‘PUNK IS NOT DED’ proclaims
young Marji’s jacket in Persepolis’s
film adaptation, based on Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel. But
in some places and heads it really is, as Marjane later finds out. Marjane’s entire family personify punk ideologies in their resistance to the oppressive Iranian government. They have been ongoing supporters of a change in government and many family members and friends have lost their lives in their struggle for democracy. Their efforts prove fruitless however as the revolution paves way for a highly oppressive Islamic regime, which compromises their personal freedom greatly. In every way they can without risking too much, they continue to oppose the newly formed regime and talk back whenever possible. The young Marjane is denied these options for understandable fear of her parents.
In the post-revolution Iran that Marjane eventually finds herself in, the only possibility to reject and protest for someone her age is music, specifically rock music. Rock music and Marjane’s impression of it are fused together in the film. Rock not only supports her emotions, amongst other things creating a headspace for herself in her bedroom which she is denied by her government, it will also later work the opposite way as its context is reversed alongside a change in setting.
In Persepolis, values
usually attached to punk rock in the West are attached to rock music in general
and anything that relates to (particularly) American popular culture. The Bee
Gees are punk. Michael Jackson is punk. Even Iron Maiden and Nike trainers are
punk for the ‘islamic committee’ who stop Marjane in her ‘punk’ outfit. The
music is not really punk, but visuals certainly are. The bricolage/DIY aspect is
there in Marji’s button and her homemade jacket contrasting heavily with her headscarf.
She is not sporting an archetypal Black
Flag or The Clash shirt but she
is sending a clear ‘fuck you!’ to the authorities. Adding to the visual punk of
Marji’s appearance are anti-American images dotted around Teheran, which resemble
imagery used by American punk bands to take stabs at their own government.
After once again speaking her mind at her school, Marji gets
in trouble, which her parents hear of while she is again listening to Iron
Maiden. A decision is made for Marjane to move abroad to Austria, to protect
her from her punkish revolutionary and outspoken attitude. Here the film flips
settings almost entirely. Marji moves from a repressive, dangerous country into
a foreign world in which supermarket shelves are well stocked and youths like her
need not fear any repercussion should they rebel like Marjane did in Iran. Whereas
her anti-authoritarian, punk like behaviour in Iran was not connected to ‘real’
punk bands, she will soon find that punk bands in Europe are not really
connected with anti-authoritarian values at all. Here the musical aspect of the
film is used to highlight a problematic that quickly arose together with punk
rock’s actual historical success: Commodification of the punk look.
Enrolled at her new French-speaking high school Marjane
quickly connects with the school’s ‘outsiders’ who take an interest in her
Iranian background. Amongst them is a character that visually appears as a
punk: Momo. Mohawk, pierced ears and skull t-shirt instantly mark him as a
punk. He is the one who introduces Marjane to Vienna’s alternative scene, which
is introduced via a concert sequence. The concert again features a band dressed
and fashioned stereotypically punk, yet the music does not quite Marji’s
previous rock music experiences. The hardcore punk music is shown visibly distorting
her face but ultimately she tells herself ‘Why not?’, and states that she
convinced herself that she belonged after a while. Not sporting any punk
insignia herself anymore, we see her headbanging by herself amidst a faceless
crowd.
The following scene emphasises the complete disconnection
between Marji’s punk values and the punk appearance of her Austrian peers. As
Christmas approaches, the Austrians moan and complain about having to spend
holidays with their parents in Monte Carlo or Brazil, while Marjane due to her expat
status is left alone in Vienna. The sheltered existence of her peers is
entirely disconnected from her actual ideas of revolution, as are the two
different perceptions of punk. It is this sheltered existence that eventually
leads to Marji’s alienation and her return to her homecountry, her authentic revolutionary
spirit clashes with anarchist meetings that ‘consisted mostly of drinking beer
and eating sausages’.
Rock music plays an integral part in Persepolis, illustrating the split that occurs in Marjane’s change
of country through emphasising the split in rock culture that arises alongside.
In her native Iran, rock music itself showed resistance and went alongside her
and her parents’ ideology. Iron Maiden and Michael Jackson were
anti-authoritarian and thus carried with them punk ideology, despite not
falling into the genre musically or lyrically. The punk ethos like rock music
was impossible to be commodified in an Islamic Iran, whereas in the Vienna
portrayed, there was no ideology left in punk, just a commodified appearance.
Persepolis uses
the punk ideology as a strong influence in stripping it to its core. Satrapi
emphasises the importance of a punk that states a clear ‘fuck you!’ to
authority and shows an active, DIY-like spirit that ranks actions over
appearances. She is effectively doing a punk thing in saying ‘fuck you, Iron Maiden IS punk!’ For Marjane, the
real one as well as the character, a real energetic resistance counts, not a
demystified look. Punk is attitude and energy, not appearance. It is no
coincidence that Marjane finds her way out of depression through singing along
to a montage set to the powerful Eye of
the Tiger by Survivor, as she
herself is a survivor, a true and energetic punk.
'Rising up! Back on the streets...'
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