1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening

The film Persepolis by Marjane Strapati was an animated picture based a young Iranian
girl named Marj and her familys suffering during the time of the Shahs dictatorship. Although
the story line is harsh and gloomy through the traumatic experiences that Marj encounters, the
directors manages to incorporate humor into the film, placing emotions and pity to a minimum.
Other techniques the directors practiced were smooth executions into different scenes to
complement the many different events that were arising. The art of natural sounds were used
within the film making surrounding sounds easily heard. The film also included much dialogue
of Marj with numerous family members along with monologues. The directors used different
color schemes to assist the film which were the most important part of the film in my opinion.
With animated films there is a lot of tension to make the characters and events appear lifelike,
however instead, the directors used black and white shades are used to present Marjs life in the
past while color is used to illustration the present. The visuals were a key point in this film
because they could have portrayed the struggles Marj endured single handedly without the
support of words.
2) Find a related article and summarize the content. (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress,
artistic content, etc.) You can use the library or the internet. Cite the article or copy the url to
your journal entry. Summarize in your own words the related article but do not plagiarize any
content.
The article I chose is about the banning of the movie an books, Persepolis, by Chicago
authorities due to "graphic language" while the author, teachers and anti-censorship groups
disagree. The film has been described as "Orwellian", or being the situation, idea, or societal
condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open
society (Wikipedia) so as of March 15, 2013 the memoir had been officially removed from the
classrooms and libraries of Chicago. The act followed much disapproval protest so as a result
the books were only removed from seventh grade classrooms because "it contains graphic
language and images that are not appropriate for general use in the seventh grade curriculum".
Annette Gurley, CPS office of teaching and learning chief explained her view on the banning of
books to Publishers Weekly stating "We want to make sure that the message about inhumanity [is
what] kids walk away with, not the images of someone with exposed body parts urinating on
someone's back or someone's being tortured. We are not protesting the value of this book as a
work of art. We just want to make sure that when we put this book into the hands of students,
they have the background, the maturity to appreciate the book", which is a valid reasoning for
the actions that were taken place. In contrast to Gurleys argument, The American Library
Association claims that the banning of books from the students represents a heavy-handed
denial of students rights to access information, and smacks of censorship. A host of freespeech organizations wrote a letter to the members of the Chicago board of education calling the
banning on the books for junior high school students extremely troubling and that the act was
impermissible under the First Amendment. Currently, CPS bans Persepolis from only the
seventh grade classrooms but allows it in the school libraries.

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class. How did the article support or change the way
you thought about the film, director, content, etc.?
The article supported my thought on the film providing the idea that the movie has a lot
to offer to its viewers. The movie does not only offer entertainment but it is educating on matters
in different parts of the world. The article also made me consider if this film was in fact
inappropriate for a younger audience. In agreement with Annette Gurley, it is true that students
in middle school are unable to appreciate the content with the same level of respect and
appreciate as an older audience would. Thinking back to when I was in seventh grade I most
certainly would not have been able to appreciate let alone understand this video as much as I did
viewing it during my third year of college. Upon watching Persepolis I even gained a bit of
knowledge, being a 20 year old Caucasian girl in America I obtained more understanding of the
lifestyle of people who do not share the same cultures as me. In contrast, I do believe it is also
wrong to ban children on learning about material that is significant in other countries. This
article has left me in a indecisive point on whether children should be able to access the book and
film in class, on one hand it is educational and on the other it is too mature.
4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal opinion, formed as a result of the
screening, class discussions, text material and the article. I am less interested in whether you
liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part of this) than I am in your understanding of its
place in film history or the contributions of the director.
Personally, I loved this movie. I am so happy we saw it in class because I dont think I
would have ever taken up the opportunity to see it had I not been forced to. I enjoyed the ideas
of the different color schemes that were used to portray the present and past along with the
plethora of emotions that were conducted in the film. Another thing I really took notice of in the
movie was the sounds. The sounds in Persepolis were very clear and precise; this is not
something you find current films with all the background nose and other things going on.
Because the sounds were so clear it made the films ideas more attention grabbing and appealing
to its viewers. The directors were also very successful with was the ability to make the emotions
seem detached, for example, despite the fact that the problems Marj faced were extremely
unfortunate and depressing, the audience never exactly felt the want to cry.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/mar/19/persepolis-battle-chicago-schools-outcry

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM

1) (x) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.
2) (x) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other
classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.
3) (x) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those

words, or used indentation and citation within the text.

4) (x) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the
bibliography in the text of the paper.
5) (x) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.
6) (x) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated
in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.
7) (x) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks
interpretation or originality.
8) (x) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent
about the research and ideas used in my paper.
Name: Caitlin Kondroski Date: March 29, 2015