Reality vs The Media: The truth about Iran
In 2019, Americans witnessed cries for mercy seep through the bloodshed of Iranian protesters. The body of peace begged for its humanity to override the target on its backs. Fifteen hundred civilians dead in the span of 3 days did not spark national outrage because the massacre of fifteen hundred bodies was deflected with trivializing terminology. What The Washington Post referred to as ‘casualties’ and ‘clashes’ were 400 women and 17 children killed by armed forces. “People need to realize the Iranian people are not our government,” said Afrooz. However, this differentiation demands a deconstruction and reconstruction of the media’s portrayal of Iranians.
The Iranian person is subjected to an image in American media that does not yield empathy. Specifically, the classic American movie 300 portrays the Iranian people as uncivilized. Afrooz went on to add, “The Iranian king is— and the Iranian military —portrayed with really tanned skin and semi-naked. They are talking in a way that they’re drug dealers. They are very aggressive. On the other hand, the Spartans are painted as looking for democracy. The movie completely overlooked that the Spartans were actually aggressive, and the Iranian military was civilized.” Afrooz says, unfortunately, this movie helped shape the Western image of what it is to be Iranian. The movie 300 made over $100 million in ticket sales (Box Office). A false narrative became rich and popular at the expense of 100 million identities.
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In American media, the words of Iranian women rarely voice beyond the chadors forced upon them. The scene in Netflix’s Shameless Episode 8 Season 8 introduces a stereotypical Iranian woman. “The Iranian lady, before she states she’s from Iran, is in a totally black chador..and also, she had a goat with her. She states I’m from Iran and that’s it. Nothing beyond that.” Afrooz enjoys watching the series Shameless and understands it is all comedy. However, it is the repetition of stereotypes like these that lead to problematic social encounters and detrimental impressions of nations. “I absolutely have seen such hijab in Iran, but again, it’s not common at all. This is what makes it problematic when you represent an Iranian woman in that dressing because it’s only what a tiny minority does in Iran.”
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The Media interpret the hijab as a necessary symbol of Islam and ultimately Iran. However, it stems from an oppressive ideal upheld by the Islamic revolution in 1979. Where the vulnerability of Iranian people in their conquest to social freedom led to the acceptance of a deceptive government. “Again, they said this new government, this new regime is going to advocate freedom in general. So, everything would be perfect, but the day after they won, and the revolution was successful the leader, Pahlavi, said that women have to wear a hijab.” The regime contradicted the very principle it was elected for, so once again the Iranian people found themselves on the brink of a revolution. “Women came to the streets and protested, but they were not successful because this time the government did not consent. They just started putting people in jail and brutally standing against people’s will. From there, people started feeling that this is not true. This is not why we did the revolution. We wanted to go further, become more developed, not go back to the traditions before the revolution.” Although this testimony shows an attempt by Iranian people to dismantle the extremism institutionalized Islam in government upholds, Americans still think of Iran and Iranians from the narrative of the Hostage Crisis of 1979.
For 444 days Americans turned to Nightline news every night to witness the status of the 60 American hostages in Iran. It was called The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage (Shedden, 2015). “That kind of became the background of how American people knew Iran because that was the first great exposure to Iran and Iranians,” Afrooz added.
The values present within Iranian movements fail to catch the lens of American media. American news channels unhesitantly press record to the corruptive acts in Iran’s government, yet silence the mic to the voices of Iranian people. Revolutionaries like Saba Kord Afshari: the 24-year-old woman sentenced to 24 years for protesting the mandate of the hijab, and her mother, Raheleh Ahmadi, jailed for defending her daughter, fail to get the coverage they deserve. In a time of unprecedented coverage of Iran, filtration in the media continues to hide the stories within their uprising. “The movements in Iran are not really getting enough attention,” Afrooz added. The media only shows a fraction of Iran, and it is not the fraction that differentiates the nation from its government.
Afrooz wanted to leave readers with a final message: “If you think that Iranians are the same as their government than any sort of sanction, any sort of hostile relationship would also be easily applied to the people. But, if you look at them differently you’d be more cautious of what you did to that country.” If we listen to the individuals of a nation, rather than an insensitive mainstream news report, narratives like these could change. Until then, history will only repeat itself.
Works Cited:
David Shedden, 2015. Today in Media History: ABC’s ‘Nightline’ began 35 years ago.