SOCIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF ART AND LITERATURE
Year:2010 | Volume:2 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

In contemporary societies, Socio-cultural transformations with theoretical developments in sociology have been dealt with consumption as an important topic of sociological research. However, it seems that consumption of cultural and artistic goods and productions, due to their generality and more accessibility, has more importance for study of social distinctions and cultural changes. Cultural goods and productions are considered to be the basic elements of cultural system. Therefore, these goods and productions, in part, can determine and represent some aspects of general cultural tendencies and cultural changes. In addition, increasing expansion of mass media has facilitated access to cultural products. As a result, people allocate more time to their leisure activities related to these goods and productions. It seems that the realm of cultural consumption is the realm which is free from economic determination. Therefore, investigation on consumption patterns in the realm of artistic and cultural goods and productions is a suitable and useful way for studying and identifying social and cultural changes and their probable directions.This article presents distribution of artistic tastes among various Tehranian social groups and citizens. Theoretically, the article is based on the theories of Pierre Bourdieu and postmodern theorists such as Scott Lash and John Urry. Bourdieu argues that taste differences among people are derived from their social position. In other words, there are certain types of direct relationship between social position and artistic tastes. Taste is the outcome of structures’ reflection in individual’s habitudes. Postmodern theories emphasize actor’s free choices. Postmodern theorists believe that consuming choices are free from structural factors and individual’s class position.The main hypothesis of this research is that “artistic tastes of individuals in a society are subjected to their social status, and then, is arranged according to class hierarchy atmosphere”.Methodologically, this is a survey research in which multistage cluster sampling has been used for selection of subjects. The data have been collected through questionnaire among 410 citizens of Tehran between ages of 15 to 45.According to the findings of this research, there are no significant relations between artistic tastes and such variables as age, gender, ethnicity and job. One of the most important outcomes of this matter is instability between high culture and popular culture boundaries. Furthermore, the boundaries between real, fantasy, news, and amusement would disappear. This is true, especially in cultural consumption models. Findings of this research show that there is some kind of mixture and eclecticism in consuming patterns of artistic and cultural commodities. This mixture is a witness to rejecting of cylindrical social entity of cultural tastes and structural affinity. Therefore, the postmodern ideas about polarization of everyday activities can be confirmed. But, we don’t think that this mixture is derived from postmodern tendencies. We argue that this is caused by the fact that – as Bourdieu puts it – existing fields in Iran’s social space are not autonomous, but their internal rules impose them by another field, that is, power. This leads to discordance and lack of harmony in individual’s actions in general, and in patterns of cultural consumptions in particular. But, this is only an assumption and its confirmation or rejection requires more researches and profound reflections.

This paper seeks a semantic explanation of the resistance music in Iran and attempts to analyze the general structural specificities surrounding resistance music in Iran, The methodological consideration of launching this study includes critical discourse analysis of Van Dijik and the application of explorative methods in order to reveal major concepts of resistance engraved in lyrics of the products marked as resistance music. Another methodological consideration includes a comparative analysis of the music products in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran so that we could indicate the changes that the Resistance music has gone through during five decades starting from 1960.This paper contributes to the body of knowledge in areas such as media and cultural studies, sociology of art, and Iranian cultural studies. It is related to sociology of art because the arguments consider local specificities to have been contributing to the generic production of Iranian resistance music. Meanwhile, the paper pays attention to untold mysteries of Iranian cultural studies. At the same time, it pays attention to everyday life in Iran, something that makes the paper fall in the category of general cultural studies.With this introductory point we can claim that this paper uses a multidisciplinary study is to address the problematic of resistance music in contemporary Iran. The paper claims it has revealed some aspects of Iranian society including Persian Rap and its differences with Iranian Rap that have been neglected by academic works.In order to study resistance music, we have compared productions of resistance music both in pre and post-revolutionary periods.The final results of our analysis indicate that the requirement of each historical period of time affects the texture of the dominant music. Prior to 1979 revolution, as the political situation did not provide an open atmosphere for expression of genuine Iranian art, the artistic activities including production of music took the resistance orientation. Although we do not intend to mystify the musical production of resistance music, resistance music was the dominant and attractive area in the production of music. Two decades of 1960s and 1970s are now known as the golden age of Iranian music, not only because music was leading it but also because the number and variety of musical production and singers of all genres. In the 1970s, however, it was the resistance music that attracted the young generation.The post-revolutionary period, however, was if a different type both in terms of the collapse of the old world order and in terms of change of desires and aspirations of human being sat the local and global level. Although the texture of resistance in pre-revolutionary period was mostly political, in the post-revolutionary it changed into a multidimensional texture. First of all, the period between 1979 and 1988 was different, as Iran was experiencing the Iraqi imposed war on Iran. There was not much musical production in this period that could be marked as resistance music except what was produced abroad which expressed resentment against war. There were some other fractions of Iranian exiles that produced resistance music, but they were not much welcomed by the Iranian audience.There was also the period between 1988 and 1997 that was marked as a period of transition from war mood to construction mood. It was the post 1988 period that gradually turned the musical production into a period of stable and steady situation suitable for production of new resistance music. The post 1997 came with socio-cultural, political, economic, and demographic changes. As a result, when we started studying resistance music in 2007 and 2008, we realized that politics constructs only a part of the everyday life of new generations. Generations’ gap and gender gap had brought about new desires in Iranian young people, which could be tracked in their musical production and musical desires. Therefore, this study indicates that the new wave of resistance music uses various pop and rap music genres to express cultural resistance as opposed to political resistance that was so prominent in the 1970s.

Graffiti art is one of the new popular phenomena, especially in terms of its relationships with youth subcultures; youth protest culture and street art in big cities around the world. Graffiti is also a way to express political and cultural opinions of marginalized and excluded groups have no serious access to the official propaganda facilities. Not only is graffiti a way to express their ideas and ideals symbolically, but also it is a way to distinguish their culture (the underground culture) from the official culture. The Iranian graffiti is so much young and its beginning dates back to 2001-2002. According to some websites, the first graffiti was done by ECNCE in 1995-1996 in the capital city of Tehran. By now, the serious Iranians graffiti creators are Alone, Magoy, Old Nike, Salome and CK1. There is a hidden link between graffiti and other elements of the Iranian youth lifestyle (especially the underground music) in major cities (Tehran, Karaj, Mashhad, and Shiraz). Although one can see political and social criticism in the Iranian graffiti as well, the most striking aspect of it is the social one. There is no serious experience in graffiti in the pre-revolutionary Iran. Stencils and murals with revolutionary themes are the most common forms of graffiti in the post-revolutionary Iran. Contrary to the past, present use of graffiti in Iran is a critical and sub-cultural use. A quick glance at the related websites shows that the new use of graffiti in Iran is a sub-cultural one that is more than anything else associated with a kind of underground art. Thus, the Iranian new graffiti creators are young people who do not act in line with the official culture, but sometimes conflict with it and even find fun in such an experience. It is a way of identification for them. So, there is a hidden relationship between diverse aspects of such an underground culture: graffiti, music, skateboard and other parts of their lifestyle. However, understanding this phenomenon with the help of concepts like Bricolage and post-subculture is more understandable. According to this view, the Iranian youth take diverse elements from different cultures and integrate them into a new integrated whole. Thus, the present youth culture or subculture is composed of elements borrowed from the West and indigenous elements. This culture, more than anywhere else is visible in the underground culture (music and graffiti). The underground youth cultures, thus, has a critical stance towards the status quo socially, culturally and sometime politically. So, their culture is in accordance with what is called ‘the global youth culture’. There is no serious research on the social background of the Iranian graffiti creators, thus at the present time one can only suggest some primary hypothesis. Observers believe that there is no clear link between social class and graffiti in Iran. However, it appears that, at least in Tehran, graffiti is most visible among the (upper) middle class young people. It seems that most of the Iranian graffiti creators are middle class boys, although there are some female graffiti creators like Salome in big cities like Tehran.

Kamal-al-Molk is one of the first Iranian painters who totally dismissed the traditional rules of painting. He redefined the meaning of painter and his career. In this text, we used Pierre Bourdie's theory (one of the latest French sociologists) and the Genetic Structuralism he offered as a theoretical framework and method for analyzing Qajar painting changes and representation of real life in Kamal-al-Molk masterpieces. By the use of Genetic Structuralism we focused on Modernism and the momentous role it played in the future of Iranian Painting. Genesis of the field of painting production and it's relation with the field of power in Qajar epoch were the aspects we took in consideration here. In other words, unlike the other studies, which Explain Qajar painting changes according to west painting, in this study we tried to do the same according to social changes in Iran and its effect on art and painting. In doing so, emerging of the field of painting and its two main poles, independent and dependent poles, are recognized generally. In accordance with the process of modernism and the rule of law, distinction extended in the field of Qajar society and, as a result, the field of painting production appeared gradually. According to the study's conclusion, the field of painting production in Iran appeared around the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (‘Mashrooteh’ in Persian) with Kamal-al-Molk being placed on the independent pole. "Royal Painting" was the main form of painting and in the first period of Qajar, and Fathalishah's court was its main centre. However "popular Painting" was produced extensively in this period. Kamal-al-Molk, one of the most famous painters in his second part of life, changed his mind and created his works just to paint them without any application and royal relations; indeed, he gradually started to create pure painting. He was one of the first Iranian painters who started to be independent from the court and established "art for the sake of art" in Iran. As a conclusion, whenever painters were away from court and the field of power they were inspired by people and their real life. According to this research, the Field of painting production emerged around the Constitutional Revolution in Iran and Kamal-al-Molk is the first Iranian painter who produced some of his works near the Independent pole as a freelance and modern painter. He is an artist who changed the momentum of Iranian painting in distancing himself from the common traditions of the last centuries. However, his new style resulted in the complete freedom of painting in the next decades and in the first period of Pahlavi’s epoch by a group of artists who went to Europe to study art. On the other hand, the establishment of Tehran University and the Fine art faculty, which was a new base for the production of pure painting, happened as art was produced in the independent field and redefined its rules without any relation with other fields. In its real freedom, art was produced by the artists’ desire rather than by authorities’ orders.

The aim of this article is to show social characteristics of modernist painters in Iran. The main question is whether or not a stable pattern can be reached in order to show the effects of social factors on people to become artists. In order to find the answer, it is necessary to introduce social characteristics of Iranian modernist painters.This article is theoretically related to the field of sociology of art and it emphasizes on artists. Janet Wolff's theoretical framework is used in relation to characteristics of artists. Wolff believes that becoming an artist is a social process and different social factors affect that. She indicates the role of certain factors such as institutions, social groups and classes, etc. in this process. The main point in Wolff's discussions, which is also central to this study, is the idea that becoming an artist is a process which follows different social and economic conditions, and which suitability or non-suitability of these conditions can bring either order or disorder to that. These conditions may even prevent the process from happening. She points to family, class and educational conditions in order to explain the situation.The research method is a survey based on questionnaire which is filled through interview with artists. In accordance with Janet Wollff's theory, the author emphasizes here on some main areas such as family, artistic training, class condition, state support, gender and friends. The main hypothesis of the article is that factors such as family, class, support, training, social and individual relations as well as historical and geographical conditions of the society, such as being urban or rural, and ethnicity can contribute to a person’s becoming an artist.The findings show that most of the Iranian modernist painters at the time of research (year 2007) have been young and highly educated, were born in Tehran (Capital city), and at the time of research were living in Tehran. The proportion of men to women has been 40 to 60, which demonstrates that the majority of painters were women. It is also showing that, in the past, men artists outnumbered women artists, while today the reverse is the case.Moreover, the findings show that there is a meaningful relationship between gender and social class, so that more women painters are from higher class while more men painters are from lower class. On the other hand, men painters are more supported by government and private funds. It can be said that in the process of becoming artists, women are mostly influenced by class, while men are mostly influenced by financial supports.The findings lead to the general conclusion that many different social factors are effective on people becoming artists, but the rate and kind of these factors may differ from research to research and from society to society. Therefore, one cannot point to a unique and stable pattern for influencing social factors. In fact, although social factors are very effective, their influence is, in most cases, contingent on the existing social conditions of the society in question.

Theatre enjoys the highest status in social relationships and this trait arises from two characteristics: the first one is that theatre is formed at the time and place of performance. Theatre is created in specific time on stage for the audience. The second one is direct presence of the audience which is the third basic element of theatre. Theatre is created through direct encounter of actors and audience. This two-sided relation forms the unique social relationship of the theatre. In traditional theatre plays, which are performed in public among ordinary people from different social cast, this sociological trait is clearer. In these plays, in which the most important aim is the relation with audience, the comedy version is performed in improvised base and tragic version is performed with improvised parts. These improvisations can propound the people's social views.Although there are valuable researches about Iranian traditional theatre, this type of theatre has rarely been researched from cultural and sociological point of view. The Bakhtin Carnival’s theory, which is assigned in sociological studies realm, is widely applied in critical literature but less applied in sociological analysis of theatre types. Bakhtin believes that ritual theatre consisting of arena and street theatre are forms of carnival. One of the characteristics of carnival setting is heteroglossia, in which different voices can be heard and one of its representations is laughter. Then having dialogue, participation, equality and freedom are the important functions of carnival. All of these contribute to its creation. In carnival, difference and casts disappear and everyone can utter his view freely. People experience another life with freedom in carnivals. In totalitarian governments, carnival is a resistance against hegemonic power. But sometimes the government resorts to carnival as a factor of trust. They use carnival consciousness or unconsciousness to decrease social and economic pressure on people. For searching carnival conditions, it should be defined through its signs in theatre. Dramatic signs of carnival consist of place sign, social sign, speech sign, behavior sign and conceptual sign. For finding these signs in traditional theatres of Nasrei period (Nasereddin Shah), a basic knowledge of this period is necessary. Nasereddin Shah’s period has been the longest and the most eventful period of Qajar dynasty. This period's social and political developments, which are contemporary with 19thcentury evolutions in Europe, make it a passage time from traditional to modern society.Nasereddin Shah was a dictator who liked reforms. He not only had no negative view about reforms but also considered them necessary and useful for the government and for improving the society. On the other hand, he was such voluptuary spending most of his time in leisure pursuits hence supporting theatres as a means of amusement. These theatres had three types: Ta`ziyeh, Shabih Mozhek and Dalghakbazi (clown play). Qajar's kings preserved the tradition of Ta`ziyeh extensively and raised it to a high status. Ta`ziyeh ceremonies among non-cast groups brings people close to each other and create a feeling of unity and common aim, which is promoting justice and battling against cruelty. There are some traces of carnival in Ta`ziyeh, such as participation and heteroglossia, creating a different life vis-à-vis formal life and non-existence of any distance between actors and audience. Along with Ta`ziyeh, there exist some other types of play which lack any mourning mood; rather, they amuse people and bring about happiness: this type of theatre is named Shabih Mozhek. Mostly, its basic content was scoffing the religion’s enemies. Since the Qajar rulers wre so prejudiced, they promoted the scoffing of the religion’s enemies as a discourse of power. Naturally, the characteristics mentioned about Nesereddin Shah, especially his interest in recreation, shows that in his period clowns (‘Dalghak’ in Persian) had prosperous times. These clowns were honest persons who bravely revealed, though satire and derogatory language, the government’s injustice and oppression. Standing against two strong discourses of power (the power of common-law and the power of government), these clowns took people to other aspects of life apart from formal, ordinary life: an informal life which was full of laughter and freedom far from the restrictions and prohibitions prevailing the society. Some of the elements of carnival found in the clown-play (‘Dalghak’ in Persian) include: freedom arises from participating in confrontation with the discourse of power and creating an informal attractive life which takes no head of all the current an informal attractive life which takes no heed of all the current restrictions and prohibitions. Due to his thirst for power, international trips and luxurious despotism, Nasereddin Shah understood the people’s need of recreation. Although he had no information about carnival results, as he considered recreation as a requisite of carnival, he preserved and promoted creating carnival spaces. Finding the social concepts of carnival, which is the result of creating theatre forms, shows that sociological evaluations according to social concepts and principles can advance new views in social function of art.

In this essay the films made by Masoud Kimiai are analyzed as a reflection of the conditions of the society. The point in the essay at hand is finding narrative elements in those films of Kimiai which encompass the most conspicuous and tangible matters of the society when the films were made. Artists utilize different ways to express facts about their societies; some delimit their view horizon to the internal matters of their society while some others view society as a general entity. The latter includes the contemporary social framework and its reflection is seeable in the works of art of this group. Masoud Kimiai belongs to the second group and has a holistic eye to the socials matters.As why Kimiai and his works have been chosen in this regard it is noteworthy to say that so far many pros and cons have studied his works and – apart from their criticism or approval – they unanimously confirm that his delving and witty look has been able to portray those parts of the society which many other directors have failed in their attempts to display.The movies of Kimiai – either the pre- or the post-revolution eras – is still forcefully imbued with a social autopsy via characters and protagonists whom he loves deeply and to whom gives outstanding roles in all his films. He tries to be a social theoretician in his films. He tries to be the narrator of his era's matters.The theoretical view of this essay is the theory of reflection which views art as the mirror of society and analyzes the compatibility of the media messages (movies, television …) with social facts. On aggregate it can be asserted that many theoreticians have accepted the existence of a reflective relation between the cinema and the society, although each of them uses a different method to explicate and explain this relation and its degree. This essay however, with reliance and reference to Goldman's view, analyzes the way social matters are reflected in Kimiaei's films.The evolutionary structuralism of Goldman aims to find mental structures of a social group or stratum in a way that this structure is illuminated in a work of art. Goldman believes that literary and artistic creations are ways of expressing an ideology and each ideology is a social and not individual phenomenon. He views a relation between literary and artistic creations and the current ideology of any given era.The recognition approach of the essay at hand is quality analysis based on which five movies by Kimiai are analyzed as epitomes of five different eras in Iran's contemporary history. We have chosen the film Gheisar (1969) as the representative of the era of waking, Stone Journey (1977) as the representative of the era of revolution, Snake Fang (1989) as the representative of the era of war Sultan (1996) as the representative of the era of reconstruction and Objection (1999) as the representative of the era or Reform.The study of five films by Kimiai showed that they are proper means to recognize the most significant matters of their contemporary society. The main core of these films is the main obsession of the time when they were made and portrays the society in this framework. In these films it is as if someone is looking at the society from the outside views its most important matters. The depth of Kimiaei's knowledge of society is best seen in the film Stone Journey in which he foresees the looming image of a revolution based on people's protests one year before it actually took place.He is sensitive toward the ongoing society matters and his works are mirrors reflecting his surroundings.