I hope you all enjoyed the film we screened today.
Let us know what you thought about the film and its themes. How does it connect to some of the themes we have spoken about in class? For some of you that had little contact with Iranian culture before, what are you taking away from this film? Please no plot summary guys.
Good luck on your papers and we will keep you posted on the status of Mr. Maz Jobrani.
-Amir
19 comments:
As an American-born Iranian, I often feel very disconnected from the Iranian community. I must admit that subconsciously I sometimes allow Western media, particularly American media, to influence how I view my parent's homeland and my people (perhaps that is why I'm disconnected). However, I'm starting to realize that American media isn't the best source of information on Iranians (crazy concept, I know). Instead, I'm finally starting to understand that the real authority on Iranians are (and should always be) Iranians.
I like how Marmulak depicts life in Iran. It basically refutes everything American media tells us about Iranians. Marmulak shows that Iranians are not all religious fanatics who pray five times a day and have the entire Qu'ran memorized (as evidenced by Marmulak's character), they don't do everything a mullah tells them to do (as evidenced by the two teenage boys who want to follow Marmulak where ever he goes), and the women can (and do) get divorced. Yes, Iranians are individuals, perfectly capable of thinking on their own (gosh, another crazy concept).
Marmulak shows that Islam, for many Iranians, is more cultural than religious. Parts of the religion have seeped into the mainstream culture and have become socially accepted.
Thanks for showing this film! I enjoyed learning about Iranians from actual Iranians.
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I share similar sentiments with maggiejoon. I have always been skeptical of what the American media tells us about how things are in the middle east, particularly how they view Iran. From what I gather having grown up in an Iranian family, I have a completely different viewpoint as to how life is carried out in Iran. I understand that there are huge human rights issues and that is why a lot of people left the counry if they had the means, but to me it's really not nearly as bad as all of this media here makes it out to be. My parents never told me much about how life was back in Iran, but whenver I inquired, I gathered that there was still a relatively great deal of freedom and that the Iranian people are extremely proud of their culture and background.
With all that being said, I do believe the film Marmulak depicts an interesting aspect of the Iranian culture. Although the film was portrayed somewhat as a spoof, I believe that it illustrated some of the aspects of Iranian society and culture that many invidiuals in the Western world are not aware of. For instance, like maggiejoon touched on, not everybody studys to become a mullah and not everybody knows how to pray. People do "live their lives" so to speak and many individuals do disregard the law and carry on with things discretely. This happens ALL THE TIME and although it may be illegal, I never had the impression that people were considered bad people for breaking the law because it turns out many individuals who lived in that society do end up breaking the law and often laugh about it, as was shown throughout the entire movie.
In the end, I believe Marmulak did a great job of intertwining comedy with the social construct of Iran and the divide between the religious hard-liners and the more liberal and progressive younger generation to portray an Iran that is unknown to most individuals on this side of the world.
I'm not Persian.
But I've spent the last four years reading up on Iran's political and cultural scene. I suppose I have an orientalist's view of Iran because no matter how much I learn or how many people I meet, I feel that I can never truly understand this country.
However yesterday, when I watched Marmulak, I began to realize (with the help of subtitles), that perhaps the demarcation of culture is a silly construct of humans. It didn't feel like there was a particular "Persian" sense of humor that was needed to be understood. It wasn't some plot that was impossibly Iranian and difficult to decipher.
The movie itself was very entertaining and eliminated a religious barrier. One does not need to be a fanatic in order to spread good will and be charitable. There are many paths to God, as Marmulak says, and it isn't always the path of the hardliners who try to force others into heaven. Freewill exists for a reason and people must exercise this freewill in order to become "true believers".
Sorry if that last bit was too dogmatic, but I liked the film's emphasis on the bond between different humans. The humor was fantastic as well.
I have often heard my family and non-Iranians speak about this film with great regard. I knew that it was a film that criticized the religious clergy of Iran. The whole of the movie was an obvious satire of pious and hypocritical Muslims in Iran. This was extremely obvious to me while i was watching the film, however I was extremely surprised by the film's ending. The ending revealed that the movie did not undercut or ridicule the Muslim faith itself, only the hypocritical Muslims. I thought this was very interesting. It showed that there are Muslims who are not fanatics or hypocrites. The film was able to glorify the religion and ridicule the conservative clergy at the same time. The main character portrayed God in a very similar manner that Christians portray Jesus Christ, as a God who accepts all, even a thief. Reza Marmulak finds God at the end of the movie through love not through the "spiritual diet" that the warden prescribes. It seems to me that the main message of the movie is that God can only be found through choice, not through force.
I would really like to know if the word "tame" has different connotations in Persian when Reza says that he is "tame" at the end of the film.
A few people have previously mentioned this, but from a non-Iranian perspective I must admit that the American media does not do a sufficient (this might be an understatement) job in depicting Iranian culture and values. The content I've extracted from the entirety of the Decal, including the last film, has either discredited news sources I previously found trustworthy or at least exemplified their usage of 'cherry picking'. Now that that's off my chest I'll say something relevant to the blog.
In terms of the film, Marmulak, I thought it was an exceptional satire on religious fanaticism and the invisible line separating faith and fraudulence. The movie concluded by ridiculing hypocritically over-zealous Muslims who practice their faith as if it were simply a performance or public display. In a way it glorified the truly faithful, regardless of how they reached that faith, while simultaneously denouncing the conservative clerical and penal system of Iran. Allah, God, whichever one prefers, was painted as tolerant and all-accepting, but not as an entity that can be reached by simply following prescribed notions.
The comical way this topic was approached was an effective way to portray Iranian culture, but also an effective slap in the face to the American media, which more often than not depicts Iran as a kind of dangerously theological and robotic country. The film shed light on the human factor in Iranian culture, which is so often downplayed in media coverage. Moreover, I felt that there was a universal message in the film that free will should not be condemned, as different paths are always taken to reach the same enlightenment.
This movie was only able to come out during Khatami's presidency, who was a bit more on the liberal side, and who was the only president who tried to loosen up the laws on film and music and so on. So knowing this, the movie pushed as far as it could with its satire about Islam and the muslim clerics without actually being offensive, and was smart enough to turn the story into one that actually embraces the religion and showed in the end that it was the good mullah who essentially turned Reza's views on life around and basically saved his life. It criticizes the laws that are in practice in Iran right now, as was shown with the scene where Reza, dressed in his mullah attire, finds the couple talking to each other and they immediately become frightened as relations between unmarried couples are banned, and he makes the comment "be comfortable." Another scene which criticizes Islamic laws is the part where the merchant on the train asks Reza what he should do if he wants to take another wife, and Reza tells him that it's a sin and that angels would spit on him if he did it. This also promotes women's rights, as they are the ones who have no say in whether their husbands wish to take on another wife, at least for most parts of Iran.
With its limited freedom, the movie did a great job with its satire and effectively promoted a need for change in Iran with good humor.
It's interesting how some of us have begun our comments claiming some Iranian heritage or not, it makes me think of authenticity and identity politics in a post modern setting. Anyways, "Marmulak/Lizard" had a nice message of building community, and the depiction of Iranians as real humans, full of heart, emotions, and relationships, was a breath of fresh air, that they are people like myself, likes others, like anyone...nothing to be overly fearful of, as the news may want us to think. Again, I really appreciated the communal spirit of the film, how everyone in the village grew and bonded, and felt a respect for the lizard, whether or not he was a real holy man. In comparison to American society or culture, Robert Frost or some other poet, said something like fences make the best neighbors, which kinda sums up the alienation that sometimes goes along with our hyperized notions of individuality, no matter how false the claim, "we are all individuals" may be. So ya, Iranian culture as one bonded comunally is a nice reminder to be friendly rather than isolated.
I have not had much exposure to Iranian culture or politics before this class, so I cannot speak to how accurate the movie depicts Iran. However, it is refreshing to view a perspective on Iran that does not come from the U.S. government and media, which is decidedly biased against Iran. The movie provides a sometimes humorous take on life in Iran, without being disrespectful to religious life.
I find it interesting that the movie is currently banned in Iran. I feel like it would be smarter for the Iranian government to allow this movie and encourage non- Iranians to watch it because it does not mock the Mullahs. Instead, with the man in the hospital, it portrays the Mullah's as extremely kind and benevolent. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and I think in provides important additional information on top of the lectures.
What I realized from watching the movie was that religion in Iran is not taken as morbidly seriously as I once imagined. Of course, the movie never insulted any aspect of Islam, but there were numerous scenes that made light-hearted jokes about religious conservatism- the scenes were "Hajj" preached about space and astrounats, the references to "brother Tarantino," etc. I don't believe such a movie could have been produced under Khomeini. Therefore, I take the fact that such comedy is permissible in Iran to show that the extreme conservatism of the past is easing up, even if it is slightly.
Though the movie preached a religious message, it also, as maggiejoon pointed out, served to demonstrate the lifestyle of the common Iranians. It showed that faith to an extent was dwindling within the country (as shown by the fact not many people came off the train to pray), that respect for the mullahs was waning (people were teasing Marmalak), and that there was a certain decline in morality among some (the criminals in the cafe).
Hence, I believe the message the movie preached was religiously progressive. It seemed to be demonstrating the Islam is not some monolithic entity, that there was only one correct practice or path towards God. Rather, it relayed a more liberal message, that there are as many paths to God as there are people, thereby allowing one to keep his individuality along with his piety. This seems to be a message the state would like to relay to its youth, which may be growing increasingly disillusioned with the regime, and as a consequence Islam.
I thought Marmulak was a very refreshing way to look at religion in Iran. Prior to viewing this movie, I thought of Iran as a very strict, purist religious society, but this movie helps dispel that viewpoint and offer a new perspective. I like how it offers a satire to the strict religious fanatics in Iran while at the same time treating the subject with care. The movie did a good job at depicting sides of Iranian culture that I hadn’t seen before, providing a normalizing avenue for non-Iranians to see it and offering alternative viewpoints to many Iranians. It did a good job at bringing the ineffectiveness of “blind faith” to light, accentuating the necessity to find your own path to God and the importance of questioning religion in order to find enlightenment. That being said, Marmulak took a very liberal outlook towards religion, seeking to modernize the religion that people – particularly the youth – are increasingly seeing as antiquated and impersonal.
I entered this class with little or no knowledge about Iran or any of its politics of the past or in todays world. After hearing the many discussions about what has been said each week I have learned a lot. I entered last Tuesday with many of the lectures in my mind. After watching this movie my mind was changed even more. The movie portrayed a different picture than I had in my head even after the lectures. Obviously this film was supposed to play jokes on the some of the issues that plague the Iranian people. It was interesting and amusing the whole time and kept my attention. This class and this film have now grabbed my attention and ever since starting this class I find myself going on the internet and searching for more knowledge about what has gone on there ad what is today.
I really enjoyed this movie. I had never heard of it before, and I did think it was campy at the opening, but it was both enlightening and poignant by its close. It demonstrated the power of the clerics, and how that they're not necessarily all "Death to America" all the time, which is how many Americans perceive them.
Anyway... it is a good movie that certainly humanizes the people in Iran and makes them seem like they're not simply terrorists who hate "our" freedom, which seems to be the media standard nowadays. I think people who have never met Persians/Iranians and don't know anything about their culture would benefit from seeing this movie, as it would make them question their misconceptions. I'll echo the other comments made about how differences in culture don't really mean anything, especially in this case where only a few laws and the major religion make the difference.
I think that in light of all the negative media coverage (not to mention Hillary Clinton's comment about obliterating Iran ), more movies about Persian life need to be produced to show how there really isn't a disparity, and that "they" don't hate "our freedom," because that really isn't the issue.
I come from suburban So Cal, and some of my friends back home don't even know that Persians are not Arabs. If Persians, Arabs, and Muslims are conflated and seen as "the same," any leader saying "bomb Iran" can be seen as going after the terrorists when Iran is not a significant threat to the U.S.'s national security. There simply isn't anything to counterbalance these comments in the mainstream press, and hopefully more movies like this one will be able to make people rethink these negative stereotypes.
When I first saw this movie I was a little surprised. I knew the movie was banned in Iran because of its negative depiction of clergy but I did not see it that way. I felt that the movie stressed the important positive societal role Islam could play as a community builder and charity organization.
The more orthodox views of Islam were presented by two characters who did not wear the robes of the clergy-the prison warden and Mr. Fazli at the mosque. These two characters illustrated both the dominant role religion can play in a society by mandating rules and procedures for everyone, as well as the more traditional and unwavering dedication to a religious tradition and orthodoxy.
As such, Reza Marmulak and the Reza he met in the hospital depicted the best parts of religion. They showed forgiveness, acceptance by God for sinners, pluralism, community builders, and role models. Both characters showed a disinclination towards orthodoxy and dogma. The real mullah chose to read a passage from the French novel "The Prince" as a spiritual lesson; Marmulak chastises on of the boys at the mosque for trying to find a religous or dogmatic answer to every question (how do people pray in outer space).
While this film was critical of the clerical establishment for its dominance, compulsion, and dogmatic dedication, I felt that it also showed how good the religious establishment could be in a modern setting.
When I first saw this movie I was a little surprised. I knew the movie was banned in Iran because of its negative depiction of clergy but I did not see it that way. I felt that the movie stressed the important positive societal role Islam could play as a community builder and charity organization.
The more orthodox views of Islam were presented by two characters who did not wear the robes of the clergy-the prison warden and Mr. Fazli at the mosque. These two characters illustrated both the dominant role religion can play in a society by mandating rules and procedures for everyone, as well as the more traditional and unwavering dedication to a religious tradition and orthodoxy.
As such, Reza Marmulak and the Reza he met in the hospital depicted the best parts of religion. They showed forgiveness, acceptance by God for sinners, pluralism, community builders, and role models. Both characters showed a disinclination towards orthodoxy and dogma. The real mullah chose to read a passage from the French novel "The Prince" as a spiritual lesson; Marmulak chastises on of the boys at the mosque for trying to find a religous or dogmatic answer to every question (how do people pray in outer space).
While this film was critical of the clerical establishment for its dominance, compulsion, and dogmatic dedication, I felt that it also showed how good the religious establishment could be in a modern setting.
I really liked this movie a lot. I felt it was slow at times but it really showed some aspects of Iranian society that may not be exposed to people who have not visited the country. What I found particularly interesting was the amount of respect and formality individuals displayed towards the mullah character that Marmulak was posing as. I found the train ride example and hesitation of the passengers to interfere with the "mullah's" private space, making him almost like a super human identity. I guess I didn't really realize the importance they bear in Iranian society because there really isn't a group of people similar to mullah's in American. I can understand people reacting that way to a president, but not to a priest, particularly because they don't run the nation or claim too much nation-wide fame.
I had already seen this movie before this class, but I think that viewing it in the context of this decal made me see it in a whole new light. First, I agree with everyone’s comments on the misrepresentation of Iranians in American media. But I also think that the movie is a way for Iranians to criticize the current regime in power and the laws that restrict them. I remember one line from the movie, when the young man studying the Quaran for the national competition turns to his father and says something along the lines of isn’t it better to go out and help people than to memorize the Quaran, because that is what it preaches? And the father becomes angry at him and says it’s not his place to help people. I feel that this movie shows the Iranians’ desire to just live their lives, and not be confined by the influence of their government made up of clerics.
This movie was really interesting to watch. I agree with maggiejoon's comment that the movie give a realistic portrait of the Iranian people and not just as crazy religious fanatics protesting in the streets and buring the American flag, which is often the only portrayel of Iran I am able to gather through the media.
Interestingly, the movie I was told by my friends was actually banned after in a while in Iran because of the way it almost mocked mullah's, or of the movies unimplied message that even a con-man/criminal could make a good mullah. If anything, I argued, even though it was mostly a comedy, the movie showed that even a hardened criminal could become a good person through practicing Islam. Im sure they was much more to the decision to ban the movie that I am unaware of, but it most have stirred up some interesting debates inside of Iran on the role of media censorship and the banning of movies.
I feel like my reaction towards this movie is very colored by the fact that i am not from iran. i am suprised that the movie was banned in iran, perhaps because i am more used to an open media forum: i felt like the criticisms of the clergy were enough of a parody against an individual that it wasn't such a sweeping commentary. Having no idea of where most native iranians lie between extreme religious devotion and superficial identification, i appreciated the movie because i felt it was very accessible. If this movie had been made by a non-iranian, i think i would question the character development much more. I wasn't entirely sure how much of the comedic element i should disregard in thinking about the points the movie was making about Iran. Obviously prison conditions and treatment of dissidents is pretty awful, but how accurate were the portrayals of other characters in the movie? There must be some basis in reality, I just don't feel like i know enough about Iranian society to fully comprehend what was exaggerated and what was not. I thought the imagery with the dove was a little over the top, but it added an element of magical realism that i liked. I think what i liked the most about this movie was the portrayal of different perspectives and points of view in Iran, not all necessarily conflicting neatly.
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