Under the Skin of Society: Rakhshan Banietemad’s Social History of Post-revolutionary Iran

Abstract

Surveying Banietemad’s films, beginning with Nargess, Wittman argues that Banietemad’s urban ballads not only show “the people who are missing,” uncovering suppressed, silenced voices; they also illustrate how ordinary people are organizing themselves into communities, networks, and grassroots move- ments. He further asserts that, in doing so, the films expose the emptiness of the official claims made by the Islamic Republic of Iran. At the same time, they desta- bilize stereotypes regarding Iran emerging outside of the country, especially the image of “fatalistic Muslim masses,” “the passive poor”, and the “disoriented marginal.”