The first text that I have chosen for my IO is Persepolis.

Based on Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis is a graphic

novel where Marji and her family’s lives are portrayed during the Iranian Revolution, the overthrow of
the Shah, and the resulting Iraq-Iran war. Satrapi is able to capture the struggle and dissonance between
politics and social class, and she portrays the idea of growing up during political war and turmoil.  In her
novel, she not only explicates the fractured identity of a growing girl in a worn-torn country but also
highlights the negative impact of gender roles on Iranian women and girls. These gender roles are cast in
stone, imposed by the theocracy, and expected to be followed by all, lest there be severe consequences. 

The graphic novel brings out the differential expectations from the two genders. The young boys are
being asked to take part in the war and fight for the nation as shown in the last panel on page 99 
in exchange for a golden key which will take them to heaven. The mother’s disillusionment is
brought out when she bares her heart to Taji. The close-up shot captures her disgruntlement and
her disbelief in religion and the way religion is being used to manipulate the minds of the young. A
similar portrayal is visible on page 95 where the young girls are trained to “beat their breast” in
unison to mourn the death of the martyrs of war. Even though the band wagon has been used to
manipulate the minds of young boys and girls, the roles that are ascribed to each gender are true to
the stereotype. While the young boys are brave and are expected to fight in the war, the girls are
meant to be meek and servile and play a supporting role by idolizing the men.

The theocratic regime prohibited numerous items of entertainment, like movies, music by calling them
influence of western culture. Marji came from a liberated family where these restrictions were not
enforced. Hence she is seen trying to haggle with the men who have smuggled these forbidden items on
page 132. The visual presenting Marji’s head in both the directions indicate the alertness that she
displays while she buys the music. The men who are selling these items have been depicted in the same
manner, “a head on either side”. The threat created by the regime is further brought out by using the
black background portraying how all of these transactions took place undercover and in a hushed
manner. 

The panels on the page place the "guardians of the revolution" in a position of power, whose sole job is
to ensure that the rules of dressing set by the theocratic regime are followed by all. The use of negative
space between Marji and the car that houses them indicates that they were watching outliers with hawk
eyes to ensure that they were adequately punished and that justice was served. Their long gaze also adds
to their range of impact and the threat they are able to impose. 

The progression of panels to the next page portrays an action-to-action transition, communicating to the
readers through close-up shots the physical abuse and humiliation that Marji has gone through for
wearing inappropriate clothes. The finger pointing towards “sneakers” and the strong gaze being shown
using the high angle shot further accentuates the trouble that Marji is in for being a “Michael Jackson”
fan, which is being looked at as a ”symbol of decadence." Simple choices such as wearing a denim jacket,
sneakers, a batch with Michael Jackson’s image on it, or jeans were not that simple in those days. These
were strictly prohibited. The guardians of revolution acted as the authority to impose that prohibition
thereby acting as the patriarchs to the women and girls. 

I have chosen Liza Donnelly’s cartoons as my non-literary text. Lisa Donnelly is an American cartoonist
and writer best known for her work in The New Yorker. She is currently a resident artist for CBS News and
writes a column for The Medium regularly on politics and global women’s rights. 

The chosen cartoon is a stereotypical projection of a nuclear family. The roles portrayed by the cartoon
are conventional, the father is showcased reading a newspaper while the mother is wearing an apron and
is shown cooking in the kitchen. The narration line “Some kids called you a feminist, mom, but I punched
them out.” is spoken by the child and is left responded. The idea of “feminism” is being debated and is
represented as an insult in the cartoon, since the “child punched out” the ones who said it out loud. It is
indeed ironic that the mother has been called a “feminist” but she is shown in a traditional role, cooking 
wearing an apron thus ascribing to the gender roles assigned to women. Irony has also been used by
Donnelley in the caption, traditionally girls are meant to be the quiet gender, the sublime one. However,
in this case the girl uses violence to get her point across to the children, thus also breaking the stereotype
of gender. Donnelley, thus is bringing out how the term “feminism” has been politicized and it has
become a ‘dirty word’ again attempting to type cast women in one bracket or the other. 
The second cartoon chosen by me presents a woman holding a book titled. “Rules on dressing, acting,
talking, walking, you name it”. The title in itself says it all, “dressing, acting, walking, talking”, these are
simple everyday actions that any individual performs yet women have to study them in a rule book. The
book is fat which indicates the numerous rules that the women are expected to live by. The last part of
the title, “You name it” also showcases that the list is endless, there is a rule for everything and this fat
book as indicated in the cartoon has an answer to everything. 
Donnelly is criticizing how society has expectations from women about the simplest of things yet draws
the women with very few soft lines. The woman appears to be rather delicate who is holding a rather fat
book. The contrast between the issue and the style makes it humorous. The choice of colours also has to
be noted, the book is pink in colour while the woman is wearing a pastel violet coloured top. Both these
colours are stereotypically associated with women. The cartoon punches the society in its face with its
typical representation of women and the overpowering societal expectations from women at large. Thus
aligning presents how gender roles are deeply entrenched in society and are enforced relentlessly on
women by the patriarchs.

The woman showcased is almost merging with the background as though she herself is insignificant but
the “book” is all powerful and all encompassing. It is also worth noting that the size of the book is bigger
than the woman’s head. Again a comment on the societal pressure on women to align with gender roles
outweighs her own identity.