HUMAN 1C Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Iran Air, Chador, Montesquieu
30 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Jessica Mangold
HumCore
Professor Rahimieh
Week 9 Lecture 1
5/30/18
Persepolis & How Can One Be Persian?
Introduction
- focus on chador when Munis falls in the movie + focus on her suicide at opening of the
film -> form of self-Orientalizing
- Neshat wants to counteract stereotypes against Iranian women -> falls into tropes
- conforms to stereotypical national identity
- Iranian women never given choice in whether they wanted to wear chador, cover their
hair, etc.
- Islamic dress code was made into law -> response to 1936 unveiling act under
the Shah
- women never had a choice
- Neshat becomes influenced by Orientalist gaze when she wants to represent more
diverse + complicated view of Iranian women
How Can One Be Persian? Essay Introduction
- phrase comes from novel written in form of letters during 18th century
- Montesquieu drew on all that he had learned from representations of Persia
- plot consists of Iranian visitors to Paris + wherever they appear crowds follow
- objects of people’s curiosity
- got tired of it + changed outfit to European clothes
- blended in until someone mentioned that he was Persian -> questioned “How
can one be Persian?”
- makes it appear that essence as human being is different if one is Persian
- implies difference from everyone else
- way of seeing the other or the exotic or someone from far off land
- plays into stereotype of people from Persia
- Montesquieu uses situation as critique of French society
- Persian characters transformed into exotic, untrue things
- Satrapi evokes the phrase in her essay
- dramatic difference in connotation of being Persian + being Iranian
- says stuck between Scherezade in One Thousand and One Nights + bearded
terrorist
November 4, 1979
- group of radical students stormed US Embassy in Tehran + took 52 diplomats +
Embassy Staff Hostages + held them for 444 days
- broke international law
- radical students believed that they were paying the US back for CIA coup in 1950’s
- hurtful to Iranian reputation around the world
- Satrapi argues that there is more to Iran than the stereotypes
Persepolis
- started out as graphic novels written in French
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Focus on chador when munis falls in the movie + focus on her suicide at opening of the film -> form of self-orientalizing. Neshat wants to counteract stereotypes against iranian women -> falls into tropes. Iranian women never given choice in whether they wanted to wear chador, cover their hair, etc. Neshat becomes influenced by orientalist gaze when she wants to represent more diverse + complicated view of iranian women. Islamic dress code was made into law -> response to 1936 unveiling act under the shah. Started out as graphic novels written in french. Way of seeing the other or the exotic or someone from far off land. Plays into stereotype of people from persia. Persian characters transformed into exotic, untrue things. Got tired of it + changed outfit to european clothes. Blended in until someone mentioned that he was persian -> questioned how can one be persian? .
