The Iranian Cinema: Middle Eastern Culture and Society

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Drug Problem
Gender Division
Regional Differences
War
Poverty
Conclusion
Reference
Footnotes

Introduction

Culture in the Middle East has been under the Islamic regime for decades, which has crippled its voice largely. Social and cultural morals depicted through literature or popular media have historically been policed and written in accordance with the believed moral code. Iranian cinema and literature has been no exception. Still, a silent revolt against the Islamic ‘totalitarianism’ is voiced, even though apparently they reveal no social or political influence¹. Further, it has been observed that in the post-1979 revolution, Iranian cinema has evolved with a “unique ideological, thematic, generic, and production values”². This change is not exclusive to cinema, rather it has been observed even in literature and media. Iranian cinema and literature has shaped the present cultural mores of the society through creation of a cultural identity as well as shaping the psychology of the people³. Today Iranian cinema and literature is at the crossroads with depiction of a unique and revolting society depicting changing gender relations, socio-political condition, and youth upheaval.

The essay studies the representation of Middle Eastern culture and society through the eyes of Iranian cinema. Even though the Middle East is essentially heterogeneous, with “no homogeneous shared identity”, it is argued by many psychologists that there exists a “common Arab psychology” which acts as the unifying adhesive⁴. Therefore, when we interpret the Iranian culture, it, largely is reminiscent of the culture and society of the rest of the Middle East. This essay is an account of the rise of the Iranian cinema in the post-1979 Islamic Revolution era, and how it shows the present cultural and social norms in the Iranian society. This essay accounts for the changing cinema and the changes in the Iranian culture and society.

Drug Problem

After the Islamic revolution repetitive failures on the part of the elected Iranian government made the youth disappointed with the country’s leadership⁵. The politically active Iranian youth lost their idealism and became less proactive, and became more interested in material pleasure and gain. Illicit drug addiction became rampant among urban youths who felt alienated.

According to Varzi increased use of drugs, suicide, identity crisis, etc. are examples of self-annihilation and cultural indifference of the Iranian youth in the contemporary society⁶. This has become a revelation for the government who has lessened restrictions on filmmakers in showing these issues existing in the Iranian society⁷. The conservative Islamic control over the society has increased the resistance among youths who have taken to illicit relations, underground music, and drug abuse. A movie named Zir-e-Poost e-Shabr directed by Bani-Etemad is a striking example of the problem of drug consumption among Iranian youths⁸.

Under the Moonlight is the first movie, which presented stark contrasting pictures of a clergy and the social downtrodden in the Iranian society⁹. The movie clearly shows a child earning a livelihood as a drug trafficker and some of the clerics, hypocritically consuming drug against what they actually preach. The movie shows that the people who belong to the underprivileged class are criminals and drug dealers indicating the root of the cause of drug trafficking in Iran i.e. poverty. Abolfazl Jalili’s movie Dan shows two taboo subjects of Iranian society child labor and drug addiction in Iran¹⁰. This shows the increased drug trafficking in Iran post-revolution when in 1986 this activity made up 18 percent of the urban unemployment¹¹. Films as Amir Naderi’s Marsh (1978) shows the reason behind drug trafficking is poverty¹².

Evidently, Iranian films have shown drug trafficking in their films as a social woe, which transcends upon the society due to poverty of the people in the lower strata of the social hierarchy. They also show drug consumption by the youth as a sign of resignation and disinterest to the country’s political condition.

Gender Division

Position of women in the Middle East has mostly been behind the veil, especially in post-revolution Iran. Nafisi, in her memoir notes that Iran in the 1990s had built the woes on females in the society¹³. The memoir is a vivid description of the atrocities that women face in Iran in the absolute absence of rights for them. They have to veil themselves ‘properly’, walk upright, with no make-up, undergo search while entering the university, etc. even though many profess that traditional roles in Iran are changing with changes in the role of women¹⁴, but their adversities are also increasing.

Representation of women in Iranian cinema has changed over the ages with the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ girl stereotype to the present showcase of submissive women being oppressed by men¹⁵. This was considered as a wrong and misleading oriental stereotype of Iranian women by Moruzzi¹⁶. However, the reason behind the story of the film like Two Women or Reading Lolita in Tehran shows that there is a more to what is apparent. As Moruzzi went on to explain these depiction of women actually represented the “emotional representation of their own experience under the specific historical, cultural, and political conditions of the early years of the Islamic republic.”¹⁷

Iranian cinema represents an internal ‘tug of war’ between women who try to confront both the traditional and the modern, which is more apparent in the works of female directors like Rakhshan Banietemad¹⁸. Similarly, Iranian literature too is in a liminal stage where the contradictions in the novelist’s ideas run amok with his/her tendency to preach, moralize and the present realities¹⁹. However, there may acclaims of women becoming freer than ever in post-revolutionized Iran, the situation is not as rosy. There are laws, which stipulate numerous moral codes that women in Iran must follow. As Azar Nafisi states that all the moral policing against women and their veiled presence in the society is actually making them more “visible and powerful”²⁰.

Regional Differences

After the formation of the Islamic Republic in Iran, the government has enforced discrimination and segregation among people on basis of religion or gender through the constitution, state policies, and ideologies²¹. Through these discriminatory policies, Muslims have enjoyed a favored position vis-à-vis to non-Muslims; Shias over Sunnis and other Muslim sect (line Kurds or Turkmens). The first revolt against the Islamic state was made by the ethnic minorities in 1981²². This shows the discrimination and segregation that is faced by the minorities in Iranian society.

Ethnic divide in Iran is very strong. This has been depicted in Iranian cinema. One of this kind is a film called Bashu, the Little Stranger (1988) directed by Bahram Beyza’i²³. The movie is a candid description of the ethnic and linguistic divide in Iran’s regions. The film shows that Iranian national identity is created eluding ethnic, lingual, and gender divide. However, the films also spurs a contradictory debate that if Iranian identity is tied to the national language i.e. Persian. Though this film depicts regional differences, the representation of ethnic minorities is still missing from Iranian cinema. This shows the continuous denial of the Iranian society of the existence of the minority groups amongst them.

War

Iranian movies have been wrought by the wars that the region faced. The war-films started to appear in the Iranian silver screen from the 1980s soon after the Iran-Iraq war²⁴. The inception of this trend was with documentaries filmed exclusively to be aired on television.

First of its kind, according to Roxanne Varzi²⁵, movies like Revayat-e Fath^²⁶ (Witness to Glory) are a burning example of effect of war on Iranian movies. At that time, Iran was airing through television that Iran was fighting and wining an offensive war, which was not supported by the viewers. People actually supported the war as long as it was a defensive act. Avini’s film showed the real situation and demonstrated the faith that was instilled behind the cause of war. These pictures usually portrayed martyrdom and the practice of mourning followed by Shias were portrayed and brought about a new genre of Islamic machine of propaganda. For instance, Nasser Mohammadi’s film The Devotees (1982) explored the sacrifices of the Iranian youth in the Iran-Iraq war²⁷.

These films portrayed war in spiritual rather than military character. Earlier, the films were made to show the soldiers who were clean-shaven, and were difficult to distinguish between the Iraqi and Iranian soldiers, who seldom motioned Allah or the Imams. However, with the spiritual genre of films moving in, the soldiers representing Iran were depicted as bearded revolutionaries. The message in these films stress on the “role of martyrdom and belief in the action scenarios of the film”²⁸.

The post war films as depicted by Iranian movies are a shift from the battleground, closer to Tehran, where the families or survivors of the war search for their loved ones, which is clearly aimed at the mourning audience²⁹. The Iranian society, which has been shattered, and split wide open by wars, was able to mourn through the films. These war films are a reflection of failure of the Iranian society that many feel and then they try to reinstate an ‘alternative image’³⁰.

Poverty

Post 1979 identified the poor as their social and political base³¹. The aim of the revolutionaries was redistribution of the capitalists to the mostazafin (meaning disinherited) in similar line like the Chinese or Russian revolution. Evidently, there were pro-poor policies in the post-revolution era. According to the findings of Gheissari, there is hardly any poverty in Iran with only 2 to 3 percent the population living below poverty line³². This shows that even though Iran is poorer than developed countries like the US, it is much better off than the poorer countries of the world. However, Iranian pictures show a different picture of poverty in the country.

Iranian popular culture, media, and literature have celebrated poverty and working class lifestyle. The ideological romanticization with poverty is a salient feature of Sufi tradition and literature³³. Poverty was depicted in movie by Shorab Sales in Tabial-e bijan (1974), which depicted poverty and the rural deprivation in the Shah’s rule³⁴. Films, which depicted such harsh realities in and around Teheran, were banned by the government before the revolution³⁵. However, this was before the revolution since when the economic scene in Iran has changed largely. Scenes of extreme poverty in Iranian films like those in Abolfazl Jalili’s Dance of Dust (1992) or Samira Makhmalbaf’s The Apple (1998) depict a very wrong picture of Iran to foreign banks³⁶. These films have been accused of not depicting the middle- or upper-class Iran. As the findings of Gheissari suggest, the poverty in Iran is just partial, and depiction of extreme poverty is cinema is not correct and eludes reality.

Conclusion

Iranian cinema and literature have essentially shown the woes of the society, however in mostly subdued voices. The presence of poverty, drug abuse, regional differences, oppression of women, etc. is mostly a background theme, rather than the central plot. People who were open about their feelings and ideas, and openly criticized the policies of the government or the social taboos had to leave the country (e.g. Azar Nafisi). To a great extent the literature and cinema in Iran is silent about the taboos, with these shown as limited background, and never relating the ‘other’ side of the story. Further the effect on cinema was more as films had abide by the modest dress code of women even in films where women were veiled even in their house creating an unreal scene³⁷. However, to a great extent popular culture and literature in Iran has silently taken up the task of bringing forward the social stigmas and deal with taboo subjects. This represents a new generation of Iranians who are willing to break free the shackles of the traditionalist laws and be themselves.

Reference

Dabashi, Hamid. “Dead Certainties: The Early Makhmalbaf.” Tapper, Richard. New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation And Identity. London: I.B.Tauris, 2002. 154-166.
Dönmez-Colin, Gönül. Cinemas Of The Other. London: Intellect Books, 2006.
The cinema of North Africa and the Middle East. London: Wallflower Press , 2007.
Gheissari, Ali. Contemporary Iran Economy, Society, Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Gregg, Gary S. The Middle East. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Khosravi, Shahram. Young And Defiant In Tehran. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008.
Naficy, Hamid. “Veiled Voice and Vision in Iranian Cinema: The Evolution of Rakhshan Banietemad’s Films.” Social Research 67(2) (2000): 559-566.
Pak-Shiraz, Nacim. “Filmic Discourses on the Role of the Clergy in Iran.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 34(3) (2007): 331–349.
Rahimeih, Nasrin. “Making Gender and Difference in the Myth of the Nation: A Post-revolutionary Iranian Film.” Tapper, Richard. New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation And Identity. 215-253: I.B.Tauris, 2002. London.
Sadr, Hamid Reza. Iranian Cinema: A Political History. New York: I.B.Tauris, 2006.
Tapper, Richard. The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation And Identity. London: I.B.Tauris, 2002.
Varzi, Roxanne. “A Ghost in the Machine: The Cinema of the Iranian Sacred Defence.” The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation And Identity. Richard Tapper. London: I.B.Tauris, 2002. 154-166.
Warring Souls; Youth, Media, and Martyrdom in Post-Revolution Iran. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006.

Footnotes

Hamid Reza Sadr, Iranian Cinema: A Political History, (I.B.Tauris, 2006), 1.
Hamid Naficy, “Veiled Voice and Vision in Iranian Cinema: The Evolution of Rakhshan Banietemad’s Films”, Social Research 67:2 (2000): 559.
Gregg 46.
Gary S. Gregg, The Middle East, (Oxford University Press, 2005), 4-5.
Kaveh Basmenji, Tehran Blues: Youth Culture in Iran, (Saqi Books, 2005)
Roxanne Varzi, Warring Souls; Youth, Media, and Martyrdom in Post-Revolution Iran, (Duke University Press, 2006), 76-105.
Varzi 162
Dabashi 225
Nacim Pak-Shiraz, “Filmic Discourses on the Role of the Clergy in Iran”, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 34:3 (2007): 331–349.
Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Cinemas Of The Other, (Intellect Books, 2006), 40.
Sadr 167
Sadr 168
Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
Norma Claire Moruzzi, “Women in Iran: Notes on Film and from the Field”, Feminist Studies 27:1 (2001) 89-100.
Maruzzi 90-94
Moruzzi 95
Hamid Naficy, “Veiled Voice and Vision in Iranian Cinema: The Evolution of Rakhshan Banietemad’s Films” 569
Azar Nafisi, “The Quest for the “Real” Woman in the Iranian Novel”, Social Research (2003) 981-1000
Azar Nafisi, “The Veiled Threat”, The New Republic (22 February 1999) 24-29.
Gheissari 302
Sadr 194
Nasrin Rahimeih, “Making Gender and Difference in the Myth of the Nation: A Post-revolutionary Iranian Film”, in The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation And Identity, by Richard Tapper (eds.) (I.B.Tauris, 2002), 215-253.
Roxanne Varzi, “A Ghost in the Machine: The Cinema of the Iranian Sacred Defence”, in The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation And Identity, by Richard Tapper (eds.) (I.B.Tauris, 2002), 154-166
Varzi, Warring Souls; Youth, Media, and Martyrdom in Post-Revolution Iran.
A documentary on Iran-Iraq war directed by Morteza Avini’s, Varzi 76
Hamid Dabashi, “Dead Certainties: The Early Makhmalbaf”, in The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation And Identity, by Richard Tapper (eds.) (I.B.Tauris, 2002), 154-166.
Dabashi 158
Dabashi 163
Dabashi 165
Ali Gheissari, Contemporary Iran Economy, Society, Politics, (Oxford University Press, 2009) 14-22.
Gheissari 16.
Shahram Khosravi, Young and Defiant in Tehran, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), 36-38.
Gönül Dönmez-Colin, The cinema of North Africa and the Middle East, (Wallflower Press, 2007), 61
Sadr 74.
Mehrnaz Saed-Vafa, “Location (Physical Space) and Cultural Identity in Iranian Films”, in The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation And Identity, by Richard Tapper (eds.) (I.B.Tauris, 2002), 201
Hamid Naficy 565

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