With copies of “Persepolis” tucked underneath their arms, the binds worn from impassioned reading, students filed into the Cox Auditorium on Tuesday night to hear Marjane Satrapi speak about her unique novel. “Persepolis” — the University’s selection for the 2008 summer reading program — is a graphic novel that tells the story of Satrapi’s childhood in Tehran, Iran. Satrapi said with her books, people will be able to identify with the characters as people like themselves rather than just Iranians.”I cannot ask everyone to go to Iran to see that they are not the enemies you think they are, but I hope I bring to you a piece of Iran to help you understand,” Satrapi said.Satrapi said Iran is often referred to as part of “the axis of evil” by American media, but the term is unfair.  “Evil is a dangerous word to use,” Satrapi said. “It is what leads to fascism. It is why Hitler killed six million Jews because he said they were evil.” Satrapi spent the first 14 years of her life living in Tehran before moving to Vienna, Austria, and now resides in Paris, France. Satrapi said her world travels and experiences have made her less ignorant of other countries. “People act like they know everything about things they don’t know,” Satrapi said. “I can make better judgements about places because I know them.”Satrapi said one of the reasons she uses animation in her books is images have no cultural boundaries like language — they are universal. “If I draw a man with a happy face, neither a white man, a Chinese man or an African man will say he is sad,” Satrapi said. “Persepolis” was made into an animated film, which was nominated for an Oscar. Satrapi was hesitant about transferring her novel to the big screen, but the producer was persistent even after hearing her list of prerequisites. “It has to be animated; it has to be hand drawn; it has to be black and white, and we have to make it in Paris because I don’t want to take the train anywhere,” Satrapi said she told the producer. “He agreed to everything, and then I thought, ‘Shit, now I need to make the movie.”  
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