Persepolis Humour Essay

The Iranian Revolution may not seem like the ideal situation for humour to be applied, but humour is seen often in Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis; a book retelling Satrapi’s childhood during the revolution. Although her story is littered with the tragedy and brutality of oppression and war, the horrors she experienced are often combined with funny moments that seem impossible in her situation. The premise of humour may seem out of place in a graphic novel about a terrible time, the addition of laughter actually balances out the heavy events of the book and allows the audience to have a greater understanding of her life and avoiding the romanticization or downplaying of tragedy. Human beings are naturally averse to talking about hard or touchy subjects, humour is used to bring light to tough subjects when a regular conversation would be deemed difficult or strained. Lighthearted parts balance out the dark undertones of the story. The humour that is deliberately included allows the audience to better understand Satrapi’s situation, …show more content…
The graphic novel is narrated through the perspective of Satrapi as a child, and the emotions associated with the events seem to follow what the author can remember as closely as possible. As a result, much of the humour in the story is derived from her lack of understanding of the situation. In chapter 6, Satrapi and her friends decide to gleefully march around with nails to beat up another child, who is the son of a man with opposing political views. The humour is derived from her complete lack if comprehension of the seriousness of the topic. This happens again when she begins to create her own torture methods, as inspired by the stories told to her by recently released political prisoners. Satrapi’s misguided and fantastical delusions of violence allows the readers to better understand the impact that the violence had on the