Religious identity and mass media: The situation of women in Iranian cinema following the Islamic revolution

Mehri Bahar

Department of Communication, Tehran University, Iran. E-mail: baharan12345@yahoo.com. 

Accepted 12 May, 2010

Abstract

Mass media has had a significant role in today's Iranian society. The presence of active artists and their features is also very important in this era. Presently, the presence of women as actresses or film producers has been a significant factor in the Iranian cinema. Throughout the pre-revolution era, cinema had treated women more like objects or commodities and because of this, they disappeared from cinema during the few years following the revolution. The role of women before the revolution was very limited and unnoticeable and they merely played the role of mother or wife. A comparison of their role back in those years with the roles they play presently is quite worthy of mention. The importance of women in Iranian cinema can be traced to various cultural and social circumstances, which are known also as: (1) The social, economic, political and developmental programs in Iran have enhanced the educational and didactic levels, and the public are more literate than before hence, social knowledge has increased. This has been among the issues considered after the Islamic revolution, (2) Because of the enhancement of the level of religious teachings following the revolution, women are now more able to participate in social affairs and fewer prohibitions are enforced on their presence in social arenas. This has made it easier for them to perform their roles as social actors in the religious cinema and films made on the Iran-Iraq war, commonly called the "Sacred Defense," and to face fewer negative reactions from their families. Thus, they have had an equal chance as compared to their male counterparts to perform in these films. (3) The present article studies the position of women and the attitudinal changes that have occurred in Iranian cinema following the revolution (especially the cinema during war). The method used in this study is based on the competence of women’s presence in Iranian films throughout time. For this purpose, the women presentation’s level, their roles, the disputes and negotiations throughout time has been compared with men (Since the Islamic revolution). This article compares two movies, with results demonstrating that women have emerged as active participants in this art form after a period of silence and estrangement from cinema and the Fajr (war) movies. This reproducing of role creation has transformed the religious cinema and movies on the sacred defense and also the political ones. In other words, Iranian women have had an opportunity to prove themselves in the religious and epic cinema as well as  family centered cinema, where as in both marginal and central roles.

Key words: Iranian cinema, marginal roles, semi-centralized presence of women, women's resistance.