catching up on the blogs...
List the privileges you share with McIntosh? What disadvantages do you experience?
I feel that not only do I share all of the privileges that McIntosh does, but possibly more than her. She is a woman, and so while certain privileges she may have (free drinks at a bar or something), there are other privileges that I have that even she does not. As a white male I think that basically any job is open to me, and some people might even see me as someone who may be “overqualified” for certain positions. This is a huge privilege. In terms of the work world, and how high in a company I can climb, I think that even she, a white female, is going to be more disadvantaged than I would be. If she got the job people would commend her for her business prowess, or exclaim how she is a real “up and comer”, where for me (the white male) it would be normal. Everything she had on her list was true for me, and I feel that there are not a whole lot of real disadvantages I have. I may be stereotyped in certain ways because I am Jewish, but these are not necessarily disadvantages.
Evaluate how Satrapi's use of the form of the graphic novel effects how you receive her narrative or point of view?
I think that parts Persopolis were aided by the comic style of the drawings; it helped to bring the reader into the mind of a little girl. It helped me to see how she saw things back then, in black and white, and pretty simple. The problem I had with the drawings, however, were that when it got to more intense parts of the story, like the torture scenes or the bombings, the comic style helped to tone it down. Maybe she saw it as toned down as a kid, which would make sense, but I think that if part of her point is to educate Americans as to what happened in Iran, the horror that took place there, she should not be dumbing down the heaviest parts of her story. I thought it would have been much more effective if these parts were described very well, or pictured in much more detail. Satrapi helped to bring forth certain ideas about the events that took place in Iran, but her simplistic style, while effective in viewing the life of a child, did not help when trying to educate people as to what really happened.
Compare Satrapi's relationship with her family and nation/s to Moraga's relationship with her family and nation/s
I think that Satrapi and Moraga are actually really similar in their relationship to their nations, but for different reasons. Satrapi, while being a part of the revolution, is disconnected from the majority of her nation because she was not taken captive, her parents were not killed. She left the country when things got too bad; she had the money and power to do these things. This did not represent the whole nation in Iran at the time; most people were running for their lives or converting. In comparison, Moraga does not really represent her nation. The nation I am speaking of, in this sense, is the Chicano one. She is lighter skinned than other Chicanos, and this separates her immediately. Like Satrapi, she was of a higher part of society because of her whiter skin. She had opportunities that other Chicanos never had. She also does not represent most of the Chicano community because she is a lesbian, and while that is not a bad thing, it is different than most of her “nation.” Moraga wants to represent her nation as best she can, but she has a lot of differences from the majority of them.
In terms of family I think that the two are actually pretty different. Satrapi is close with her family, they raise her to be a rebel and she does what they want most of the time. Moraga, on the other hand, is estranged by her family for being lesbian. She is close with her family early on, before she comes out, but after her mother is not as receptive to her. I think this creates a lot of the tension in Moraga’s writing and life, part of her rebellious nature, which is not apparent in Satrapi’s. Satrapi had a much easier time than Moraga, being an upper-class person and loved by her family.
I feel that not only do I share all of the privileges that McIntosh does, but possibly more than her. She is a woman, and so while certain privileges she may have (free drinks at a bar or something), there are other privileges that I have that even she does not. As a white male I think that basically any job is open to me, and some people might even see me as someone who may be “overqualified” for certain positions. This is a huge privilege. In terms of the work world, and how high in a company I can climb, I think that even she, a white female, is going to be more disadvantaged than I would be. If she got the job people would commend her for her business prowess, or exclaim how she is a real “up and comer”, where for me (the white male) it would be normal. Everything she had on her list was true for me, and I feel that there are not a whole lot of real disadvantages I have. I may be stereotyped in certain ways because I am Jewish, but these are not necessarily disadvantages.
Evaluate how Satrapi's use of the form of the graphic novel effects how you receive her narrative or point of view?
I think that parts Persopolis were aided by the comic style of the drawings; it helped to bring the reader into the mind of a little girl. It helped me to see how she saw things back then, in black and white, and pretty simple. The problem I had with the drawings, however, were that when it got to more intense parts of the story, like the torture scenes or the bombings, the comic style helped to tone it down. Maybe she saw it as toned down as a kid, which would make sense, but I think that if part of her point is to educate Americans as to what happened in Iran, the horror that took place there, she should not be dumbing down the heaviest parts of her story. I thought it would have been much more effective if these parts were described very well, or pictured in much more detail. Satrapi helped to bring forth certain ideas about the events that took place in Iran, but her simplistic style, while effective in viewing the life of a child, did not help when trying to educate people as to what really happened.
Compare Satrapi's relationship with her family and nation/s to Moraga's relationship with her family and nation/s
I think that Satrapi and Moraga are actually really similar in their relationship to their nations, but for different reasons. Satrapi, while being a part of the revolution, is disconnected from the majority of her nation because she was not taken captive, her parents were not killed. She left the country when things got too bad; she had the money and power to do these things. This did not represent the whole nation in Iran at the time; most people were running for their lives or converting. In comparison, Moraga does not really represent her nation. The nation I am speaking of, in this sense, is the Chicano one. She is lighter skinned than other Chicanos, and this separates her immediately. Like Satrapi, she was of a higher part of society because of her whiter skin. She had opportunities that other Chicanos never had. She also does not represent most of the Chicano community because she is a lesbian, and while that is not a bad thing, it is different than most of her “nation.” Moraga wants to represent her nation as best she can, but she has a lot of differences from the majority of them.
In terms of family I think that the two are actually pretty different. Satrapi is close with her family, they raise her to be a rebel and she does what they want most of the time. Moraga, on the other hand, is estranged by her family for being lesbian. She is close with her family early on, before she comes out, but after her mother is not as receptive to her. I think this creates a lot of the tension in Moraga’s writing and life, part of her rebellious nature, which is not apparent in Satrapi’s. Satrapi had a much easier time than Moraga, being an upper-class person and loved by her family.
posted by Danny Z at 8:11 PM
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