persepolis
More eye-opening art that challenges my aesthetic preferences. And I guess I’m going to have to take back some of the things I’ve said about the French.
Yesterday, despite a pronounced resistance to reading, our reliance on monetary objects for decision making landed Er and I at Persepolis (rather than Vantage Point) for our second trip to the theater this week. And it was a good thing too, since dropping the cash for another movie that didn’t impress her would have sent the young lady into one of her patented spirals of irreconcilable crankiness, leading to the potential denouncement of all things theatrical and the eventual collapse of our economy and the world. I’ve learned to be extremely cautious in such situations, which is why we flipped for it.
Luckily for all of us, the film didn’t disappoint. Despite the fact that the simple, cartoonish style of the illustrations isn’t my first choice for the subjects of my staring sessions, the animation style and storytelling causes the film to surpass simple accessibility, becoming engrossing almost instantly. The way computer animation is used in such a stylized and illustrative way reminds me of Kakurenbo, as it proves that CG is a tool to the artist like any other, and an incredibly versatile one in the right hands.
I’ve reluctantly given the French a lot of credit for being able to create striking visuals but it often comes at the price of intensely insipid narratives. See everything Luc Besson ever does for examples. This emphasis of form over function has brought me to the conclusion time and time again that the external is valued to such an extent that they wouldn’t know underlying complexity if it laid eggs in their throats and burst forth through their sternums hours later. Imagine my surprise to find Persepolis matching the intricacy of its animation with complexity and substance in its story as well as its emotional depth. But maybe that part’s Iranian.
After seeing the film, we had a short discussion about translation that stuck with me long enough to continue it without her the next day with the Beez, where we indecisively lamented and celebrated the ambiguity of language. Er understood enough French to notice some discrepancies in the translation. Not knowing that God-forsaken tongue, I had to take her word for it, but I offered up the possibility that they were approximating the ideas in order to communicate the nuance, rather than going with a more literal direct translation.
This has happened a lot when I watch anime, where a simple phrase of a few words gets translated several different ways throughout the course of a single episode, because tone and context are so influential. As communication is imprecise and difficult even without the bother of incongruous languages, I tend to prefer the method where sentiment is the priority over dictionary accuracy. But at the same time, I think sentiment is a much more nebulous concept, so the margin for potential error is greater.
You guys have any thoughts on this crap?