Art in the Light of Islamic Revolution (2)

What has given a special identity to the art of revolution and made it distinct from the pre-revolution art and modern art in the world, are the notions and concepts of this art. The Islamic Revolution triumphed at the zenith of anti-religious and anti-spirituality ideologies like Marxism and Liberalism and presented a fresh message on the bond between human and religion.

Paying attention to human education and sublimity and setting the ground for growth of human virtues are the basic principles in the Islamic teachings and the important goal of the Islamic Republic system. That's why the absurd ideas and mottos like "art for art's sake" were pushed to the margin and were no more popular for the Iranian society and artists. In the fervent years after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, "popular art" was recommended and encouraged as the conveyor of cultural values of the revolution. Popular art was the term that was used instead of "modernist art". This art was active in promoting political and revolutionary topics and was understandable to the weak and downtrodden class.

Concurrent with elimination of foreign culture the native culture attained the status it deserved and strongly impacted the art. Strengthening of native culture, on one hand, immunized it against cultural ills and enhanced public culture; and on the other hand, it turned the Iranian art to a unique art in the global arena. The astounding developments in the Iranian cinema can be mentioned as an example in this regard. The art of cinema, according to the experts, was "dead" in the waning years of the Pahlavi regime. Nevertheless, during almost 40 years after the revolution, this art grew so much so that it is known as a committed and revolutionary cinema promoting ethics and humane values across the world.

Here you may ask: How is committed art shaped and what is it based on?

Obviously, the goal of any human activity should be to make mankind happy.

Art, too, is an activity that carries out its important role in making the individual and society happy. Art tries to give a pleasant picture of life and world phenomena with a metaphorical expression. The committed art springs from a mind and thought that sticks to a school and idea. Hence, the artistic work serves the values of that ideology. Yet, this doesn’t curb the freedom of artist. Rather, it organizes his activity and liberates him from nihilism and deviation form humane goals. The Islamic society of Iran has always been intent to adjust cultural values with religious principles. However, this trend increased notably as the grounds were set for bolstering of values based on religion. Thus, public culture changed and caused arts like cinema, theater and even traditional arts come closer to religious culture and values. One of the achievements of this closeness was the commitment of artists to promote and spread morality and Islamic values via media. The Iranian artist, then, felt responsible to portray justice, affection, self-sacrifice, morality, human values and so on. He gradually found out that commitment does not harm his work. This was evident in the previous revolutions, too. For instance, the literary resurrection in Russia caused creation of masterpieces by Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Gorki, Turgenev and so on.

It should be mentioned that the committed art has not only impacted deeply the Iranian-Islamic culture and civilization, it has also contributed to the spread of the culture of struggle against oppression and bullying all over the world. Indeed, it has helped introduce the culture of fighting the domineering system to the people across the world. Perpetuity of many values of the revolution is owing to the deep bond between art and the revolution of the Muslim people of Iran. Were it not for this close bond, perhaps all of the aspects of the Islamic Revolution wouldn't be depicted to present them to the world nations. Therefore, it can be said that the progress and power of the Iranian art is highly indebted to the Islamic Revolution. In the current tough circumstances, to the chagrin of the enemies and despite the sanctions and devilish propaganda of the west, the Islamic Revolution has succeeded in sending its voice and picture to the remotest parts of the world.

RM/MG