SOCIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF ART AND LITERATURE
Year:2011 | Volume:2 | Issue:2|Papers Count:8

This study aims at the analysis of the discourse of the art in the Middle East. Therefore, at the first stage, after criticizing the limitations of the theory of style in the modern art analysis, we emphasize discourse analysis as an alternative approach; at the second stage, we apply discourse approach in order to analyze the art in the Middle East. The discourse analysis of art consists, at one level, of the visual characteristics of the text and its genre, and, at a higher level, of intertextual interpretation of the text and its relation with context, and, at an even higher level, of the study of the thinking space which allowed and influenced the creation of the work. The latter includes, for example, the study of the political and economic power institutions, educational institutions, museums and artistic events (e.g. festivals and auctions) which recreate the discourse space and approve or reject some works. Therefore, in the present research, the study of art from discourse point of view means going beyond studying artistic styles. This view allows us to study new trends in art, such as feministic, national, colonial, Asian, and other regional arts (e.g. Middle East). While studying the art of the Middle East, we face various questions: are the artistic works of the Middle Eastern artists a kind of representation of their social and cultural conditions or just cliché responses to the curiosity of the West into Middle Eastern affairs? Are these artists deconstructing the oriental clichés about Islamic territories or reconstructing the same in a new, customer-oriented appearance? Is the Middle Eastern art reconstructing the media clichés of the geography of the Islamic fundamentalism (in terms of al-Qaida and September 11)? Or have there appeared new social demands in postcolonial Islamic societies seeking common human values regardless of cultural boundaries? Finally, it is shown that the art of the Middle East is a new narration of the tradition versus modernity conflict in a political geopolitics within the cultural scope of the Islamic art. It is also shown that the art of the Middle East is not a representative of Islamic art; it is rather the representative of modern art in the most important Islamic countries. In order to show the Middle Eastern art as a discourse product, Foucault’s analysis of discourse forms has been applied Therefore, the four factors of discourse – unity of object, unity of enunciative modalities, unity of concepts system, and unity of strategy – have been analyzed, as regards the Middle Eastern art, in order to specify the characteristics of its discourse.

This article is an attempt to depict how cross-dressing, as a theatrical affairs is able to challenge signs which are stabilized by Ideology. For this goal cross-dressing has been understudied in Azerbaijani oral literature. Firstly, in order to use a relevant method and a basic theory, Althusser’s concept of Ideology and the process of Naturalization have been adopted as useful guides. The writers have shown that Ideology, Subject, Myth, Power and semiotic orders grow in a non-hierarchical relation and try to signify each other. Althusser’s idea of happening reactions against Ideology has been traced in oral literature and cross-dressing, as one of these reactions, has been analyzed in Azerbaijani tales. Actually, cross-dressing, by creating a category crisis, reveals new structures that are denied by Ideology for Power’s sake. It must be noticed that in this collection of tales, cross-dressing happens in three different genres which are: gender cross-dressing, Bald-dressing and Dervish-dressing and by each of them a category crisis- in Marjorie Garber’s terms- is created. Gender cross-dressing is tacitly correlated to the understanding of sex and gender. When the attributed clothes to a sex can be changed, then the naturalized meaning of gender can be brought under question. In this state Judith Butler’s arguments of sex and gender can be the key to a way out and Marjorie Garber’s studies of cross-dressing depict that category crisis shows how human-made are natural-being-thought structures. Bald-dressing, i.e. wearing a sheep’s or goat’s bowl, is a repeatedly used act in Persian and other ethnic-related tales. The point is that we are rarely face with characters in tales, and binary types such as Good-forever and Bad-forever has been usually exposure. But in the other hand, Bald is a melange of antagonistic characteristics’ like being clever and being lazy. And not only the Bald-dressed person acquires these characteristics such as being cunning and penetrates to his/her goal, but also almost always the Bald-dressed person is a girl in these tales. For this reason Bald-dressing besides being a mean to create new narrative forms, can be a special type of gender cross-dressing. In a same way, Dervish-dressing happens when a king decides to enter the public by wearing Dervish’s clothes who is a socially popular person. This type of cross-dressing in juxtaposition with having a category crisis in social castes brings to mind the wishes of that class of the society that oral literature is created and continuously repeated by them, the wish of having the king beside themselves and dressed by their own cloths. However, the king always goes back to his palace and the total order of society remains stable. Finally, it must be noted that cross-dressing isn’t going to destroy old structures but is an attempt to present new structures and this question can be brought forward that does a cross-dresser turns into a new sign or by remaining the previous sign acquires a new signified? What does the process of indication?

This paper is focused on the method of finding the structure of the field of the new Iranian theater and the emergence of its different artistic poles and its subfields. The new Iranian theatre which came into existence in the 13th century was clearly distinct from the traditional-local Iranian forms of performance. This new field was established according to the western dramatic norms, and experienced the emergence of some other subfields, based on its internal contradictions. The not-so-long history of the Iranian theatre shows that to what extent did the agents of this new form of art tried to describe and explain the assets of theatre in the society by writing articles, notes and letters, along with performing several important theatrical pieces. The Iranian New Wave theatre emerged as a subfield of theatre in the 1950s and 1960s, as a result of the changes in the distribution of the social capital and the changes in the habitus of its agents, those who sought some innovations in the current styles and forms of the Iranian theatre. One of the clear results of the new wave in the Iranian theatre manifested itself in the form of “Kargah-e Namayesh” (theatre workshop) which was active 1969-1978. This workshop was itself a result of the internal conflicts in the new Iranian theatre between the years 1857-1978. The major questions of this article deal with the type of the activities of the agents of Kargah-e Namesh, their status and beliefs in their society, the types of their capitals and habitus as well as the relation of these people with the political system of their time. In other words, this article tries to clarify the relation of Kargah-e Namayesh with the heritage of the new Iranian theater on one hand, and with the political system of its society on the other. Theoretically, this paper is based on the theory of social action presented by Pierre Bourdieu.

The aim of this paper is to determine the different types of theatrical policies applied by the states of Iran within the years 198 9(the start of the first presidency of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjan) to 2009 (the end of the first presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad). The method of this research is content analysis. The cabinet approvals within these years which either in their titles or in their texts, the words theatre, performance, performing and performing arts are appeared, were identified. Totally 22 approvals were found. A content analysis checklist was made based on the Chartrand and McCaughey model which has classified the arts policies in four roles: facilitator, patron, architect and engineer. These four roles are designed for indicating the degree of the state intervention in art and cultural domain and each of them are identified by some indicators. To promote and localize the model by using the literature of the arts and cultural policies, the indicators of funding mechanism, tool, policy dynamic and goal were defined for each role. Totally 99 indicators of all types were found in the 22 approvals. The findings revealed that in the investigated twenty-year process, the state has used all types of arts policies in theatre: architect (35.36%), patron (31.31%), engineer (18.18%) and facilitator (15.15%). Various states in four years intervals, have been different in their using the types of arts policies. The tool indicator (40.4%) and goal indicator (34.35%) have had a higher frequency than the funding mechanism indicator (22.22%) and the policy dynamic indicator (3.03%) has had the lowest frequency. The arts policies indicators used by the states in theatre approvals has been in this order (from the high frequency to the low frequency): 1-the architect goal (social welfare and national culture), 2-the patron tool (awards, grants, prizes), 3-the architect funding mechanism (department and ministry of culture) and the engineer tool (official justification and endorsement, recipe, control), 4-the facilitator tool (tax expenditures and incentives), 5-the patron goal (aesthetic, professional and International standards), 6-the patron funding mechanism (arts councils), 7-the architect tool (welfare for artists such as insurance, official employment, income security for the artists), 8-the engineer funding mechanism (state and government ownership of artistic means of production), the patron policy dynamic (evolutionary) and the engineer goal (political education and ideological propaganda), 9-the facilitator funding mechanism (private individual, corporate and organizations) and the facilitator goal (economic). The policy dynamic of three types of facilitator (taste changes), architect (revolutionary) and engineer (revisionary) has not been used by the states. In addition, different states have not been the same in the priority rating of using different types of arts policies and indicators.

This article aims to open a methodological discussion on film reading from a Benjaminian- Deleuzian approach, and discusses its application based on the analysis of About Eli. To reach this aim, the duality of reality and art, or the relation between story and reality or cinema and reality as the theoretical bases of methodological discussions on cinema and film analysis, are explicated. Then, the Deleuzian epistemology about cinema and its challenge with the Platonic issue of the contradiction of social reality and its representation or cinematic picture as the theoretical basis of Benjaminian- Deleuzian methodology in film analysis, will be discussed. Also, the Benjaminian- Deleuzian methodology as opposed to the dominant linguistic and psychological methodologies in film studies will be discussed. Benjamin and Deleuze’s essays on film studies can be regarded as an end to the dominance of content-centrism in film reading. Therefore, Deleuze’s approach to cinema is opposed to the realistic and phenomenological approaches of Andre Bazin and the linguistic and psychoanalytic approach of Christian Metz. While the Benjaminian- Deleuzian framework avoids getting involved in film studies, as a representational tool in the framework of representation tradition, it presents a double reading of cinema. The Benjaminian- Deleuzian methodology involves simultaneous analysis of aesthetic aspects of film and its socio-political aspects. Eventually, to make the theoretical and methodological discussions more understandable, a recent Iranian film called About Eli is analyzed and its results are discussed. This article aims to open a methodological discussion on film reading from a Benjaminian- Deleuzian approach, and discusses its application based on the analysis of About Eli. To reach this aim, the duality of reality and art, or the relation between story and reality or cinema and reality as the theoretical bases of methodological discussions on cinema and film analysis, are explicated. Then, the Deleuzian epistemology about cinema and its challenge with the Platonic issue of the contradiction of social reality and its representation or cinematic picture as the theoretical basis of Benjaminian- Deleuzian methodology in film analysis, will be discussed. Also, the Benjaminian- Deleuzian methodology as opposed to the dominant linguistic and psychological methodologies in film studies will be discussed. Benjamin and Deleuze’s essays on film studies can be regarded as an end to the dominance of content-centrism in film reading. Therefore, Deleuze’s approach to cinema is opposed to the realistic and phenomenological approaches of Andre Bazin and the linguistic and psychoanalytic approach of Christian Metz. While the Benjaminian- Deleuzian framework avoids getting involved in film studies, as a representational tool in the framework of representation tradition, it presents a double reading of cinema. The Benjaminian- Deleuzian methodology involves simultaneous analysis of aesthetic aspects of film and its socio-political aspects. Eventually, to make the theoretical and methodological discussions more understandable, a recent Iranian film called About Eli is analyzed and its results are discussed.

This paper focuses on representing the creative mentality of figurative paintings in Iran during eighties. Hence with a qualitative approach and descriptive-analytical method the authors have attempted to review the work sample which has represented the part of identity and objects of its own time by using of familiar iconic signs. Based on the theories of creation and definition of its related components and also cultural changes and transformation; in presented works the representation of social and cultural changes and also some urban components is readable. The increasing level of education in recent decades resulted in greater sensitivity to social issues and urban space, thus this issues are more represented in figurative painting than before. As opposed to previous generation who had attitude toward religious beliefs and collective preference, the new generation is more concerned about global communication, virtual spaces, individual identities and representation of this identities during distinction in their consumptions and life styles. Gradually against widespread ideas about womanhood, new generation of women carried out a review about themselves and their presence in the society. Thus, increasing number of women artists beside young educated artists resulted in plurality in social attitudes in Iranian contemporary figurative painting. On the basis of artists’ individual definitions and evaluations of urban spaces (Tehran) and social issues, distinct representations can be seen in this kind of paintings. According to the studies we have carried out about the artworks which are produced in the past decades, we have found that new generation of painters are more considered about new elements of urbanism in Tehran like big and new shopping centers, streets, tall buildings and strolling in this new centers and streets, fashion and etc., however the past generations of painters were more inspired by nature, rural areas and had shown more attitude toward depicting steel life and portraits (single figures). Result of this study shows that today’s figurative artists beside emphasis on representing social matters and urban environment in their works, sometimes tries to criticize and judge them.

The term Rock refers to a particular category of pop music. Since the late 1960's, rock music has raised important social, cultural and artistic discussions. Rock music influenced several generations through its rather short life. Several music genres emerged from this music while it carried on its own life up until now. Huge number of audiences of rock music turned this music as one of the significant popular music of 20th century. Massive attraction of people from nearly all cultural background around the world put this music in the center of attention of several scholars in various disciplines from musicologists to sociologists. Rock can be defined by three dimensions. Sociologically, it is a commercially-produced popular music aimed at an exclusionary youth audience of a type characterized by the late-capitalist societies. Musically, it tends to be highly amplified, with a strong beat and rhythmic patterns, and to draw heavily on proto-folk musical sources from Southern USA. Ideologically, it is associated with an aesthetic program of “authenticity”, developing elements from discourses around folk-revival and art music (Middleton 2001: XXI). In Iran, in spite of having enormous audiences of this music, there are very little studies on rock music due to various cultural, political and other issues. This paper is an effort to analysis audience's attitude and valuation, mostly Iranian and Turkish listeners, toward rock music. Since there is currently no formal event of rock music in Iran we paid attention to one of the neighboring countries where usually is a destination of Iranian rock lovers. To visit Turkey, Iranians need no visa and therefore has become the first destination of part of Iranians to enjoy rock music. For this reason, we focused to the three-day Istanbul Sonisphere Festival in June 2010. The needed data has been collected from 300 people who participated in the mentioned Festival. The first part of the questionnaire was devoted to personal and general questions in which data analysis reveals: the background and familiarity with rock music, the age of listeners when first were influenced by this music, the ability to play musical instruments, the average amount of time spent on reading books, magazines and internet articles on rock, and finally the level of tolerance for other musical genres. In the second part of the questionnaire the attitude of listener toward the importance of three issues of music, lyric and album’s cover design were asked. Total data analysis manifested: 1) "Music" as the most important element among the three issues, 2) "Thrash Metal" as the most likeable genre among the thirteen important musical genres and 3) "Freedom" as the most attractive aspect in the 22 issues related to rock music. The findings also revealed other issues toward the rock music such as the level of audience's ability to communicate with "music", "genrelogy", and "semantic appropriation". Moreover, studying the audiences of rock music here showed how dynamically listeners get involve with rock’s lyrical, pictorial and musical structures.