A production blog for the PERSEPOLIS movie. Posting sparse thus far, but a report on the first crew screening of the film is entertaining:
The last scene before the end, my heart started beating so badly (thanks god everybody applauded!) thinking about the first time the movie is REALLY going to be screened. I will maybe make a heart attack, I will faint… Or at least I would need a diaper.
Meanwhile, Satrapi continues to give good interview on her press tour for CHICKEN WITH PLUMS.
Q What comics are they reading in France?
A The American cartoonists are very well known in France. Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes and Joe Sacco. The idea that I had of comics before I made my own was like everybody else’s; that reading them was for adolescents and kids. But when I read “Maus” I thought, “Oh my God, you can do that also.”
Q So no superheroes, huh?
A Not really. The problem with superhero comics is that most of the characters are men so there is no way that I can identify. And the woman always have big breasts and long legs. The only character that can be a little bit seducing is Catwoman, but she’s so mean. And then you have Wonder Woman, but you don’t believe with these big breasts she can go and make justice in the world.
“And then you have Wonder Woman, but you don’t believe with these big breasts she can go and make justice in the world.” – Satrapi
Not quite sure how I feel about that. Is it her feeling that the bigger a woman’s bust the less good she can do or the less good she can or will be perceived to do? What I first think of WW and, at least I think, what the general population first thinks of WW is not “wow, what huge rack”, but “Amazonian pricess fighting for peace and justice”.
I’ve read a few pieces where Satrapi remarks on female superheroes and she doesn’t seem to think too highly of their quality. That’s okay but when she says something like the above it just struck a bad note with me. Am I making a connection between what she feels about a comic character and women in general that isn’t there? I don’t know, I like WW and I just think that comment shortchanged her.
-Al
I think that to anyone looking in from the outside Wonder Woman is just another large breasted American superhero. I’ve been reading comics for many, many years and I don’t think it ever occured to me that WW was an Amazonian princess fighting for justice and peace. The comic is still being written for an adolescent male audience who want to see big breasted women in tight clothes. I’m sure Ms. Satrapi’s opinion is shared by many.
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