This is a picture of a flower.
Zahra Bagheri is happy.

The importance of an intersectional approach in examining the position of women.

One of the main criticisms of classical feminist theories is that many of these theories have been one-dimensional and based on polarizing gender roles, implying that all women are inherently oppressed and all men are inherently privileged. However, modern feminist theories, including intersectional theory, reject this claim and aim to deconstruct the structure of gender and power relations, acknowledging that they are not always mutually exclusive and can intersect. For example, a woman from a higher social class with economic power may have her gender impacted by her economic status, while men who lack any social class status may not have much power to enforce gender-based oppression and inequality. Therefore, intersectional theory seeks to move away from solely focusing on patriarchy and instead deconstruct the concept of gender and power from a more nuanced and contextual perspective, examining factors such as age, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, ability, and their impact on an individual’s position in society. With this approach, it is possible to analyze the privileged gender positions of men who

The second fundamental critique is questioning the representation of women as victims of the oppressive gender power system in many classical feminist theories. In most classical feminist theories, the emphasis has been on women being victims in order to demonstrate the importance of fighting against patriarchy. In this regard, the more severe the image of women’s situation and various forms of oppression they face can be portrayed, the more “radical” we will be successful in unraveling the structure of male power. However, modern intersectional theories do not view women as passive victims; rather, they aim to showcase the agency of women as social actors in challenging inequalities.

What is the middle ground approach in Iranian cinema?

In the article “The Women of Shahrazad Series: Victims of Inequality and the Expansion of Feminist Approach and the Role of Women in Iranian Cinema,” I mentioned: “The feminization of Iranian cinema in the past few decades is a familiar subject that many have addressed. The footprint of this transformation can be seen in the increase of female directors, the leading roles of women in screenplays, and the growing presence of female actors – who are no longer necessarily overshadowed by men. More importantly, the feminization of screenplays is evident in many of them, where women are portrayed not only as victims, but also as strong social actors.” However, in most films – perhaps due to widespread misogyny and dominance of societal norms and structures – the dominant perspective is still based on gender polarization, the difficulties of being a woman, and the negative consequences of patriarchy. Among these, exceptions such as “Under the Skin of the City” directed by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad

The film “Red Elephant” goes beyond examples of films such as “Under the Skin” and in it we can see a clear trace of the multiplicity of discrimination and inequality, in which the role of three elements of power inequality in creating and shaping difficult living conditions for “Akram” is highlighted: gender, class, and age (being a child). These three important elements of power inequality are so intertwined and inseparable in this film that it is not easy for the audience to understand the situation and identity of the main character solely based on the system of gender inequality, or only on the basis of the class system, or solely from the perspective of injustice towards children.

A summary of the movie

Akram is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives with her mother, father, sister, and brother in a family of five. Her father is an addict with a artistic and special spirit who makes wooden dolls instead of ladders and chairs. He is also violent and abusive towards his wife. Her mother, seemingly a housewife, has decided to work as a service worker in a house due to the family’s unfavorable economic situation. Akram is the oldest child in the family; she is outspoken and has a cheerful and supportive spirit. She is also kind and studious and attends high school. One day, her father falls off the roof and dies, leaving the family with a heavy debt that needs to be paid off to the landlord as soon as possible. Her mother decides to send Akram to her aunt’s house in the countryside, while she and her two younger children move to a house where she has found work. Akram rebels against this decision because she knows that if she goes to

“Women and children-centered and disrupting traditional perceptions of women’s roles”

Many shining films with a “child-centered” approach can be found in Iranian cinema; films that often deal with topics related to children, talk about their problems and issues, and describe their situation in the unequal structures of Iranian society. Some of these films include Children of Heaven, Eternal Children, The Other Father, White Balloon, and others. However, perhaps in fewer films, we can see a “woman-child” centered approach that has taken shape in the text of poverty and the most deprived families. From this perspective, “Red Nail Polish” seems to be a unique work. A sixteen-year-old teenage girl, as the main character of the film, is involved in experiences of violence, suffering, and deprivation from the very beginning. She witnesses her mother being beaten by her father and cannot protest against it due to the manly authority of her father and his extreme poverty, low status, and addiction. At the same time, she apparently cannot protest against her mother like her own mother;

This girl can’t even decide where to live and study. Her mother – although for understandable reasons such as poverty and economic difficulties – takes Akram’s educational file from school without consulting her and is determined to send her to her aunt’s house in the city. In the next steps, the municipality, as a more powerful and stricter source of power, by gathering street vendors, becomes an obstacle to Akram’s employment – as a street vendor – and finally welfare and the court, as two determining sources of power, become a barrier for Akram to take custody of her sister and brother. But Akram’s reaction to all these limitations, pressures and discriminations is not silence and submission. She knows one thing well: rebellion and challenge. Not only does she rebel against her mother’s decision, but she also insists on her request to take custody of her sister and brother, and brings welfare into the picture to send the case to court. In court, Akram, a sixteen-year-old girl

On the other hand, Akram does not conform to the traditional role of a mother as a second mother for her sister and brother. In this film, we do not see any signs of her reproducing the traditional role and stepping into her mother’s shoes. What is depicted is the power of this teenage girl in accepting responsibility, love, care, and affection, rather than necessarily her desire to take on traditional female roles. We see Akram in other roles instead of cooking, washing dishes, singing lullabies, or other tasks that could be seen as signs of traditional female roles: as soon as she sees her parents arguing, she takes her younger sister’s hand and takes her out of the house so she won’t witness the violence. She brings her brother home from school and supports him against his classmates who bully him, buys the necessary materials for her father’s doll-making business from the store, and after her father’s death, she takes out the dolls from the box and sells them

Challenging instead of complaining

The main character of the film “Red Carpet” has been subjected to mistreatment from three perspectives; being a child, being a woman, and being economically disadvantaged. In this narrative, the emphasis is not solely on the unequal gender structure and even the men in the story are not portrayed as the only source of oppression towards women. Although Akram’s father is unjust towards his wife from a gender power perspective, he himself is a victim of poverty and economic inequality. Akram’s uncle, the landlord and the welfare guard, are also men who we do not see exhibiting behaviors that symbolize male dominance. It seems that this film consciously and believably distances itself from reproducing the stereotype of male dominance, and even when faced with a male judge, instead of dictatorial and demeaning behaviors towards women – which is sometimes used in films to represent the patriarchal system – we see him as an individual sitting on the judge’s seat, using clever questions to determine Akram’s mental growth. Of

In this text, the film focuses on the abilities and energy of Akram instead of emphasizing her victimization. In a part of the film, she goes to the village to ask for help from her aunt. Her aunt gives her some food and tells her to go to her cousin’s shop and indirectly tells Akram that she needs to win her cousin’s heart in order to receive their support. Akram sits on the street, eats the food, leaves the dish behind her aunt’s house, and returns to Tehran. Throughout the film, we don’t see even a single “act” from this teenage girl that shows her surrendering to the role of a victim. It is not a simple idea to imagine how a sixteen-year-old girl, struggling with poverty, can continue to fight against problems when her family is falling apart. It may even seem impossible, but from the perspective of the director of “Red Lake”, such a thing can happen; even in a society where unequal power structures have

Perhaps this part of the conversation between the judge and Akram in the court alone speaks to the approach of this film towards the issue of women; when the judge asks her, “If you come across street vendors, one selling potatoes and onions and the other selling dolls, which one would you buy from?” and Akram responds, “I would buy the doll, if the seller is a woman, I would definitely buy the doll.” Behind the meaning of “buying a doll” from a female vendor, there is neither hidden victimization nor the repetition of the cliché of the oppressed woman and the oppressive man. This image speaks to the necessity of supporting women in empowering them and strengthens the claim that the stronger and more powerful women are in a society, the more hopeful we can be for changing the unequal power structures in that society.

Sources:

• Baqeri Shad, Zahra, the women of the Shahrazad series: Victims of Inevitable Power Inequality, Zamaneh Radio, 15 Ordibehesht 1395.