Moving Panels: Translating Comics to Film by Logan Ludwig

Author:Logan Ludwig [Ludwig, Logan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sequart Organization
Published: 2015-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

A young Satrapi is confronted by the Guardians of the Revolution. From The Complete Persepolis. Art by Marjane Satrapi. Copyright © Marjane Satrapi.

The next portion of the scene also allows us to see how the film reconfigures the presentation of the story to focus on the motion of the characters. After Marjane drives down the price of the tape in a series of seven rapidly shifting close ups of her and the vendor (a sequence which plays much more swiftly and effectively on the screen than a series of seven panels could hope to play on the page), the movie cuts to the lower half of two black figures sliding across the street from right to left. These are the Guardians of the Revolution and in the comic they are introduced in a car driving through the background as Marjane, walking down the street, thinks about the tapes she just purchased. If the filmic composition was re-rendered and transformed into a comic panel, it would likely make little sense. It would merely be two black figures on a street with little context and it would be missing the ominous slithering sound effect that accompanies their entrance in the film. It is not out of the question that some readers would be able to infer that these are actually people clad in burkas, but then the creator would also have to contend with how to imply motion. Motion lines could help render movement through a panel, but another problem arises here: how would the reader know that these black shapes are coming after Marjane? The film utilizes the right-to-left movement to create awareness in the viewer that the shapes are headed in Marjane’s direction. This version of Persepolis would have trouble making this right-to-left movement work without being slightly confusing because it violates the traditional left-to-right reading order. Satrapi could simply feature the black shapes moving from left to right and all would be fine, but this does not necessarily convince the audience that the threat is real. The power of these shapes in the film comes not from their depiction—they are not particularly terrifying—but from their slow and unnatural motion and the sliding hiss sound effect that accompanies them. Cinema alone can render the fear and aversion of Satrapi’s rapacious theocratic wards, but the comic presents the Guardians in a car that is bearing down on Marjane, representing their character and intentions using static iconography. This doesn’t mean that the comic is less provocative because the film plays more subtly with the Guardians’ appearance, but only that the comic must effectively tell the story for an audience that relies heavily on stark visual clues to access the narrative. Both versions of Persepolis strive for clarity, and the choices made in each version of this scene speak to how clarity can be achieved.

Stopping her, the Guardians of the Revolution are next depicted questioning Marjane; they decide to bring her in until she tells a story of dread and woe, attempting to convince them to have mercy.

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