Persepolis (BOOK vs. MOVIE)

We had the privilege to watch the beginning of Persepolis the motion picture. After reading the entire book, I was anxious to see if Marjane Satrapi kept the movie the same with the book. The first thing I realized was that the movie was also animated and had the same illustrations as the book, or at least similar. I could tell who each character was by what they said and how they looked. The movie pretty much followed the same story line as the book.

It began the same way, when she was about 10 years old. But, there were some parts that were left out and the movie seemed to move much faster than the book did. The movie didn't show Marjane going to the demonstration with their maid. They also didn't show her parents taking a trip to Turkey. There were many smaller things too, but overall, the movie was very similar. Her parents sounded just as I had read and young Marjane's personality was just as funny as in the book.

Legitimacy

Professor Schuler asked me a question in class and he asked, "Where does our legitimacy come from?" and the answer was the constitution. The definition of legitimacy is, "Lawfulness by virtue of being authorized or in accordance with the law." Since the war in Iraq, I'm sure that our country has been suffering legitimacy problems. American power is being questioned by many people because of the war.

Despite our problems, we do have legitimacy; the European Union is another story. They seem to not really have legitimacy well, YET that is. In the EU guide, it reads that their Constitutional Treaty was agreed and signed but has failed to come into force. This is because it was not ratified by all of the countries within the EU.

Persepolis

The book "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi was actually very enjoyable to read. I'll admit that I was dreading reading a whole book in such a short period of time. But, I just kept reading because I wanted to know what would happen next and her illustrations made it entertaining. It was about her childhood in the midst of the Islamic Revolution. It was probably really difficult to grow up in that kind of environment. I know that I would always be scared of everything and everyone.

It was so interesting how she managed to go through so many phases in life while the war and chaos was going on around her. She tried to find herself in many different ways and found herself hanging out with a variety of characters. There were also little bits of with and humor in the story. It was more apparent in the beginning when she was a child. As she grew into an adult, it seemed more serious; which is understandable since she was much more matured.

Revolution

In mentor session, we were asked, "What is a revolution?" and also "What is NOT a revolution?" I personally struggled with this topic, but I finally wrote something. I wrote that a revolution is a life-changing event. The other people in class had a lot of good ideas too. We decided that a revolution is a big thing that affects a large amount of people. It was also interesting to think about the word "revolution" in terms of a wheel turning.

Most of the class got stuck when it came to the question of, "What is NOT a revolution?" However, when we thought about the opposites of what WAS a revolution, it was simple. A small change that does not affect many people is not a revolution. Something that doesn't last for a long period of time is not a revolution. And an event that does not make a drastic change in people's lives is not a revolution.

The New York Times: U.S. Saw A Path To Qaeda Chiefs Before Bombing

It seems like the big issue involving terrorism is growing bigger and bigger. This front page article in the New York Times is about a Jordanian militant who was being considered by the American spy agencies to be a promising informant. However, he turned out to be a double agent and was involved in the killing of seven C.I.A. operatives. The Obama administration is now finding it difficult to step up the security in the country.

After the incident on the airplane on Christmas day, security has been a much bigger issue. The article states that, "The two episodes illuminate the problems the United States still faces in understanding the intentions of Al Qaeda and its affiliates. I think that we need to do a better job investigating before we instill trust in someone. Especially when it is dealing with national security and Al Qaeda. The article also states that C.I.A. was too optimistic about the potential informant.