I blog over at AjamMC.com
The Ajam Media Collective is an online space devoted to highlighting the myriad cultural contributions, both high and low, of Iranian, Central Asian, and Diaspora communities. We seek to unite authors from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to promote a new view of the region, emphasizing its importance as a thriving cultural center."After years of rumors and talk of a Persian version of the Jersey Shore, the nightmare is becoming reality this March when “the Shahs of Sunset” premiers on Bravo. The show will follow six wealthy Iranian-American graduates of Beverly Hills High School who live in Los Angeles, mostly work in real estate, and love to drink, party, and fight. Among them are A$SA Soltan (whose music career I profiled brieflyhere) as well as what is probably American mainstream TV’s first openly gay Iranian, Reza Farahan. The rest of the cast is pretty forgettable.
So far, Bravo’s released only one two-minute trailer. The clip begins with a quick history lesson (“when the Revolution happened, we had to flee the old country… we really didn’t get to take our wealth with us… so we ended up in Beverly Hills!”) followed by various snippets of them describing their love of luxury and all things gold. One particularly revealing highlight is when one cast member explains to the audience, “we don’t work in buildings- we own them.” Basically, every stereotype Iranians have ever had about rich Beverly Hills Iranians is now going to be broadcast for the world to see. Talk about airing dirty laundry!
I would take this binary even further by suggesting that one of my big problems with the show is how it provides a monolithic narrative of vaguely ethnic, unambiguously wealthy Persians. This image obscures the very real social and political issues we face as a community. As much as we have tried to “become white” and move past the anti-Iranian discrimination that dogged us in the 1980s, we are still investigated in our mosques, put on terror watch lists and stopped at the airport, deported en masse, and subject to the same kinds of survelliance and discrimination that target other Middle Eastern and Muslim Americans."
Recently by Seyyedreza | Comments | Date |
---|---|---|
From Tehran to Homs: Musical Solidarity | - | Feb 25, 2012 |
Iranian Women Rapping and Kicking Ass | 1 | Feb 08, 2012 |
Person | About | Day |
---|---|---|
نسرین ستوده: زندانی روز | Dec 04 | |
Saeed Malekpour: Prisoner of the day | Lawyer says death sentence suspended | Dec 03 |
Majid Tavakoli: Prisoner of the day | Iterview with mother | Dec 02 |
احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱ | Dec 02 | |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day | 46 days on hunger strike | Dec 01 |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti | In Barcelona | Nov 30 |
گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی | Nov 30 | |
Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day | Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years | Nov 30 |
محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین | Nov 29 | |
Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day | Kurdish Activist on Death Row | Nov 28 |