Revolutionary Spirit

You’ve just turned your acclaimed series of graphic novels into a full-length animated film, “Persepolis,” an oddly charming tale about the brutal subject of growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution. Would you still describe yourself mainly as a graphic novelist? I don’t very much like this term of graphic novel. I think they made up this term for the bourgeoisie not to be scared of comics. Like, Oh, this is the kind of comics you can read.

The problem with the phrase “graphic novel” is that it sounds as if it’s referring to a book with X-rated or at least overly explicit content. Exactly. Chris Ware said something great. He said when he hears the term graphic novel, it makes him think of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.”

Do you think cartoonists have received their artistic due? No. People either like to write or they like to draw. And we like to do both. We’re like the bisexuals of the culture. People don’t have any problem if you are a homosexual or if you are a heterosexual, but if you are a bisexual, they have more of a problem with you.

If that were true, why would anyone tolerate film, which is an even more hybrid form, mixing writing, music, photography and so on? You know, comics were created at the same time as the cinema. And the cinema very quickly became a major art. Cartooning didn’t become a major art. There’s a reason for that. People don’t know how to deal with drawings.

How much did your film cost to make? Eight million dollars. It’s nothing. Nothing. We had to pay a team of 100 people for two years. There are about 12 images per second.

The film certainly looks hand-drawn; it’s done mostly in arty black and white, with none of the slickness of computer-generated animation. Were you concerned about surrendering the process of drawing to legions of animators? No. Many times opportunity happens, and people don’t understand it’s an opportunity. They say: “Why do you want to make a movie? It will destroy your reputation.” O.K., maybe I will make a bad movie. And so what? At least I tried.

When does your film open? Dec. 25. Why not see something for Christmas besides Santa Claus? “Santa Claus is coming.” I never had any presents from him. He never comes.

You’re a Muslim, yes? I’m not a religious person at all.

Your books denounce Islamic fanaticism, particularly as it curtails the rights of women. Is that your main theme? Oh, no, not at all. I don’t consider myself as a feminist but more a humanist.

Still, in your work, you are constantly contrasting your love of food, smoking and sensual pleasures with the acts of self-denial demanded by the mullahs, like wearing a chador. It’s a problem for women no matter the religion or the society. If in Muslim countries they try to cover the woman, in America they try to make them look like a piece of meat.

Are you suggesting that veiling and unveiling women are equally reductive? I disagree. We have to look at ourselves here also. Why do all the women get plastic surgery? Why? Why? Why should we look like some freaks with big lips that look like an anus? What is so sexy about that? What is sexy about having something that looks like a goose anus?

I never really thought about goose anatomy. I looked when I was on a farm in France.

Why do you live in Paris? I like living there because I can smoke everywhere, but it is going to change. Maybe I will move to Greece, because there you can still smoke everywhere.

In the end, there will be just one country left that allows smoking, for all the nonquitters in the world. Yes, and I will go there. Smoking kills you, but life kills you, and if you don’t want to die, go into a freezer when you are born and nothing will happen to you.