Iranian Cinema and Globalization

Shahab Esfandiary

Description

Despite critical acclaim and a recent surge of popularity with Western audiences, Iranian cinema has been the subject of lamentably few academic studies – and those have by and large been limited to the films and filmmakers most visible on the international film circuit. Iranian Cinema and Globalization seeks to broaden readers' exposure to other dimensions of Iranian cinema, including the works of the many prolific filmmakers whose films have received little outside attention despite being widely popular within Iran. Combining theories of globalization and national cinema with in-depth, interdisciplinary analyses of individual films, this volume expands the current literature on Iranian cinema with insights into the social and religious political contexts involved.

Introduction

 

Part I: Theoretical Framework 

Chapter 1: Making Sense of Globalization 

Chapter 2: The Concept of National Cinema: Theorization and Critique 

 

Part II: Iranian Cinema and Globalization

Chapter 3: Iranian Cinema in the World Cinema Circuit: Politics, Economics and Aesthetics 

Chapter 4: Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s ‘Transnational’ Cinema and Globalization 

Chapter 5: Daryush Mehrjui’s ‘National’ Cinema and Globalization 

Chapter 6: Ebrahim Hatami-kia’s ‘Sacred Defense’ Cinema and Globalization 

 

Conclusion 

Sujets

• Irán
• Película fotográfica
• Islamic studies
• General officer
• Globalization
• General
• Film
• Iran

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books Ltd
• Date de parution: 03 juillet 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781841506920
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in the UK in 2012 by Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2012 by Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2012 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover designer: Holly Rose Copy-editor: Macmillan Production manager: Jelena Stanovnik Typesetting: Planman Technologies
ISBN 978-1-84150-470-4
eISBN 978-1-84150-692-0
Printed and bound by Hobbs, UK
To the memory of
Sayyed Morteza Avini
Contents
Table of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I: Theoretical Framework
Chapter 1: Making Sense of Globalization
Introduction
The global field
Global flows
A framework of the globalization theories
Chapter 2: The Concept of National Cinema: Theorization and Critique
Introduction
National cinema as ‘intertextual symptom’
National cinema as cultural/economic weapon
National cinema as ‘the other’ of Hollywood
National cinema as ‘cultural specificity’
The relevance of ‘national cinema’ in the age of globalization: Arguments for and against
Conclusion
Part II: Iranian Cinema and Globalization
Chapter 3: Iranian Cinema in the World Cinema Circuit: Politics, Economics and Aesthetics
The foundations of a ‘new cinema’
The emergence of Muslim film-makers
Debate and controversy over international awards
The economics and politics of international festivals
Selecting the examples
Chapter 4: Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s ‘Transnational’ Cinema and Globalization
Introduction
Critique of the ‘transnational institution of art’
Makhmalbaf: From ‘the local’ to ‘the transnational’
Banal transnationalism
Sex and Philosophy
Scream of the Ants
The rise and fall of an ‘idol’
Transnational film-makers and territorial attachments
Conclusion
Chapter 5: Daryush Mehrjui’s ‘National’ Cinema and Globalization
Introduction
The complex relation of ‘the national’ and ‘the Islamic’
Iranian cinema’s new wave and the early impact of globalization
Mehrjui and the post-revolution circumstances
The Lodgers
Mum’s Guests
Conclusion
Chapter 6: Ebrahim Hatami-kia’s ‘Sacred Defense’ Cinema and Globalization
Introduction
Muslim Film-makers: From Makhmalbaf to Hatami-kia
The Scout : Constructing the image of the basiji
From Karkhe to Rhine: Recognition of ‘the other’
Glass Agency: Return of the rebel
Conclusion
Conclusion
Appendices
Appendix I: Interview with Abbas Kiarostami
Appendix II: Interview with Majid Majidi
Appendix III: Interview with Emad Afroogh
Appendix IV: Interview with Mohammad-reza Jafari-jelveh
Bibliography
Table of Figures
Figure 1 Vulgar comedy or political symbolism?
Figure 2 The inspiring feast of reconciliation.
Figure 3 The carnivalesque dinner party.
Figure 4 The ‘scientific’ operation.
Figure 5 The Basiji prepared for sacrifice.
Figure 6 Reconstructing the image of the Basiji .
Figure 7 Representing the Émigré.
Figure 8 Comrades marginalized in ‘the new times’.
Figure 9 Lack of communication.
Figure 10 Asserting agency and refusing to conform.
Acknowledgments
This book is based on a doctoral thesis, which I submitted to the University of Nottingham in 2009. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Peter Brooker, for his gracious guidance, intellectual insight and critical reflection. I would also like to thank Professor Roger Bromley, Dr. Lloyd Ridgeon and Dr. Jon Simons for their valuable comments and feedback in annual review meetings and the viva voce.
I wish to thank the University of Arts in Tehran and the University of Nottingham for providing me with scholarships that made the present study possible. I am also grateful to the Iran Heritage Foundation for a grant that they awarded in contribution to the publication of this book.
I offer appreciation to my postgraduate research colleagues: Emilse, Matt, Luca, Mohamed, Alex, Caroline, Eireanne and Adity for their friendship and support. I should also thank my Iranian friends and their families in Nottingham, who made this journey a very enjoyable experience.
I am grateful to the participants in the following conferences and workshops for their valuable comments on papers and presentations based on the material in this book: the Memory, Trauma and Identity in the Visual and Literary Representations of the Middle East workshop (University of Edinburgh, February 2008); the Global-National Media Matters panel at the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Cultural Studies Association (New York University, May 2008); the Visual Representations of Iran conference (University of St. Andrews, June 2008) and the workshop Where are the Intellectuals? Culture, Identity and Community in the Modern Middle East (University of Edinburgh, May 2010). Dr. Gay Breyly and Mehrzad Karimabadi deserve a special mention in this respect.
A shorter version of Chapter 5 was previously published as an article in the Taylor and Francis journal Iranian Studies under the title ‘Merhjui’s Social Comedy and the Representation of the Nation in the Age of Globalization’ (Vol. 44, Issue 3). I wish to thank the journal’s anonymous reviewer and copy-editor for their comments and suggestions.
I should also thank the staff at Intellect, particularly the editor and assistant editors, cover design artist and copy-editor. Jelena Stanovnik, who took care of this publication project, from the first manuscript all the way to print, deserves a special mention. My thanks also go to the anonymous referees appointed by Intellect, for their useful comments and kind suggestions. I am also greatful of Yusof Shamshiri who kindly helped in obtaining the images used in the book.
Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my family: my wife, Asemeh, for her patience and support; and my daughters, Kowsar and Tasnim, who are source of joy, hope and inspiration. Many thanks also go to our parents in Iran, for their reassurance and prayers, and for bearing our absence.
 
Introduction
A television game show format originally created in Britain in 1998 is acquired by over 100 television stations across the globe and is remade in a range of different languages. In India, the show inspires a first novel by an Indian diplomat. The novel, published in 2005, wins several international awards and is translated into some 40 languages. It is also adapted into a play by BBC Radio 4. Two British companies – one of which is the producer of the original television game show – buy the rights of the novel and invite a British scriptwriter and a British director to make a movie out of the novel. The project is partly funded by the investment of two American and French companies. The film’s setting is in Mumbai and it involves local actors and actresses, as well as other Indian professionals including the co-director and the music composer.
The film’s global profile is boosted when it sweeps seven BAFTAs, eight Oscars and four Golden Globe Awards. International reaction to the film in a wide range of formats, including press reviews, blog posts, YouTube clips and television commentary proliferates around the world. A transnational debate begins over the film’s representation of India, a new globalizing economy, and of Mumbai’s slum dwellers. Some critics in ‘the west’ accuse the film of being ‘poverty porn’ (Miles 2009); while in India there are protests against the use of the word ‘dog’ in the title of the film. In the context of the local culture this word has derogatory connotations and some inhabitants of the slums are offended. These reactions are covered by international media and ‘experts on India’ comment on the events and their root causes. There are also concerns about the salary paid to the young local actors of the film who actually lived in the Mumbai slums. Ethical questions are raised over the impact of the film on their lives. 1
But the story does not end there. While in the United Kingdom and the United States people were paying to watch Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle, 2008) on cinema screens, in Iran, where the exhibition of foreign films in movie theaters is extremely restricted, millions of people had the privilege of watching the film on national television. 2 The version they saw, however, had a number of differences from the original film since Iranian television had cut out many ‘inappropriate’ scenes and changed some dialogue during the dubbing process.
These cuts included scenes of violence, song and dance, any content of a sexual nature, and instances where Muslim characters were ‘portrayed in a bad light’. Some Iranian bloggers, however, who had watched pirated DVDs of the full film, 3 wrote scathing articles against state television in their blogs as well as described the cut scenes to their readers. 4
Slumdog Millionaire is perhaps one of the most revealing examples in the world of cinema that expose the wide-ranging impacts of globalization on the film industry. 5 Even if we hesitate to agree with the Wall Street Journal ’s film critic who has termed it ‘the film world’s first globalized masterpiece’ (Morgenstern 2009), the case no doubt prompts us to rethink the relations between cinema, nation and globalization. It brings to mind many questions regarding the political, economic and cultural consequences of globalization in the realm of cinema and highlights the complexities and contradictions involved. The events around this film draw attention to the scale, the scope and the speed of global flows and counterflows, and the intensification of simultaneous transnational interactions. They also feed into the ongoing debates in globalization theory over homogenization/hybridiz