Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

In the 1980s and 1990s, the world was dealing with the blossoming promise of communism in various corners of the globe, the resurgence of religion as a means of governance, and the questioning of those principals as regimes rose and fell, culminating in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1980, the Cultural Revolution began in Iran—during which the authorities purged the country, particularly in academia, from non-Islamic influences—alongside a brutal war of attrition sparked when Iraq invaded the country. Persepolis 2 opens in 1984, four years after the start of the war and the country’s transition to fundamentalist control.

The war lasted until 1988, after which some modernization in the rebuilding was allowed if it did not clash with fundamentalist Islamic values. The cultural revolution resulted in a conservative regime that monitored the population with morality police. Marjane returns to Iran in Persepolis 2 in 1989 after the conclusion of the war and amid the reopening of universities and other public institutions in Iran.

Countercultures emerged as a reaction to extremism that took hold across the globe. These groups established themselves as counter to the social values adopted by the mainstream in the wake of radical social or political changes. In Austria, the late 1980s were a time of relative stability. Vienna in particular was an attractive city for Iranian students and those in exile, as there was an established community, favorable visa regulations, and easy transitions for Iranian students into the Austrian school system (Czarnowski, Julia, and Katrin Fliegenschnee. “An Interdisciplinary Approach to Complexity: Migratory Decisions of Iranians in Vienna.” Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung, 2009). Marjane benefits from these aspects of Austrian society in Persepolis 2 when she has Iranian family friends to stay with, an easy transition to a boarding school, and a school system that accepts her transfer.

In Iran, the counterculture involved a fascination and emulation of Western norms behind closed doors, in contrast to the fundamentalist Islamic control of society. This is on full display in Persepolis 2 as Marjane enjoys a life counter to that of mainstream society, including parties with alcohol, modern dress, makeup, and artistic expression.