Universität zu Köln

Behrouzi, Iman (2023). Technique and Form under the Veil: The Aesthetics of Hijab in Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

This thesis focuses on the representation of Iranian women in post-revolutionary Iranian cinema from the perspective of the cinematic form and language, within the social and political context of their time. The term “aesthetics of the hijab” does not refer only to the cover for women. It is rather a type of ideology of the power discourse that came to power in the Iranian society, art, and cinema after the Revolution. The hijab that played the roles of censorship, absence, elimination, hiding, and covering— a concept much broader than just the cover for women. In this thesis, the aesthetics of the hijab in cinema refer to a type of hijab in the form, mise-en-scène, narration, size of the shot, camera angle, camera movement, lighting, the cast’s acting and movements, the clothes of the female actors, the structure and technique in Iranian films. It is, in short, a kind of Islamicate mise-en-scène. When watching Iranian films, the audience is constantly noticing the conditions of film production under the shadow of the Islamic government and the rules of production under the principles of modesty and aesthetics of hijab. For this reason, this thesis pertains to the field of production aesthetics and production studies, and addresses some questions of this field: how and why do the filmic aesthetics—such as lighting (or mis-lighting for women), mis-en-scène, filming location, the mode of acting (like veiled look), and encoded film language— exist in a particular way in the Iranian films? Which issues and limitations concerning the representation of women, particularly those relevant to the representation of sexuality and depiction of male-female intimacy, does this aesthetics resolve? How does this filmic aesthetic answer the problems of censorship, Islamic codes of morality and the veiling code, and the unrealism of veiling?

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Behrouzi, Iman iman_behrouzi@yahoo.com UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-652431
Date:	21 March 2023
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Fächergruppe 1: Kunstgeschichte, Musikwissenschaft, Medienkultur und Theater, Linguistik, IDH > Institut für Medienkultur und Theater
Subjects:	The arts
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Cinema English Film English Hijab English Women English Islam English The Islamic Revolution English Iran English Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema English Censorship English Sexuality English Form English Production Aesthetics English Veil English
Date of oral exam:	14 October 2022
Referee:	Name Academic Title Weingart, Brigitte Prof. Dr. Göttel, Dennis Jun.-Prof. Dr. Mohaghegh Neyshabouri, Safaneh Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/65243