Panopticon surveillance on Iranian women during the Pahlavi era, with concentration on the visibility and invisibility paradigms: the case of Dead End by Parviz Sayyad (1977)

ABSTRACT

The essay tends to evaluate the surveillance mechanisms regarding the social status of women during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty and follows its representation in Dead End by Parviz Sayyad as a critical cinematic work. Reaching this objective, initially, the concepts of visibility and invisibility are studied as two main principles in the status of prisoner and guard of the Panopticon idea. Ideas of visibility and invisibility are investigated regarding women’s situation in modern Iran in order to reach an analysis about panopticon function applied by the Pahlavi government on Iranian women. Eventually, concentrating on Dead End, panopticon attitude toward the female protagonist in the film is studied to discover latent impalpable mechanisms of power (SAVAK’s agent). The survey reveals how the Pahlavi government defines a woman, who has become visible through surveillance policies, in the panopticon discipline structure and turns her to a deceived object for the government’s security aims.

KEYWORDS:

• Panopticon
• Iranian cinema
• Pahlavi era
• Dead End
• surveillance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Unveiling or Kashf-e hijab was a decree issued by Reza Shah on January 8 1936, banning all Islamic veils, including headscarf, burqa and chador for Iranian girls and women.

2. In August 1941, as the United Kingdom invaded Iran, Reza Shah was forced to abdicate by England’s pressure and handed over power to his son, Mohammad Reza.

3. It should be noticed that the reason for opposing with Unveiling Project was not merely limited to showing a woman’s body to some strangers (na mahrams). It was beyond these topics and provided a ground for protest and opposition against Pahlavi regime.

4. It’s necessary to mention that the characteristics of the cinematic expression generate some differences in the representation of the guard in Dead End and the guard in Bentham’s panopticon prison, while they’re similar according to the unique features of their medium (cinema and prison). The ever-invisible guard of panopticon is substituted with someone who is physically visible, but invisible in identity and thereby, applies the Bentham’s pattern with more complexity.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Milad Sotoudeh

Milad Sotoudeh has an M.A. in Dramatic Literature at Arts faculty; Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: [email protected]

Sajad Sotoudeh

Sajad Sotoudeh is an Instructor at the Faculty of Cinema and Theater, University of Art, Tehran, Iran. Email: [email protected].

Alireza Sayyad

Alireza Sayyad is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Cinema and Theater, University of Art, Tehran, Iran. Email: [email protected].