Beyond a Politicization of Persian Cats
Representing Iranian Popular Musicians in the Western Media
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12955623 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Theresa Parvin Steward (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 7-27 |
| Publication date | 2020-05-13 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1873-9857 • E-ISSN: 1873-9865 |
| Publisher | Brill (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1163/18739865-01301001 |
| OpenAlex | W3025529379 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
In this article I assess the convoluted relationship between Iranian popular musicians and the Western media. Iranian music is generally discussed within a framework of resistance and Iranian musicians are often presented as political ‘revolutionaries’. In this process, many contradictions emerge; musicians crave publicity and recognition, yet resist it in an attempt to present an image of themselves as part of a subversive Iranian ‘underground’, a highly-laden term which in itself is much contested among Iranian musicians. By examining specific media representations, interviewing musicians, and portraying them in an Iranian film marketed toward Western audiences, Bahman Ghobadi’s No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009) illustrates how Iranian musicians exist in a multi-faceted world, beyond protest and defiance. Musicians actively participate in their representation in the media by simultaneously perpetuating certain collective images and attempting to portray a unique sense of self-identity
Aesthetics · Art · Identity (music · Interview · Linguistics · Media studies · Persian · Political science · Politics · Publicity · Representation (politics · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Law · Music History and Culture · South Asian Cinema and Culture
| Highly cited | No |
|---|