Sugar Cane Persepolis

Sugar Cane Alley and Persepolis are both foreign films trying to show what their culture is truly like. In Sugar Cane Alley the former slaves of Martinique worked in the sugar cane fields even after they had been freed. This also happened in America when slaves were freed. They continued working in the fields because they had nowhere else to go. In Martinique, however, the children were given some schooling opportunities. If they did well enough they were given a chance at higher schools. This shows how important education meant to them. Even though they were given very little money, almost all of them were sent to school. Not only does this show the importance of education for the former slaves but it also shows the whites' willingness to let the black kids go to school with their kids.
In the movie Persepolis we are shown a totally different look on Iran than we know. When we, as Americans, think of Iran, we think of Muslims and terrorism. While these are both big things in the Middle East, they are not everything that they have to offer. In the movie we were shown what Iran was like before the war. It seemed pretty normal. The women didn't have to wear a head scarf and the police didn't carry automatic weapons. Most of the clothes they wore were pretty Westernized. When the war came, everything changed. The more fundamental Muslims took over and made irrational laws such as women having to wear head scarves. They also got rid of anything that might have been considered Western, or, American like our music and clothing. The Iranian opinion of America changed after we had sold weapons to both sides in the war. They were not too fond of the American culture because of all the freedom we have as well.
Both Persepolis and Sugar Cane Alley give us a perspective on other countries cultures and what they have to live through. They show that we don't really have a tough life compared to many countries of the world.