaspora led to a disconnection between her and her former neighbors. She did not live through all the same experiences they encountered and spent a long period of time in a new society. Unknowingly, she had changed during her attempts to join a European culture and lost parts of her Iranian identity. This identity crisis is what many face after being relocated leaving them stranded and asking, “where is
home?” The use of secularism in countries today is often blurred, used to ban or shun a religion when needed, but rules are bent to appease the majority religion. Marjane experiences both sides of this. She sees the way that Islam is viewed in a country that is not predominantly Shi’ite, and that the West confuses the line between the revolution, the violence and the terror in Iran with the religion the majority of their people follow. She tries to adapt to their countries forms of religion, experiencing nihilism with teenagers in Austria, living with the nuns, and questioning her own views on God. Due to the violence and loneliness she experiences throughout the movie she consistently debates with her inner self over the existence of a God and his authority in her life. Once she returns to Iran the religion she had questioned was forced upon her again as she entered a male dominated and non-secular country. Marjane loses her freedom to express her thoughts and ideas, although even in Europe she was unable to always express herself due to her being a minority. This leads to the issue of how as a migrant she should carry religion with her, it is unacceptable in some of her homes, however is the law in her place of origin.