Megan's Persepolis Week 3: Class Act

During english class before Spring Break, we did a short writing session in class about literary perspectives. This is not the essay that is due tomorrow, however was just my thoughts at the time writing randomly in my journal. Please excuse any grammatical or mistakes that involve understanding existentialism.

According to a Persian philosopher, Mulla Sadra, "existence precedes essence." This, from what I understand, means that people have natural, scientific instincts that will overtake things that affect people such as religion and where a person was brought up. This statements makes sense, however can also be justified for the other way. Another belief is that people are a product of their place and time. This, in relation to Persepolis, makes complete sense. Marjane Satrapi, from what was written, is a rebel because her parents were rebels. However, if Mulla read Persepolis, he would think that all people are rebels inside, and that since that is true, Marjane's essence (Iran) also brought out her rebelliousness. My opinion is that people both have natural and relative meanings to themselves equally. People are not like other animals, we don't need only basic needs such as food and water to survive. We also need emotion, friendship, and love. I don't think this can be proven though, because as of what I know, there have not been scientific studies of humans living with only basic needs in a glass room or something.
In the movie, "Girl, Interrupted", the main character, Susanna, struggles with finding who and what she is, and feels she is wrongly diagnosed in the mental institute. I believe where she was brought up and her parent influenced who she became. Not because al humans are not intellectually and socially stable from the beginning. There was also another supporting character, Lisa, who frequently escaped the institute only to keep coming back for 7 years. Lisa, from the outside, could merely be labeled as a rebellious, outgoing and spontaneous person, however was deemed unfit for society. She was also labelled as promiscuious. These traits are all evident in every human being, however specific and sometimes amplified in others. There were also characters, such as a girl who set herself on fire. These, I thought, were more commonly suited for a psychological institution. Suicide, as I remember was also talked about with the study of existentialism. Albert Camus claimed that "there is only one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide" in his "The Myth of Sisyphus". So, is this becasue of our place and time? Or is it because of our existence?

There is neither a right nor wrong answer but in Persepolis' case, I believe Marjane is a product of her place and time.

Meg's Persepolis Week Two- Feedback and Literary Feature Hunt

On page 70-71, I enjoyed the discussion on the idea of existentialism when Marji orders God out of her life. She says she "was lost, without any bearings". On page 71, you see her floating through space, lost mainly because she believed her Uncle Anoosh shouldn't have been excecuted. So, I began searching up existentialism and came across "Transcendent Theosophy".
It was developed by Mulla Sadra, a Persian philosopher. His main concept was that "existence precedes essence", and from what I have found from my studies, I believe the meaning would be that the existence of something is more important than its essence or nature. Sadra believed that since what affects us first is what exists, and then we form the idea of its essence or nature, existence comes first. This is very different from the traditional views that the essence of something is more important than its existence.
This relates back to what Mr.McGuigan always says "Do human beings have natural instincts? Is there something in our nature that causes us to do things?"
I always thought that was just English jibber jabber, but little did I know, it was actually philosophy.

I somewhat agree with Mulla Sadra and other philosophers, that humans have natural instincts (existence). I believe that religion (essence) is not either a good nor bad thing, because there have been situations between for example; racism against certain religions versus others, or religion giving people hope during a horrific situation.


(PS. I figured out how to scan books!)

On page 127, there is a symbol being used in place of something. It is the bright light bulb on the last panel in place of an idea. This light bulb is commonly used in comic books to represent when a character is thinking, and suddenly, like a light turning on, they have a plan/idea. The light bulb is also a reference to Thomas Edison, who had a great idea and created the incandescant light bulb.
On the next few panels after this idea (pg.128), I loved (and found it quite hilarious) to see Marji's parents going to a lot of trouble to disguise a Kim Wilde poster in her father's jacket. It reminded me of my parents, especially because the mother thought of the idea, and the father excecuted it in a hilarious fashion.
I also love the transitioning between the 3 panels then the tall one panel of the father.