Seminars on Iranian Cinema

Description

When Nora cooks Persian Food: Realistic Strategies in the Iranian Screen Adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Speaker: Adineh Khoajstehpour. Chair and Discussant: Saeed Talajooy

Regarded as one of the pioneers of the New Wave of Iranian Cinema, Dariush Mehrjui (1940-) is among the most acclaimed Iranian filmmakers. Besides his original cinematic style, Mehrjui is also well-known for his adaptations. In fact, he is the only Iranian filmmaker who has constantly focused on adaptation of literary works from Persian and world literature. The present paper focuses on Sara (1992), Mehrjui’s adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879). Approaching the question of cross-cultural adaptation from the viewpoint of theorists such as Robert Stam and Linda Hutehcon, the paper reads Sara as a cultural translation and/or ‘indigenization’. Through close readings of the film, the paper sheds light on the ways the Norwegian cultural values of Ibsen’s time, particularly those related to sexuality and gender roles, have been appropriated and indigenized through a creative use of food, material culture and sensual elements, resulting in a more realistic rewriting of Ibsen’s play into contemporary Iranian society.

Period	23 Apr 2018
Event type	Seminar
Location	St Andrews, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International