Representation of Urban Ruins in Films of Iranian New Wave Cinema Case Studies: The Brick and the Mirror (1964), Strait (1973), and The Cycle (1978)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 M.A. In Cinema, Department of Cinema and Theater, University of Art, Tehran, Iran.

2 Associate professor, Department of Cinema, Faculty of Cinema and Theater, University of Art, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Abstract
Problem statement: Urban ruins, as a result of modernization and urban transformation, are not only able to reveal modernity’s inseparable contradictions but also can unfold the existing dialectic between the two acts of creation and destruction within which a developing country develops by maintaining a relationship with the past. However, as much as it strives to advance and astonish, it ignores ordinary city life and its people. Ruins appear as narrators who speak of a city’s recent past and justify what happened during the tense periods of a country’s political, social, and economic struggles. This article, by studying how these ruins are represented in films of Iranian New Wave cinema, sets out to explain the role and identity of this element in Iran’s modernization before the Islamic revolution. Tehran’s development during the Pahlavi era is the focus of this study and is discussed in relation to Paris’s Haussmannization to thoroughly investigate the significance of urban decay and ruination in each one. Regarding the fact that Tehran appears as the main story scenery for many Iranian New Wave films, three notable features are studied: The Brick and the Mirror (1964) by Ebrahim Golestan, Strait (1973) by Amir Naderi, and The Cycle (1978) by Dariush Mehrjui.
Research objective: This article aims to not only foreground urban ruins’ position in disclosing modernization’s innate contradictions during the Pahlavi era but show how they are capable of unmasking society’s meretricious development.
Research method: This study is descriptive-analytical and draws upon library resources including direct reviews of the three named films.
Conclusion: The article concludes that cinema, besides being a documental tool in recording urban ruins, can have a creative perspective on these places and their residents to challenge the modern city’s phantasmagoria and its desperateness for retaining the superficial aspects of modernity.

Keywords


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