in the aeroplane over marjane

One of my favorite records of all time is Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, which is why I used its album cover as my background. And also I think it looks cool. Aside from that, throughout the album, the lead singer, Jeff Mangum, sings about the many aspects of life---exploring themes of war, love, death, family, and God---subjects all expressed in our reading, Persepolis. His lyrics shows the Holocaust through Anne Frank's eyes---depicting the love, death, etc. that she experienced during her time. However, one must not mistaken the record as merely an album about Anne Frank---but a portrayal of the unpredictability of life that human beings so often encounter. The album opener, "The King of Carrot Flowers," starts off just like Persepolis, depicting the playful naiveté of childhood and adolescence against the backdrop of war---in this case---World War II, until finally going into the title track: a simple four-chord progression song exploring the concept of living life and how strange it is. Similarly to Marjane, the title track questions one's purpose in life, evoking the same curiosity that she possessed throughout her youth. The next song, "Two-Headed Boy," which is my personal favorite, is about lovers living through the Holocaust. There is an underlying sorrow throughout the song, for Mangum sings of how when the war is all over, he and his love will still be together and that even if they do not make it, they will continue to be in love through all the pain, suffering, and separation. From a universal standpoint, this can be seen as a general representation of one's undying hope for survival during crisis. Despite the helplessness that one faces in bleak situations, they still face the comfort of their own idealistic thoughts, which creates for them an eternal place of refuge---something that not only Marjane, but her family and fellow countrymen held within themselves throughout the war and dictatorship. After a short interlude, the following track, "Holland, 1945," continues with the message of hope as Mangum sings, "Now we must pick up every piece of this life we used to love, just to keep ourselves at least enough to carry on," something Marjane tries to do continuously throughout the book. The eight-minute epic that follows a second interlude after "Holland, 1945," is Oh Comely, a track whose main focus is the remorse and attachment one sometimes feels when recalling their past experience. Marjane does just this---regretting her abandonment of her Iranian culture as a result of trying to fit in Austria, and holding on to the memory of her executed Uncle, wishing so badly to find some way to bring him back. The next song, titled, "Ghost," is a reaction to "Oh Comely," which is about learning from the past and using the experience to become stronger and move forward. It also delves into culture and tradition---how the legacy of one's past ancestors---good or bad---will always live within them, in addition to any other significant figures that they may have once had. Likewise, the spirit and legacy of Marjane's uncle, grandma, and everyone else she met along the way, continues to still live within her---for the culmination of this and her experience has become her identity. After a another interlude, the album closes with the track "Two-Headed Boy, Pt. 2." The song sums the whole album by touching on subjects such as religion, family, love, and departure all throughout the song. It ties everything else into one context, continuing the story of the two lovers in the Holocaust, with the boy questioning God on why tragedy took his lover and how he watched his fellow brothers die, with the final line concerning his lover as Mangum sings, "But don't hate her when she gets up to leave." At the end of the day, the album tells us to accept whatever happens to us in life, for there is absolutely no use in dwelling in the past. Marjane held onto the past frequently, from not accepting her uncle's death to not forgiving herself for her imperfections and mistakes. She is able to finally find closure when she lets it all go and leaves Iran for good.

If you actually spent this whole time reading this entire post, I thank you because I probably would have stopped reading after the first three sentences if I were in your position, especially if I was reading about a band or artist I was not familiar with. It is the truth and I accept it. But all in all, if you did not read this and just skipped to the bottom, I will not hate you when you get up to leave. Peace and love forever and always.

مرگ

Link to full movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNx4Pa2Gqfk

The life of Marjane Satrapi is both the primary subject of her autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis, as well as her film adaptation of the same name. There is a direct connection between the two by default for they are essentially the same story and plot expressed in different mediums---in this case---a comic and a movie. Themes of death, war, and identity pervade throughout the story, as we see vivid depictions of Satrapi's life in a war-torn Iran and her coming-of-age in Vienna, Austria. She is an extremely conflicted individual constantly trying to find herself in a culture that she both takes pride in and resents. However, I feel that the central theme of the movie is death---for it takes on forms both literally and metaphorically as the plot progresses. First off, the death of her uncle was a prominent event in her life. To have one's most admired figure and hero in their life die is a significant blow to one's faith both in God and humanity. In addition, a part of Marjane died along with her uncle, for she lost a sense of direction, as her former self began to deteriorate. Her parent's decision marked the complete death of her past self, as she found herself somewhat reborn in the foreign country of Austria. There she became a product of its culture, going as far as denying her Iranian nationality and saying she is French. During her time in Vienna, she experiences the "metaphorical" deaths of friend groups, lovers, and her own innocence. She continually grows tired of her friends, moving from one group to the next, all the while leading a nomadic life jumping from one home to the next, doing drugs, and having her heart simultaneously broken. Eventually, she finds herself living on the streets and becoming very ill, which leads her to return to Iran, signifying another metaphorical death and rebirth. Her parents' acceptance of her, despite what she did in Vienna, is an allusion to the biblical parable of "The Prodigal Son," representing Marjane's return to faith and God. She eventually grows tired of the newly reformed Iranian culture and becomes discontent with her marriage, deciding that she must leave Iran for good, marking her final death and rebirth into her full independence as an individual. We all experience death at one point or another in our lives---whether it be literal or metaphorical. Despite the overuse, it truly is through death that we come alive. I know I have.

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My avatar is Sal Paradise from On the Road, who---in real life---is the writer, Jack Kerouac. I came across On the Road during a crucial time in my life and found that its central theme of navigating oneself out of adolescence coincided directly to my own reality. I found comfort through the journey of Sal Paradise and saw myself growing as an individual alongside him, finding inspiration from the spontaneous independence of which he lived his life by.