Posts and Responses

Persepolis

Thanks to many of you who attended our Movie of the Week yesterday. Anyone interested can borrow my copy (it’s 90 + mins) or rent it from the MRC or Blockbusters. This film (based on the Graphic Novel by the same name) follows the life of young Marjane Satrapi from about 1978-1990. It presents the overthrow of the Shah as a Nationalist struggle, one that was fought by Marxists and Islamic Fundamentalists against the Western-leaning Shah. In the end the Theocrats won out … fought a long difficult war against Iraq and suppressed human rights in the process. There are many other themes to consider in this film including: the portrayal of the liberal grandmother, Marjane’s identity crises (growing up in Austria & not fitting in there or in Iran), and more. Please share your thoughts or post questions about the film here. THANKS!

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Page 208 of the Ebook states:  "The possibility that countries which are riven internally by religion, sect and tribe will descend into anarchy and civil war, as in Lebanon, generates the kinds of circumstances in which dictatorship can also flourish, as in Syria and Iraq." This statement makes several assumptions about the causes of political conflict in the Middle East.  What are some of the assumptions made?  What is another viewpoint?  What do you think?