Marjane Satrapi, director and writer of Persepolis

After viewing the movie, Persepolis, I became increasingly interested in its creator and director Marjane Satrapi. The film is based of the original graphic novel, Persepolis: The story of Childhood. Marjane wished to portray her experiences of being under the Shah’s rule and the cultural shift toward radical religious government.  Persepolis is the first Iranese comic ever published.  After she moved to Paris in 1994, Satrapi found herself constantly relaying childhood stories and memories to her friends but Satrapi became increasingly frustrated with the media’s representation of Iran. Satrapi says that she always found herself justifying her nationality and heritage .After completing university; Satrapi’s classmates encouraged her to write about her childhood memories and stories.  Satrapi was introduced to the style of graphic novels and admired its use of image and text.  Satrapi’s inspiration for writing this book stems from her belief that if we all experienced life in another county we would all hate a little less.  In an interview Satrapi is quoted as saying, “That is why I wanted people in other countries to read Persepolis, to that I grew up just like other children.” 

http://www.randomhouse.com/pantheon/graphicnovels/satrapi2.html