Few ever managed to embody the spirit of rebellion as well as Iranian-French artist and author Marjane Satrapi. In a recent article reflecting on Satrapi’s life and work published in The Atlantic, Dr. Hillary Chute of Northeastern University (English, Art + Design, WGSS executive committee) captures Satrapi’s disdain for the norm and for conformity, outlining how every artwork and action she produced was in constant defiance to the system.
In the wake of the renowned author’s recent death, Chute acutely describes Satrapi’s impact on the worlds of cinema, graphic novels, and resistance. In particular, she focuses on Satrapi’s memoir Persepolis, which she claims is “both dark and funny, like all of Satrapi’s work”. Based on the author’s childhood in Iran during the 1980s, Dr. Chute praises the book for its ability to capture both a child’s perspective on oppression and violence, as well as an adult’s retrospective on those incidents. Chute goes onto recount Satrapi’s works in the world of cinema, including a film adaptation of Persepolis, which went onto win an award at the Canne‘s film festival.
“…it sends the clear message that when you’re alive, you’ve got to actually live. Few artists did that better than she did.”
In this touching article, Dr Hillary Chute pays an ode to a talented artist, director, and above all, a rebel.
