Justice and Rage: Exploring Trauma in Iranian Cinema

the film trauma by ham deani from Iran

is inspired by true events and presents

a chilling and intense Narrative of

justice and revenge Through The Eyes of

a survivor of assault the film portrays

a Survivor taking matters into her own

hands in response to violence um how do

you think it handles the theme of

justice and what are your thoughts on

how films can explore women's responses

to violence without glorifying harmful

actions yeah so this film is is hard to

watch and think it's important to um f

to emphasize that it's from Iran and in

Iran today women are you know struggling

for their freedom in all ways women who

appear in the street without a head

covering get lashes they're imprisoned

you know there's been a the women life

Freedom Movement going on for a couple

years now um women it is so bad for

women that they some cases would rather

die than continue to live under the

gender apartheid that they live under so

I really see this film as an Iranian

film right because of I mean I guess I

don't want to give it away but like the

justice that is carried out in the film

The Rage I would also call this film I

mean I'm sorry to use the term but this

was like revenge porn right like that's

what this film that was the thought that

went through my mind um in the context

of Iran it made a lot of sense and where

women have absolutely no agency or

ability to fend for themselves or to get

Justice you have to take justice into

your own hands um because talk about

being vulnerable so I thought the film

was very powerful and very telling of

the frustration and lack of power that

women have in Iran so it was hard to

watch but it also was like if I see it

through that lens it was very satisfying

right like her perpetrator met his

Justice um what was the second question

that you asked me I don't remember what

you said what the second one was I said

how can films explore women's responses

to violence without glorifying harmful

actions yeah okay so that's so yes so

this was defin definitely some harmful

actions in this film so I think again so

again not again but what's important is

that when we're talking about violence

against women how much shame that women

have for having had violence perpetrated

against them as though like it shouldn't

have happened to them or you know they

did something wrong to make it happen

um but there is Rage there is rage right

that rage at being powerless rage at

something being done to you that you did

not ask for that you did not deserve and

and that there's no recourse for that so

I can understand why there would be rage

and also like rage is as a way to

protect yourself like to get to that

point of anger then you can go into like

animal mode and fend off an attacker

right so the rage absolutely has a

purpose I think making a film like this

with the scenes that we saw I think it's

the perfect place to do that right

because it was it's cathartic as well

right to watch that film again like I

thank goodness I am not I'm not not a

victim of sexual violence and this film

like really I really was put in the per

in the shoes of someone who was who was

and and is trying to like make it to the

next day right like that's kind like how

she going to live with herself after

what has happened because because her

life will be changed forever she might

have gotten her moment of justice but

she will never be the same her life has

changed forever and so I think like

being able to have a creative Outlet

such as a film or a poem or a story or

some other form of art to work that rage

out is is really healthy it's really

good even though we know in cases of

domestic violence or other forms of

violence against women when women do uh

take their Revenge quite often they're

the ones that end up in prison and

that's a whole other story right so so

rage on the screen I think that's a

really appropriate place to show that

that's a shared feeling it's not a wrong

feeling and that what you know the wrong

has been done to the

woman um I think that the word that she

used catharsis I think that that's the

perfect um word I we use to describe

this film um you said earlier that um

the the number of women who have been

um assaulted or um expended experienced

gender based violence has raised to from

one in four to one in three and I think

many women who who watch this film um

might might feel that kind of um

cathartic just kind of relief you know

um I think it is important to to

remember to separate art from reality I

don't think we should ever encourage

women um in I'll say in our country or

in general um to to carry out actions

like this for their own protection um I

know that the judicial system is far

from perfect but um I think it is a

responsibility for filmmakers to to show

um uh abusers accountable for their

actions I think there is a growing

amount of um women in films being

assaulted or being harmed as a plot

point and I think that that's leading to

um people gradually becoming

desensitized to seeing um violence

enacted on women and I think that's very

harmful um so I think on the flip side

seeing a woman commit violence in

response um to something that happened

to her I think it's

very it's

um I think a lot of people will

feel just some kind of like justice

didn't happen for me but at least I

could see it happen for this this

character and um I think that

um films in general should present even

if they they have um a more artistic way

of showing accountability I think that

um they should also present a higher

level of constructive views towards

Justice or maybe healing um do you think

that um do you think

that films nowadays are falling short in

addressing violence against

women oh that's an interesting question

so

I can't to say that I get the chance to

watch a lot of films outside of women's

voices now and you know mostly we work

in documentary um what I can say is that

again I always try to find the positive

right because otherwise like it's just

too depressing so when I watch my

favorite movies from the 90s when I was

a teenager I am horrified by the way

women are treated by the way women are

portrayed by the lines that they've been

given I mean oh my gosh it's like I'm

like how you know I can't watch some of

my favorite movies anymore it's just

it's like it's disgusting like I can't

you know and I certainly don't want my

kids to watch those movies either

because it's it they just those movies

did not age well let's put it that way

like but so what's the positive of that

is that how far have we come right so

yes I understand there are many films

that continue to write women in poor

ways women still have fewer speaking

lines than men across the board there's

still fewer women behind the camera um

there's still agism in Hollywood you

know of course all of these things exist

but just in my like anecdotal experience

of whether I'm watching um series or I'm

watching films or you know or like

random whatevers that people recommend I

see that

women excuse me have much more diverse

roles they're much more real they're

much more textured they're real they're

real people right they're not they're

not caricatures of this you know male

defined femininity I'm not saying it

doesn't exist I'm not saying that at all

but I don't think it's necessarily the

norm anymore and and as we've seen like

movies like Barbie you know being one of

the highest grossing films of History

right like that's a huge Testament to

like the power of women to show up and

buy a ticket to a film like success like

when we like what we when we like what

we see of ourselves we can make that

known it's like you know Consumer Power

yeah so I think I I I I try to focus on

on that while I know that many people

are still consuming pretty

shoddy things of women's representation

but you know at least the women's voices

now we are not doing that right like

we're trying to push content that shows

women in all of their different facets

and experiences um artistically or

otherwise like this film was more even

though it's a technically a documentary

it was like sort of in a narrative

presentation and we and we don't really

know if if that really happened like

what we can assume that the woman was

sexually assaulted but we don't know

what happened after if this was Her

Imagination or her catharsis or or if it

really did go down like

that um I know I mentioned earlier that

um there's a growing amount of um women

in films nowadays that are um being

portrayed in ways um that they have

violence enacted on them as a plot point

or even sometimes to um build some kind

of strength in the male characters um I

I wanted to ask what role do you think

that filmmakers have in shaping first

ceptions of

accountability oh I think filmmakers

have all kinds of of uh Power and

shaping accountability perceptions of

accountability so if you're not you know

if you're not doing a documentary right

like you can create the world that you

want to see so what is the world that

you want to see like but I I've come to

the bad things will always happen there

will all I you know I don't think we can

eradicate violence against women

entirely sadly I just think this is what

humans do but we can mitigate it and we

can be vigilant and like I would never

give up on wanting to eradicate right

that's the goal

so films as a form of art especially

like I was saying if they're not a

documentary film you have a creative

license to be like what is what would

the ideal situation of what happened to

that you know taking this film

trauma if it weren't an Iranian film and

portraying like the IR Iranian

experience and if it were a country in

Scandinavia where perhaps there's a

little bit better accountability for men

commit violence I actually don't know

that so like don't quote me on that

because I don't know but I'm assuming um

yeah what what would that look like what

would that feel like and I think that

that's kind of a fun thing too but but

you're bringing up this point like where

you where it's like a plot point or like

something to like reel Us in like it's

more like the why does that thing reel

Us in you know like why is that violence

something that like gets us excited you

know in whatever way um and why is that

something like that we want to watch do

we want to watch it I don't know and

like and then how it's how it's handled

after like yeah I think I would be so

curious to have that conversation with

some of our filmmakers actually and you

know like how much um are they trying to

create the world that they want to see

versus the world that's around us to

give us an opportunity to reflect on who

we are right because either you can make

a film that shows the worst of humanity

and then it's like a mirror being held

up and being like see how awful we are

like don't you want to do better or you

can create a film that is not the mirror

it's the it's the ideal and then that

starts conversations with like oh how do

we get there that felt really good right

like yes bad things happen and we can

address them in a healthy way yeah yeah

there's um I read comics and there's

this very um big archetype called women

and refrigerators basically there was um

a very popular superhero and he came

home and he found that his wife was

killed and put in his refrigerator and

that made him become a stronger

superhero give him more death give him

more um basically make him more

interesting and that became kind of like

a a common thing that started becoming

more and more prominent in comics and I

think that um over time we're seeing

that gradually more and more in film and

um I just think that education is really

important I think that um the media we

consume is always going to shape our

percep

and our societal Norms to an extent um I

know that at the time the things that I

was watching when I was in Middle School

and High School I was way too immature

to be watching things like that and

looking back now that I'm older I can

see I I shouldn't have been watching

things like that but at the time I

thought that was normal I thought that

that kind of behavior was normal and I

think that there needs to be a more

diverse form of of ucation in media I

think

that if it doesn't necessarily have to

be so cookie cutter I know that a lot of

kids a lot of teenagers they they like

or they think they like more um adult

things but I think that if it's

portrayed in a way that um is accessible

and entertaining or like you said I'm

not sure why people find violent things

entertaining but I think that if we can

reframe these things and um put them in

media in a different way maybe repackage

it I think that could possibly mitigate

um the growing increase of the um I want

to say the dehumanization of women in

film and in media um that's at least

what I hope for

um excuse me you bring up a lot of

really good points and a lot of really

hopeful points um media definitely

shapes us I definitely think there's a

responsibility of you know caretakers

to try to moderate some of the content

that young people are watching like

there's so little control with you know

social media and everything it's we're

just sort of like really in a glut right

like there's just so much out there um I

think you bring up the most important

point of the need for better media

literacy especially of young people

there I read something recently like 94%

of high schoolers almost 2,000 were

surveyed said like how badly they need

Med media literacy between fake news and

real news disinformation misinformation

actual information they just don't have

the tools to to sift through it all um

and quite honestly from my talking with

teachers and things in different schools

um teachers aren't living in the same

social media sphere that their students

are so they don't even know what what's

going on right and then that goes for

parents as well so we're definitely like

in a new in a new frontier with

information technology of course um but

yeah I mean Phil film definitely is one

of the most important things that can

harm us and help us in becoming a better

Society I mean for sure we believe that

at Women's voices

now yeah and um I just hope that that

more films that um have

positive um

representation and um better

education um will will hopefully

mitigate the the media L the media

literacy issue um but also I do I do

want to to put some of the

responsibility back on the filmmakers

because um like I said earlier I was

watching things that um were way too

mature or way too too out there for my

age range but looking back they were

they were my age in those in those TV

shows like like for example the TV show

Skins it's super mature it's super heavy

but they were teenagers and also um a

reent show you

they're portrayed by by people in their

20s but they are playing High School

characters in these very extreme very

um problematic situations but I do think

that at the end of the day it does

fall partly on the filmmaker and also on

the the the parents of the children and

personal responsibility for the

teenagers whoever consuming the media

themselves I think everybody has a part

to play in this and hopefully we can U

move towards better representation and

healthier uh portrayals of women men in

in certain

situations yeah that got me thinking

it'd be so incredible if there was like

a high school course that showed things

like eup for like bring you know name

the elephant in the room right put it on

the screen in front of teenagers watch

it and be like what's wrong with this

right like is this you know is this

really how you want to be behaving and

acting and like what what happens next

where do you go from here you know like

cuz there was a girls voice is now

alumna who actually we had a

conversation after the program and she

was telling me about Euphoria and how it

made her so uncomfortable and she just

finished our program where she just felt

so empowered as like a young woman and

to have her voice heard and and then

like all of her friends are watching

Euphoria and she's like and her guy

friends and they think that that's how

they supposed they're supposed to behave

and that's how the girls are supposed to

behave she like this is not how we

behave like this is not how we should

beh

so it was hurting her cause right it was

hurting our cause and that's that's a

really tough one because um money makes

the world go around like that's just a

reality so again same with like we can't

like eradicate violence against women we

can't eradicate people's you know Bas

instincts necessarily to like whatever

be excited by violence Etc but if we

could get smarter and have a more

reflective experience of the media we

consume um and that comes through

education like you're saying and

conversations and and talking about

uncomfortable strange things um I do

think at least we have a little more

agency and Power in the consumption of

the media we're not going to be able to

like you know shut down the studio that

continues to make you know disgusting

maybe that's a judgmental term but you

know inappropriate content for teenagers

that's about teenagers but really it's

for older people who have maybe some

strange inclinations um I don't know

it's just about being active consumers

yeah I think that's the point active

media cognizant active ious

conscientious media consumers I think

you perfectly worded it