BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM:A SERIOUS HOUSE ON SERIOUS EARTH (Dave McKean)
Batman Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (McKean, 1989) is an intimate look into the psyche’s of characters in the world of Batman. We as readers are taken into the murky depth of Arkham Asylum, trailing between two timelines: that of Amadeus Arkham, the founder of the facility in the 1920s, and the ‘present day’ Batman.
The book was hand-painted, and probably included one of the scariest and most grotesque depictions of the Joker. Throughout Batman’s journey into the Asylum, he appears as a ghost to guide and challenge him and his sanity; while at the same time we observe what makes the Joker and what fuels his every-day efforts. He pulls in Batman and demands that he finds where he truly belongs, that is inside Arkham with the rest of them.
The interesting theory the Joker refers to when he tells Batman if life in ‘the asylum’ gets too much for him, he’s always welcome in Arkham. He refers to the outside world as the asylum, pushing the idea that Batman is actually on the same level as those trapped in Arkham.
PERSEPOLIS (Marjane Satrapi)
Graphic novel Persepolis (Satrapi, 2000) is a autobiographical account of Marjane Satrapi. It gives readers a firsthand look into how growing up with the war between Iran and Iraq tore apart families and reconstructed the face of society, especially the life of main character Satrapi. The cultural contrast shown in Persepolis is one of the strongest defining points of both the book(s) and the movie adaptation.
The first two panels of Persepolis
It shows a wild disparity between the lives people lead inside and outside their homes. And it was this point that struck me most about Persepolis; the lifestyle in Pakistan, where I grew up holds many similarities to Satrapi’s depiction. Though not as extremist, the difference between the life lead in the privacy of homes is very different from those in the public space. Leaving the home as a woman in a male-dominated culture lead to being very cautious, and always having to fend off the leers and taunts of men who make it a point to blame the woman for not being covered properly instead of simply averting their eyes.
The theme of conformity runs deep through the novel, with the headscarf and covering the body for women. Along with that, the citizens who conform under the ‘voice of authority’ undermining and trying to eliminate the (then current) system of education, the social ‘norms’ (such as drinking and having parties) and the freedom of the people in general. Along with this theme of conformity, our protagonist brings with her character a streak of rebellion which tries to cut the legs off ‘conforming’, constantly getting into trouble for being and acting different from how she was ‘supposed to’ act as a girl and a woman living in Iran.
Eman Khan * CTS 