Iranian Cultural Resistance

Revolution is often rooted in political corruption and economic instability: as people demand rapid social change, support increases for the establishment of a reformed government. However, the circumstances of both Iranian revolutions were cultural rather than economic, and there was a prevalent fear of a lost identity. Although Iran has resisted cultural change time and time again, the Iranian people have found ways to create, innovate, and beautifully demonstrate progressive ideas in the face of regimes that demand conservative value sets. Despite how strong such cultural oppression might have been, Iranians found ways to resist. From Sadegh Hedayat's The Blind Owl to Behrooz Ghamari's Remembering Akbar, Iranian writers have been at the forefront of demanding cultural change through storytelling. As new technologies emerged such as cinematography, filmmakers were able to share their stories and further spread awareness for a widely-desired social change. Filmmakers like Tahmineh Milani brought the same progressive ideas to life in the form of film, having an impact on all Iranians–not just the literate. Through the mediums of cinema and literature, Iranian creators played the role of sharing their perspectives of cultural oppression, instigating critical thought in everyday Iranians and instilling a sense of resistance within them.

The prevalent surrealist imagery in Iranian literature during Reza Shah's rule was influential in giving an expository understanding to the Iranian people–one that would educate the population about ideas and freedoms that the Shah attempted to repress. Told through a series of surrealist events, The Blind Owl was known to make readers suicidal, resulting in the prohibition of the novel in Iran. Within his story, Hedayat reflects on how his narrator slowly becomes mad. By doing this in an abstract, yet austere manner, he unveils a darker truth about the Shah's oppressive regime that might have otherwise laid dormant. Hedayat's narrator is constantly unhinged, exhibiting surrealist thought from the beginning: "I write only to reveal myself to my shadow, that shadow which at this moment is stretched across the wall in the attitude of one devouring with insatiable appetite each word I write" (Hedayat 18). The narrator demonstrates a clear persona of instability matched with an addiction to opium. Hedayat allows the reader to infer that this state of mind was caused in part by a form of internal reflection, which caused the narrator to question himself and society around him. As others read Hedayat's novel, many suicides followed. The narrator's shadow has a similar aspect of the reservations of cultural repression. Hedayat's suicide only a few years after the novel's publication can be seen as form of dissent, further showing how internal reflection can breed a desire for outward change. An elevated understanding of the repressed freedoms in Iran resulted in madness. By emphasizing the intersection between political change and madness, Hedayat questions reflection in a way that asks the reader how might life be improved outwardly. Although Hedayat's book was chastised for causing suicide, perhaps the real danger in his work was his ability to make readers think deeply about their own lives.

The Islamic Revolution in 1979 brought about unprecedented change to Iranian society. The momentum behind this revolution was cultural, rather than economic, and this idiosyncratic start to the revolution was seen as the only way to shield Iran from Western cultural influences. More importantly, it gave Iranians alone the ability to sow the seeds of new cultural thinking. There was a strong fight against leftist ideologies like Marxism and Leninism during the Revolution. These ideologies became popular during Reza Shah's rule in great part due to journalists and writers who wrote about leftist themes and collective economic equality. Though Reza Shah saw many progressive reforms under his regime, he still was intolerable towards dissent, and many communist organizations reached their zenith during the Shah's reign in protest of oppression. Throughout the revolution, Iranian communists, writers, and anyone who resisted cultural change were imprisoned. Ghamari's Remembering Akbar connects the stories of several journalists and leftist revolutionaries while relaying something simpler about the nature of humanity. Ghamari himself was imprisoned for his involvement with leftist groups. Within the novel, he highlights phrases like "Laborers Uniting! Capitalists Hiding!" to embody the anger and attempted struggle of those who were imprisoned (Ghamari 106). Yet despite these seemingly strong phrases, Ghamari dives deeper to dissect the reasoning for such anger, answering why leftists demanded socialist or communist reform. As the protagonist Akbar attempts to calm a rally, he states, "What's been taken away from you is more than your wages, it's your dignity" (Ghamari 107). Akbar adds substance to the seemingly meaningless mantras, as chanting pro-leftist slogans would only yield so much progress. Ghamari, who identifies closest to Akbar, attempts to reinstall a sense of dignity or pride, touching on an aspect of humanity that was "taken." Akbar’s rhetoric expands upon the idea that the communist movement was not just about economic equality, but also a trend towards a more well-rounded understanding of the state. Communists desired economic equality because economic inequality was perceived as a form of devaluing character. Evoking the word “dignity” implies a breach in the respect or sacredness towards an Iranian life; Akbar (and Ghamari, by extension) questions whether the state values the life of an Iranian as well as his or her ideas. Describing the fight for equality as a struggle supports the idea that equality needed to be earned, and those who were jailed had come to value a collective identity over that of an individual. Although the ideas of socialism and capitalism were extreme for the time period, jailed journalists and communists embodied a key component to the cultural change in Iran that was a major contributor to the Islamic Revolution.

Iranian filmmakers achieved much while seeking greater progressive reform in the face of cultural oppression, and creators in modern Iran have asked questions through cinematography that expand the freedoms of everyone, regardless of gender. Female filmmakers, in particular, have explored feminism as a form of expanding the freedoms of all in a country where women's rights are often restricted. The didactic film The Hidden Half serves the purpose of telling a story from the 1979 Iranian Revolution while relaying themes of women's independence. By unveiling her communist involvement (or her hidden half) to her husband, the protagonist Fereshteh is asking her husband to sympathize with the activities of both her and of whom she advocates. The movie's theme of understanding is integral in addressing the prisoner woman's circumstances: Fereshteh wants her husband to see the woman prisoner as only human. Miliani’s work mixes overtones of cultural oppression entering the post-revolutionary era with undertones of compassion and equality. Similar to Ghamari’s work, Miliani addresses humanity as a core theme in her film. Just as Akbar prods at communists’ dignity, Fereshteh appeals to her husband’s sense of empathy to understand the prisoner woman’s perspective. Her film radiates the themes of tolerance and acceptance, and it’s no surprise that Milani was jailed following the release of The Hidden Half: empathy was not a trait the state could afford given the political climate. However, her arrest only served as a message to Iranian filmmakers that their stories were a powerful form of art that warranted fear from those in power.

The legacy of the Iranian revolution left a mark on the social being of Iran that is particularly noticeable today. As Ruhollah Khomeini returned from his exile in Iraq, he was welcomed as a hero fighting for the preservation of Islam against the impending threat of Westernization. The uncanny transition had an impact on many Iranians, something poet Ahmad Shamlu wrote much about. The well-revered Iranian poet shared his perspective on the nature of the Islamic revolution. Specifically in his poem, "In this Blind Alley," Shamlu elaborates on the peculiar time, repeating the line "These are strange times, my dear." The Islamic Revolution was known to be an era of unpredictability, and Shamlu's poetry played an important role in conveying this shared confusion. Through this uncertainty, however, Iranians were forced to question what freedoms existed and how the government attempted to suppress them. Shamlu also highlights an aspect of fear produced by the revolution: a time where Iranians conformed to new social norms. By writing about this conformity in a poetic form, he expressed to many the asphyxiating feeling of having one repressive leader replaced by another. Before, repression existed and Iranians knew what was not tolerated by the Shah. Following the Revolution, cultural oppression remained, yet it took a new form. The nature of revolution is quick, and the dramatic political shift made many Iranians realize that their home after the revolution would be "strange."

Iranian writers and creators have been sharing stories that create waves of change since before the Constitutional Revolution. These waves have rippled throughout Iran to educate, inform, and instigate critical thought and–by extension–revolution. Filmmakers, journalists, and writers asked questions that some were not bold enough to ask: these questions oftentimes resulted in imprisonment or death. However, creators served as a symbol to the rest of Iran that change was needed–and change did happen, but not without repercussions. The effects of both revolutions are prevalent today. From an eight-year war in Iraq to heightened tensions with the United States, Iran still faces problems with expanding the rights of citizens and accepting dissent. Where leaders like the Shah and Khomeini were oppressive in their own ways, Iranian creators held constant the desire to exhibit strength through art, film, and literature. Creators used these mediums to bring together people through one of the strongest human bonds: stories. Strangely enough, something as immaterial as an idea can have the innate ability to produce something concrete. They show, perhaps, that Iranians need only tell a story to enact incredible change.

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