Poli beh Sooye Behesht

1968 film directed by Mohammad Zarrindast, starring Homayoun

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07-May-2011
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Nazanin karvar

*

by Nazanin karvar on

هاهاهاها 

عالی بود، واقعیتی انکار ناپذیر که به هیچ عنوان تغییر نکرده و فقط بر‌نامه‌های دیگه‌ای‌ جای‌گزین شده بجاش

:))) 

 


rafshari

This is from a new Afterword...

by rafshari on

 


rafshari

This is from a new Afterword...

by rafshari on

This is a page or so of the new long chapter, “Afterword,” to the paperback edition of Human Rights in Iran: the Abuse of Cultural Relativism. www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/13515.html To some intellectuals, the veneer of secular modernity appeared thin, underneath which the embers of the Shiite mores and habits smoldered. In the 1960s, these intellectuals optimistically assumed that Western-oriented temptation could be effectively eradicated through a reengagement with culturally correct ideals. Living the new lifestyles and passionately denouncing modernism, nativist authors still penned treatises that aimed at countering the prevailing social maladies associated with Weststruckness (gharbzadegi). Among relatively small circles of intellectuals and student activists, the author Jalal Al-Ahmad (1923–1969) became a persuasive voice in a coalescence of class antagonism and cultural resentment; Ali Shari’ati (1933-77) built a revolutionary creed out of it. Despite their dark and foreboding prognostications, the lifestyle they denounced as vulgar and Weststruck remained un-chastened for most of the 1960s-1970s. The popular cultural rhythms of the 1960s remained “vulgar” and entertaining. [footnote] The Islamic revolution of 1979 cannot be teleologically reconstructed.  Nevertheless, a small group of intellectuals continued to promote Iran’s “cult of authenticity.” The nativist authors focused on the question of “identity” and drew a sharp and menacing distinction between “authentic” and “inauthentic” Iranians. They kept announcing the demise of Westernizing modernity that purportedly brought alienation. Some had recognized that the most enduring inroads were not made by Western cultural images and sounds, but by modernity’s scientific and technological achievements and its commodified culture – the burgeoning consumerism and marketing gimmickry that kept widening the scope for enchanting taste. Many assumed that Western domination was being achieved by turning Iranians into blind consumers of capitalist goods. Consumer culture became an obvious symbol of Weststruckness, and the most patriarchal among them, dreaming of an Islamic revival, particularly resented the modern upper-middle-class women who in the pursuit of Western fashions had turned themselves into European dolls. Traditionalism appeared to be anti-imperialist and progressive.

Since the 1979 revolution, some scholars have evaluated the Iranian modernity in terms of its origin in a colonial setting and its monarchical political authoritarianism. Iran failed to introduce modern reforms leading to a participatory democracy. Missing a historic opportunity in the early1960s, the last Shah sustained Iran’s backward political features, centering on him as an authoritarian figure surrounded by bureaucrats whose sycophancy often overshadowed their talents and qualifications. His “pseudo-modernism” featured only the glittering surface of upper-class neighborhoods. While accurately describing the regime’s authoritarian disposition, this view overlooks the more enduring legacies of the period’s secular and modernizing endeavors. The fact that the Western powers were brandishing their modern guns, arrogant manners, and norms should not affect our long-term understanding of Iran’s modernity. Moreover, it is important to recall the generations who had since late 1800s embraced what they understood to be European modernity and negotiated its variegated components and meanings. These legacies continued despite Western imperialism in the background and the Shah’s authoritarianism in the foreground. The resulting patterns and norms buckled a bit under the stifling pressures of the Islamic Republic, but remaining essentially operational, shaping the lives of  youth who came of age during the Islamic Republic.

 

Footnote: As I observed elsewhere [in an academic article in 1994], the Islamic ideological explorations by Shari’ati and others had almost no perceptible impacts on the popular cultural products that kept enchanting the populace in the 1960s. Referring to the popular actors and signers of the time, I wrote: “I think Fardin and Gogoosh – not to speak of the real cultural phenomena of the time, Sousan and Aghasi – were far more effective, enjoying a truly massive audience… In fact, Aghasi’s ‘Amena,’ and not Shari’ati’s ‘Fatima,’ was more appealing as a culturally encoded message.” ‘Amena’ was Aghasi’s female object of adulation; Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad, was in the title one of Shari’ati’s books.


Simorgh5555

Darius

by Simorgh5555 on

Its typical playground response' Man ba to gahhr kardam' , Grow up. I did read your link but like most of your responses it does not address the key topic and is littered with irrelevant YouTube videos. Its not just me who has noticed this as well. 

I asked you a question. Since you are aware of Reza Aslan's pro Islamic Republic  views would you aid him by buying one of his products, goods or services? 

Or would you like me to post the link exposing your hypocricy?  


Darius Kadivar

Simorgh555 don't have time to waste on Your Redundant Questions

by Darius Kadivar on

ahosseini & Simorgh5555: What is it your don't Understand ? ;0)

 

So don't even bother waiting for a response, discourse or exchange with you on this subject or any other be it today or in the future ... 


Simorgh5555

Good links Darius

by Simorgh5555 on

But would you personally buy any products from Reza Aslan or his associated companies? 

 


Darius Kadivar

Reza Aslan & Hamid Dabashi are Products of What they denounced

by Darius Kadivar on

Reza Aslan & Hamid Dabashi are Products of What they themselves having beendenounced denouncing all along and that is the Pahlavi Era's so called "Westoxication":

Reza Aslan on the DailyShow tells John Stewart of his dream of becoming Angelina Jolie's boy toy

Hamid Dabashi Music of Resistance


amirparvizforsecularmonarchy

Well Done Darius, Milani has long revealed his true nature.

by amirparvizforsecularmonarchy on

So many people praise Milanis work with out realizing how disingenuous it is.

He is unable to express remorse, which skews his work severly. 

Personally what stands out the most, I see Milani as a US servant.  More than any other quality of his.


Darius Kadivar

So Abbas Milani claims Shah's Mosques turned us Religious ?

by Darius Kadivar on

How is this compatible with Abbas Milani's Claims that Shah turned Iran into an even more religious country by increasing the number of mosques built in the country ?

Cinema as a popular entertainment drew more people in Urban societies to the Theaters than to Mosques, including the popular masses who were gradually leaving their villiages to find work in town.

A look at Egyptian Cinema Posters of the 1960's 70's Shows that Iranian society at the time was no more no less Religious than Egypt or Turkey at the time:

EgyptianCinema Poster 1

Egyptian Cinema Poster 2

Egyptian Cinema Poster 3

So the Dillemma was less about Religion Vs Secularism but rather Modernity Vs Tradition, Urbanization Vs Rurality as such the way successive Iranian governments handled or were confronted to these issues were no exception to the rule ...

pictory: Girls in Bikini vs Veiled Women on Caspian Sea, Babolsar (1971)

No more that other countries in the Middle East or developing countries And this is true regardless of the type of regime's in power in the region:

AXIS OF COOPERATION: Egypt, Jordan and Iran working with US in 1950s

So to claim as Milani does that the IRanian Monarchy was or is incompatible with the concept of modernity is absurd.

pictory: Iran's Industrial Progress-Pahlavi Era Promotional Film (1970's)

All the more that Women during the Pahlavi Era were not reduced to merely Sex Objects:

pictory: Promotional Film on Women during Pahlavi Era (1970's)

Mahnaz Afkhami: A Women For All Seasons (VOA/BBC Interviews)

Women's Day: Mahnaz Afkhami Pioneer Feminist (1975)

Women's Day: First Women to Attend Tehran University (1940's/1950's)

WOMEN RIGHTS: Princess Ashraf Chairman of Women Status Commission (1965)

WOMEN GET TO VOTE: Female Crowd Gratefully Gather At Shah's Palace (1963)

Either a given regime copes with this reality by acknowledging a social dichotomy common to all societies of the region ( i.e: the Middle East unlike countries in the Soviet or Chinese Hemisphere were at large caught between Traditional and modern values and an increasing popular demand for all forms of consumption due to an open market) by either doing it the hard way like Reza Shah did by forcefully banning the Hijab and forcing Secularism down your throat Or you try to find a compromise between tradition and modernity as his son the Late Shah did. But then the Pahlavis are accused of being dictators and not respecting the will of the people by the same people who blame Mohamed Reza Shah for building mosques or not making the Hijab Ban Mandatory like during his father's reign ...

It's Not a government's fault if you folks never new what you wanted in the first place ...

Tu veux ou tu veux pas - with subtitlesAtaturk's Secularism has not stopped the Religious Parties to take over in recent years, despite the particularly secular nature of it's political system ( not to say it's Cinema which flirts more with Pornography than Iran's mildly Erotic films of the time which pale in comparison as being particularly innocent).

Besides who said said that Modernity is necessarily a sign of progress anyway?

Dumb American Blond thinks Europe is a Country

Miss Teen South Carolina 2007

If So ... then I guess America would have been better off had it remained a British Colony:

REHAB: Priest Cartwheels at Royal Wedding ;0)

HISTORY FORUM:The Monarchy with David Starkey (Cambridge University)

LOL

Recommended Reading :

Book Review: Popular Egyptian Cinema: Gender, Class, and Nation by Viola Shafik. AmericanUniversity in Cairo Press: 2007SHIRAZ INTL ARTS FESTIVAL '69: Documentary "Sound the Trumpets Beat the Drums" (1969)


Red Wine

...

by Red Wine on

جمیع الحظراتی که از این قبیل فیلمها شکایت دارند ،یا آن دوره در ایران زندگی‌ نمی‌کردند و یا متولدین سالهای اسلامیون هستند،سناریوهای این قبیل فیلمها از زندگی‌ واقعی‌ مردم پرده بر میداشت،در تمامی این تصاویر ،چه چیزی را دوست ندارید ؟ چه چیزی را غیر واقعی‌ می‌‌پندارید ؟ چه چیزی را زیاده بر حد آن میدانید ؟

همینه که هست،درهم به فروش می‌رسد و نمایان فرهنگیست که خود و یا پدران و مادران ما قسمتی‌ از آن را تشکیل میدادند،ضدیت با آن نشانه گر سطحی بودن و بی‌ اطلاع بودن فرد از جامعه آن زمان را نشان میدهد.

 


R2-D2

All The Sleaze And Whatever Else .....

by R2-D2 on

Better than all the crap that we have today :)

P.S. Remember, in those days, we had all types of personal freedoms to do whatever we pleased - Now, you saw what happened two years ago in our politics, and as far as personal liberties, well what can I say :) !

 

 


Roozbeh_Gilani

اول شکم، بعدش زیر شکم..

Roozbeh_Gilani


As our learned friends on this site tell us constantly, the Islamist culture had always been the dominant one  in our glorious , otherwise Aryan  country, even during Shah "the manfoor"'s era! 

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."


yolanda

..........

by yolanda on

OMG! Eat rice with hands!