Argo and Persepolis

Yes, I finally watched it...thanks to Abbey picking up a free Redbox rental for me. While it was a great movie and definitely worth of its Oscar win, I'm writing this because of my fascination with another theme that's been brewing in my life for the last few years.

I can't tell you where or when it started and I've made more than one reference to my fascination with conspiracy theories, but this idea that our Enemy loves nothing more than to deceive us with "smoke and mirrors" (as I like to call it) actually pervades everything in our culture...even our news media. Argo and Persepolis are yet even more proof that this is the case.

While neither the movie Argo, nor the graphic novel Persepolis make any reference to the Iranian cultural revolution as a "conspiracy", they both confirmed that I only know as much about history as my culture's news media will allow me to know, unless I do the research on my own.

Persepolis was given to me to read by Boone County Public Library librarian, Krista, whom I was helping in a "book group" class at our home school co-op. The students were all choosing graphic novels to read and she thought I might enjoy this one. She was absolutely right!

You see, I was a kid during the Iran Hostage Crisis and although I didn't know a lot of the details, I do remember all Iranians, perhaps even all Muslims, being portrayed as the evil incarnate that we as Americans must fear. It was almost portrayed as a "holy war"...if only the U.S. were a little more religious. But what Persepolis taught me was that the discontent with the dictator Shah of Iran's reign of terror began with students and intellectuals that knew life should be better than people starving in the streets while one man and his family clenched their massive wealth with iron fists that tortured and killed just because you verbalized your dissent.

The author, Marjane Satrapi, was a child in Tehran when extreme Islam swept through her beloved country like wildfire. Her parents where among those that protested alongside other intellectuals. She also lost relatives under both the Shah's and the Ayatollah's regime because of their perceived communist affiliations.

Overall, I was struck with the idea that I never once remember being told by our news media that there were people who initially protested the extreme Islam that was taking over Iran. I'd never heard that there were people who sent their children to schools modeled after European ones that wanted their daughters to go on to college, enjoy western movies and music and that grieved the opportunity Iran lost to become a shining beacon of hope and healing to the world around them. No, that is not the Iran that was ever portrayed on our televisions.

Imagine my surprise while watching Argo when animated panels from Persepolis appeared on the screen! They used this portion of the graphic novel to tell of Iran's proud history as the progressive and powerful kingdom of ancient days.

No, what Argo instilled in me, yet again...is that we only know what we're allowed to know. In fact, I don't even remember hearing about these six American citizens being spirited out of the country of Iran. But even if I had, my knowledge would have been that Canada had instigated a plan to safely bring home these men and women. Not until the 1990's did this CIA operation become declassified and the proper credit given to the agent that hatched the plan and carried it out.

I highly recommend both the movie Argo and the graphic novel Persepolis. I plan on reading the second graphic novel too. Not only are they well done and offer history from a different perspective...I pray they open others up to the idea that we cannot take things at face value just because the media says so.