originally posted on tumblr, Mar 10th 2026 

Movie-A-Day-Thon #15: Persepolis (2007)

Persepolis the comic kind of exists in the same realm in my brain as like Maus, or the Watchmen, or even Pluto. If something is this major acclaimed reference, it spooks me off a bit from reading it, cus what if I don’t like it and people think I’m just trying to be contrarian about it? Or you know, I do like it and then I’m just one more voice in the crowd? I know, don’t ask, my brain is funky and full of anxiety. It just feels like having an opinion on something so big is a daunting endeavour, so I avoid having to have an opinion about it.

Sometimes that attitude slips into adaptations too (not always but often enough), and Persepolis the movie sadly did make the list. I am however, glad that I started this series cusit’s been pushing me to get through this mental block and just, experience things as they are instead of worrying about, literally anything else lol

And yeah, what fucking timing to watch Persepolis, huh? For context, my posts are in a queue, I got a few movies ahead in case I need to skip a day or two. I’m typing this February 2nd.

This series is focused on the visuals of a movie, but I can’t give this movie much of the credit when it’s just the animated style of the original comic. And what is there to say, the style is immaculate! And seeing it animated breathes quite a bit of life and freshness to it too, especially with their use of the grainy textures.

I cried at the bread swans and the bra jasmines, and I laughed at Jichael Mackson and the God and Marx bit. I withered at the plastic key and her time in Vienna and beamed at Marjane’s resourcefulness to listen to bootlegged Iron Maiden tapes, her quiet and loud acts of rebellion and individuality despite the repression of the regime. It’s a brutal but honest story, hard as it is to digest nowadays.

All I can truly comment on it is, if you haven’t watched it yet, you should, and if you have, then you should do it again. That also goes for the comic.