Cinema as a Seductive Technology in the Iranian Film Nare Toofan (“Toofan’s Bellow”, 1969)

In the dominant discourse of Iranian cinema studies, there is a contempt for pre-revolutionary popular movies, which are grouped in a genre called Film-Farsi, which are considered superficial and vulgar company assembly productions, and their power and capacity to influence the audience are usually reduced to their entertainment aspects. Thus, the other dimensions and capacities of these films have mostly been neglected. Yet, one cannot ignore the values and progressive faculties of a number of these movies, and the need to re-read them is felt regardless of the limitations created by the dominant derogatory approaches. The movie Nare Toofan (“Toofan’s Bellow”, 1969) directed by Samuel Khachikian, is considered one of these popular films that has received less attention in cinema studies.  However, this film can be considered as one of the first films representing the tensions and fears felt with the coming of modernity and its relevant manifestation, cinema technology, into the traditional Iranian society. Nare Toofan is the story of a fisherman named Toofan (meaning storm) who with his noble wife, Marjan (meaning jewl or pearl), has a peaceful life in a village. At the same time that they anticipate their first child to be born, a film crew arrives to make a movie. The female star of the movie, Sholeh (meaning fire), becomes interested in Toofan who shows no interest in return but she soon spreads her web of seductions. Sholeh first invites Toofan to be part of the film making, and then works her way to become in close proximity to him in the ensuing scenes. Sholeh is a seamless example of a modern seductress femme fatal, and her morals are in stark contrast to Marjan, as the embodiment of the traditional domestic female. Borrowing from Andreas Huyssen's discussion regarding the relationship between femininity and technology, the present study, tries to reread the link between the seductress female and cinema technology in the film Nare Toofan. Huyssen believes that in the modern era, with the appearance of the destructive aspects of technology, feminine characteristics were applied, and the idea of the identification of femininity and technology emerged. Huyssen considers this process as the result of projecting social fears from the destructive dimensions of technology. From this point of view, In Nare Toofan, the character of Sholeh, a modern actress, can be considered the embodiment of cinema technology who disrupts the village life, here a metaphor for traditional society, and causes the collapse and destruction of social order and family there. In the film, the fears and anxieties of the traditional Iranian society about the dangers of cinema technology and the immoral and debased values associated with it are linked with the male fear of the threats of the seductress woman and her abilities.  From this point of view, this film can be considered a paradoxical cinematic work that warns the audience about the threats and dangers of the cinema medium using reflexively the film itself.  Throughout the film, there are many references to the relationship between the flame and the snake. Keeping in mind the relationship between Eve and Satan in some religious circles, cinema technology is represented in this film as a devil-like enchanting woman who pulls the character of Toofan towards decline and decay; hence, the destruction of traditional values and life styles.