EL BLOGGO NUMBAH DOS.

Question one. "The New York Times...etc etc etc. Why is this genre so popular? Why did she chose this format? What does the visual aspect add? Have you read other graphic memoirs? How is Persepolis similar/different? How does Persepolis compare to other comic books? Is this really a comic book? Where would you place this book in a bookstore?

Well, by all rights this should count as more than one question, since it's actually eight questions, but...whatever.

Why is this genre so popular? Because it's easy to read. You can plow through this thing in about an hour or two if you're slow. This would be much less entertaining as a book. The pictures aren't amazing or anything, but they do make it easier to understand as well. Pictures help. With history. And stuff. Yeah. You know. I could never understand the Iranian revolution before.

I've read Maus. Because everyone has, you know. Persepolis is obviously much funnier, but on the other hand not as many horrible things are depicted in it. In comparison just to other comic books, you can't dismiss all other comics with just "SUPERHEROES AND STUFF WHATEVER," because some of them are as good or better, despite the fact that they're made up. So is Persepolis really a comic? Yes, duh, of course it is. Like that cheesy comic said, comics are a genre, not a topic. Comics mean a story told with pictures and words, not superheroes.

Where'd I put Persepolis? Probably with the memoirs, though. Not the comic books. Nobody in a bookstore ventures into the comic book section unless they're looking for superheroes and violence and sex. More people would pick it up in the memoirs, too, thinking, WHAT A COMIC IN THE MEMOIR SECTION?????????? And so they would be interested. I'm a real business shark.

Enough use of caps and question marks.

Question three. In an associated press interview...etc etc. How does she go about challenging this myth? How does Persepolis dispel or confirm your views on Iran? In what ways does reading this book deepen your understanding and knowledge of Iran, and the current situation in Iraq?

Before I read Persepolis, I didn't know anything about Iran. Like seriously. I'd read the Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, but those are Afghanistan, and they're not really the same thing. So my views on Iran were pretty much "It's a country full of Muslims and they don't let their women go outside or do anything except have sex with their husbands every four days." Which is actually Afghanistan again. My knowledge of Iran was limited to A) they have oil there and B) they used to be called Persia, and they didn't like that 300 movie.

I never really would have guessed that up until recently, you were totally allowed to go about freely without the veil and what not. And I never considered the fact that people continued to wear western clothes and have parties despite the fact that they might be shot.

Wizened me right up.

Question eight. What kinds of captivity and freedom does the author explore? What stifles people from being completely free? How do they defy the rules imposed on them and attempt to live ordinary lives despite revolution and war? Give some examples of their small acts of rebellion.

Let's be clear here: By ordinary lives, we mean lives like WE live. Western ordinary. Because you could totally argue that different cultures have different norms, and wearing full length clothes in the desert is totally normal.

But I'm not going to argue with it, so we'll say that America is normal. Freedom is normal. What stifles it, then? The Islamic regime, clearly.

Of course people don't go along with it. I don't know why it never really occurred to me before that people living under this regime would probably rebel. I mean, Jews rebelled under the Nazi regime. Why wouldn't the people of the middle east do the same? They still have parties and drink and make fun of their teachers and have their own minds.

So they're technically not free, but it seems like they ignore it quite a bit. I'm sure this isn't everybody, it's probably fairly unique to her rebellious parents and their friends, but they aren't totally oppressed, even though they are.