Reading against the veil: Gender and politics in popular cinema of post-revolutionary Iran

Abstract

This thesis examines gender in the popular cinema of post-revolutionary Iran. It argues that a distinctly feminine discourse gradually emerged in post-revolutionary Iranian cinema and became very visible in the reformist period (1997-2005). This research covers the period between the establishment of the Islamic Republic and the end of the reformist period (1979-2005). Drawing on Stuart Hall (1981), this thesis considers popular culture, and popular cinema by extension, as a site of cultural struggle and focuses on gender representation as a major locus of post-revolutionary socio-political negotiation. Reading Iranian cinema in terms of an art/popular spectrum, the thesis examines four case studies from films that have been commercially successful, and have mobilised generic or formal conventions through their controversial gender representations. Three of these case studies, The Bride (1992), Red (1999) and Hemlock (2000) examine femininity in post-revolutionary popular cinema, while The Snowman (1995) has been included for its transgressive representation of masculinity.