From the very first months after the leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei, he tried to implant a concept called “cultural invasion” in people’s minds. A concept that reflected his way of thinking and his approach towards modern human lifestyle. In Azar 1368 (November/December 1989), he stated in a speech, “Now in our schools, streets, frontlines, and religious and academic institutions, you will suddenly see signs of this cultural and propaganda invasion. You can see some of it now and it will increase in the future. A book is published, a film is produced and it enters the country as a video, providing the grounds for such an invasion.” (1)

The topic of cultural invasion has been pursued in the mind and conscience of the leader of the Islamic Republic and its subsidiaries. The years of the new leader’s rise to power in the 1970s and his confrontation with the second of Khordad movement and reforms in the 1980s did not give him the opportunity to fully implement his approaches. The opportunity arose after the events of the 88 elections and the removal of all critical and opposing forces, but it was a suitable time for him to emphasize more on this “Shah Bait”; a “Shah Bait” that had taken on the title of “lifestyle” at that time and, alongside the resistance economy, wanted to create the desired Iranian-Islamic lifestyle for the leader of the system. Gholamali Haddad Adel, the supreme advisor and one of the relatives of the leader of the Islamic Republic, in Azar 1395, spoke about the combination of lifestyle and resistance economy and claimed

Until now and specifically in the 1960s and 1970s, most of the film productions that were done with the presence of the Revolutionary Guards were focused on the Iran-Iraq war. In the first decade, the focus was on heroism, and in the second decade, with the presence of directors like Ebrahim Hatamikia, who had a history of narrating victory with Morteza Avini, they presented a narrative beyond the appearance of bombs and missiles in the war and tried to show a more humane portrayal of the war while maintaining their ideological approach. Hatamikia’s films, which were popular during his time, ranged from “The Watchman” to “The Migrant” and “From Karkheh to Rhine” to “Green Ashes” and “The Scent of Youssef’s Shirt” and “Minoo Tower”. The work reached a point where Hatamikia entrusted the editing of “Minoo Tower” to

If we consider Hatami-Kia as one of the indicators of war cinema, which has close and direct cooperation with the Sepah, it can be said that his return to the so-called revolutionary cinema took place in the 90s; a decade that coincided with the peak of the birth of his film organization. It seems that the birth of his organization and the return of figures like Hatami-Kia to the so-called revolutionary cinema (or in fact, the cinema of political-ideological defense of the system), along with the events after the 88 elections and the heavy fall of forces affiliated with the leader of the system and the face-to-face confrontation with the pillars of power in the previous three decades, had become a necessity for the ruling system. The government had to create a cinematic narrative of its own image and understanding of the revolution and the previous decades in order to bring back the doubters to the bosom of the system and also to raise its new generation of forces with

Hatami Kia also followed this trend in “Bodyguard” to depict the face of the guardian of the system. This time, Ehsan Mohammad Hosseini, the director of Ouj organization, was the producer and this film, like “Ch”, was a failure and even did not cover its advertising costs. Since 2015, another young director has joined the Ouj group; Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian, who made “Standing in the Dust” for Ouj, to narrate the story of the life of one of the commanders of the war named Ahmad Motavasselian. Mahdavian has also made dual films in recent years, such as “The Half-Day Incident” and “Lottery”, to continue the same official narrative of the post-revolution history and present it to the supporters of the system; films that were not necessarily produced by Ouj organization, but their approach was in line with the system’s understanding of pre- and post-revolution history,

The story continues and the film adaptations according to his taste, but it still continues. Films such as “At Dinner Time” by Hatami-Kia to films by former Ansar Hezbollah combatants like Masoud Dehnemaki (film “Prisoners”) and to the film “Stranger” which retells the story of another war commander named Mohammad Borujerdi.

In all of these narratives in his films and his companions, the same eternal story of the system is repeated: a system that is based on justice and the Kurds and other ethnic groups and political and military organizations that are against the system, all of whom are a black fist that wants to stand against the whiteness of the system. The repetition of the same ideological and one-sided black and white cinema of yesterday, this time with superior technology and better scripts. If until yesterday, a Jamshid Hashempour or a Faramarz Qaribian were the only rivals of an entire Iraqi military unit and tried to imitate the American Rambo and Rocky, this time the Revolutionary Guards have more money and write better scripts and make better films, to present a more dramatic and interesting story to the audience. But the end of the story is the same. One side is the white and flawless and Christ-like system, and the other side is the demonic embodiment! The system’s propaganda

The Ouj Organization is also a series maker; various series that were suitable and were broadcasted on television during the month of Ramadan (the series “Sar Delbaran”) or during the days of Nowruz (the series “Peytakht Panj”). However, the Ouj Organization seems to be destructive to popular series as well; an example of this is the bitter story of the series “Peytakht”. Peytakht tells the story of a northern family and the various events that happen to them, showing the people at home during the first four seasons of Nowruz, to sympathize with the “ordinary Naki” family and their neighbors, and to laugh and cry and spend their moments with them. But Peytakht Panj takes the story to Syria and brings in the presence of ISIS, even worrying Qasem Soleimani about how it will end. Cyrus Moghadam said in an interview with news agencies that we went to

“From the funds of the Revolutionary Guards and the Ouj Organization, a lot of talk has been made. It might not be a bad idea to also take a look at the head of this organization: Ehsan Mohammad Hassani, born in 1980, who is relatively younger in terms of the cultural body of the regime. He is the head of the Ouj Organization and relies on the large budget of this institution. According to him, the Ouj Organization started with a two-year review and a budget of 500 million tomans; a budget that Mohammad Hassani claims has been provided by the Revolutionary Guards. (6) He also receives funds from the Guards, which according to his own statement, amounted to 18 billion tomans in 2020, and of course, Mohammad Hassani claims that this organization also had a revenue of 90 billion tomans, which “came from selling series to platforms and selling films to other countries.” (7) These are the

During times of war, the government tries to create its dominant narrative through tools such as the Revolutionary Guards, affiliated art and ideological organizations, and the media, in order to persuade the audience to believe in what they want. Things have reached a point where they even have no mercy for their own home entertainment network and have handed over its supervision to the state-run broadcasting company. In the Islamic Republic, everything must be under the control of the government; a government that, according to Qasem Soleimani, represents the sanctity and defending it is obligatory for the supporters of the regime, whether it is through visual, audio, or written narratives. The Islamic Republic has raised its own artists and celebrities, but it is questionable whether they can still be relevant in the age of social media. If the god of the Islamic Republic is the god of the 90s, then the earth, time, and era are no longer the same as the 90s. Times have changed and the locom

Notes:

1- Cultural Invasion, Subject Index, Statements, Office of Preservation and Publication of Ayatollah Khamenei’s Works.

2- Adel Hadad at the National Lifestyle Conference: “Lifestyle” and “Resilient Economy” are two sides of the same coin, Young Journalists Club, December 6, 2016.

3- Mohammad Hassani: We are proud that we do not receive money for our productions from the embassies that support Daesh, Young Journalists Club, 27 Bahman 1396.

4- Amiri, Mahdis, Ghahremani: A single hero or a related filmmaker? Why is Hatami-Kia protesting? BBC Persian, 1 Mehr month 1393.

5- Notable words of the director of the capital: We went to “Ouj” because we had the financial means, Khabar Online, 18 Farvardin 1397.

6- The peak was launched with an initial budget of 500 million for Sepah, and the Saba Radio and Television website, October 16, 2021.

7- How much did the Sepah receive in assistance this year?, Eghtesad News, 25 Mehr 1400.

8- Najdi, Youhanna, Head of Ouj Organization; Interrogator, Comrade Haj Qasem and Defender of the Shrine, Radio Farda, 21st of August 2020.

9- Controversial statements by Hatami-Kia at the closing ceremony of the 36th Fajr Film Festival, ILNA News Agency, 23 Bahman 1396.