The Missing Picture: Iranian Women in the Media

Abstract

This dissertation examines and compares the representation of Iranian women in cinema and women’s journals before and after the Revolution of 1979. Research on women in Iranian cinema tends to focus on specific angles and narrow approaches. My study, however, intertwines viewpoints from a variety of sources, is informed by multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, and applies theories from a range of academic disciplines. I challenge dominant media narratives that juxtapose the image of the “emancipated” pre-revolutionary Iranian woman with that of the “oppressed” post-revolutionary woman. My aim, in moving away from mainstream narratives, is to introduce a fresh perspective and to contribute new knowledge to the literature on gender and the media, particularly within an Iranian context. In my dissertation, which is composed of an introduction and four chapters, I analyze nine films from the pre-revolutionary era and investigate the visual and textual contents of pre-revolutionary women’s periodicals published over the span of five decades (1925 to 1978). These journals include Alam-e Nesvan (Women’s World), Peyk Sa’adat-e Nesvan (The Messenger of Women’s Prosperity), Jamiyat Nesvan Vatankhah Iran (Journal of the Society of Iranian Patriotic Women), and Zan-e Rooz (Woman of Today). Drawing on insights from Edward Said and Laura Mulvey, and using Linda Scott’s theory of visual rhetoric, I demonstrate that the cinema of this era, in congruence with women’s magazines, projected an image that emphasized the passivity, powerlessness, and sexual availability of Iranian women. For my post-revolutionary data analysis, I draw on Hélène Cixous’s theoretical framework to evaluate four female-directed war movies—Gilaneh (2005), Track 143 (2013), Vila Dwellers (2017), and Squad of Girls (2022)—and a female-produced historical drama, Khatoon (2022). Building on Cixous’s influential concept of écriture féminine, I then illustrate that these visualizations are prominent examples of subversive texts in their related genres, and, in essence, a practice in visual écriture féminine by female filmmakers because they defy the rules and codes of their categories to present an unseen picture of Iranian women. Further, I highlight the significance of these directors’ contributions to the Iranian film industry in subverting the norms and conventions of specific genres to re-imagine exclusionary and/or reductivist narratives about Iranian women.