Monday, January 6, 2014

Homework for B-Day Students: 1/6/2014

Welcome Back Everyone!  It's a new year!

Here are your reminders to prepare for Wednesday's class.

Russian I:

Be reminded that your extra credit assignments are due next class.  Have all parts completed in order to receive full credit.  Also, you have your written projects due on Thursday and Friday of this week.  I'm available on Tuesday and Thursday to help with projects.

Honors English II:

Next class we will be having a workshop on our essay drafts.  Be reminded that you must have forty percent of your draft completed to get full credit for this assignment.  Based on the feedback I got from you in class today I will go over several topics on Wednesday related to finishing out your papers.  Final drafts will be due next week so that you have the weekend to make any changes.

I hope that all of you enjoyed watching Persepolis today.  Remember that you can respond to one of these questions in order to earn two bonus points on your last quiz.  Here are the questions:

1.  How does the addition of voices change your understanding of the characters in the story?

2.  What did you like about the film adaptation of Persepolis?  Why?

3.  Are you surprised about what happens in the second part of Marji's life, after she leaves Iran?  Why or why not?

4.  Does the second half of the story, following Marji's life in Europe, still accomplish her purpose of telling both her story and Iran's?  Why or why not?

Please respond in a comment to this thread; be sure that you identify the question to which you are responding.  Be sure that you answer in a complete paragraph which fully answers the question asked of you.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

3. Yes I am surprised about the change in Marji's life because I thought that after she left Iran she would have more of a normal life. But, she still managed to get in with the wrong crowd and act out of line.

Unknown said...

4. The second half of the story, follows Marji's life in Europe, by accomplishing her purpose, which is not to judge someone for who you think they are but to judge someone after you learn who they truly are. An example would be when she was in Vienna and was in one of the boarding home, one of the Nuns said "It is true what people say, Iranians have no manners whatsoever." Marji was being judged because she was Iranian and decided to eat out of the pot. In response Marji said "It is true what they say about you prostitute before you became a Nun." I think Marji said that in anger, but she was still judging the Nuns there.
Makenzie Elam, B3

Rachel Sauls said...

3. I was surprised that Marjane's life remained so unstable in Austria. I expected her to live a relatively normal life with her mother's friend there and to focus on her education and make typical high school friends. I did not expect her to be quite so rebellious, even though she hints at this stage of her life in the first book by rebelling a bit as a teenager through American symbols. I was shocked to see her sick on the bench with bronchitis, as I expected she would find someplace else to go instead of resorting to living on the streets and eating out of dumpsters. I am also surprised that Marjane's parents did not join her in Austria. I predicted that they would move to Austria to be with Marjane after a few years. However, Marjane in the movie ends up going back to Iran.

- Rachel Sauls

Unknown said...

The addition of character voice does change how I see each character. The biggest change is in Marji herself. As the narrator of the movie (Marjane) speaks with a mature voice, we can perceive her to be older, wiser, and knowledgeable. Though she and her character are the same people, the younger Marji has a different tone of voice. Because a younger child is portrayed in the film, a younger child has done the vocal acting for her. It changed my perception of Marjane herself because I did not expect her to be so demanding in her childhood. We did read about how curious she was and how much she asked about various things, but hearing someone say them out loud changes the perspective, and it begins to sink in. You could just hear the annoyed tone in her voice and it exemplifies her personality in a way that is even easier to understand than reading. I was also very surprised at how sad Marji becomes as she narrates the story. This is present in the book, but the tone of voice is much easier to process and much more likely to set a tone for the whole movie.

Unknown said...

My favorite aspect of the film adaption of Persepolis was the usage of animation without turning the story into a silly children's movie. Usually when i think of an animated cartoon the titles Spongebob and Fairly Odd Parents come to mind. In this instance the usage of animation did not make the story-line any less meaningful. I also loved the comic relief that was in the movie. I never knew that grandma was so...funny. The movie flowed like a book but still felt like an enjoyable experience.

Alexthesuperfish said...

The addition of voices in the movie helped me understand Marji's childhood character better, especially. As a young child in the very beginning of the movie I got a better sense of how she was very independent and sure of herself. She knew what she thought and was not afraid to say it. Her voice showed this when she would talk to adults and her friends. Her voice did not waiver in the presence of an adult and she took the role of leadership around friends. This outspokenness stayed with her into adolescence. I could hear the defiance in her voice as she stood up to the teacher claiming that the new regime had no political prisoners. This sincerity is what caused her parents to worry that she would get hurt in Iran, and to encourage Marji to leave. After coming back to live in Iran, depression fills Marji's voice. The way the voice actors speak helps portray Marji in a way that would be hard to accomplish in text, even a graphic novel.

Anonymous said...

2. I really like how much lighter the movie was, especially the first half. Also by animating the characters and hearing their voices it added a lot to, at least my understanding of the characters. I really enjoyed the movie.