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Popular Culture Review
erotic jo k e s, carousing, singing, w om an izin g, w h ore-m on gerin g, p lot-d ivu lgin g,
car-chasing and fist-fighting. In the end, w h en the b o y and the girl are jo in ed in
“h o ly m atrim ony,” everyb od y, in clud in g the audience, g o es h om e happily
stultified. A s such, Film farsi, in sum , is a vulgar pastiche full o f kitsch.
Mohallel (1971), a quality Filmfarsi
N everth eless, regardless o f the shabby contextual and structural aspects
o f F ilm farsi, w hat it gen u in ely sp ecia lizes in is the “visu alization o f the
discourse o f the b o d y .” F ilm farsi’s cam era lens, w h ich in m any scen es in effect
p lays the role o f the “ey e o f the beholder,” is a naughty voyeu r that p la y fu lly
p eep s at ev ery n ich e and nook: from the clea v a g e o f the co m p a n y ’s secretary to
the pants o f the cabaret dancer, from the leg s in the m iniskirt to the arms and
n eck under the chador, from the b ow er and bed to the d isco stage, from the
cellar to the roof, from the private sw im m in g p o o l to the public seasid e, and so
on and so forth. Thus, b y highlighting the sig n ifica n ce o f the b od y and the
com m o n n ess o f the b ody-centered discourse in everyd ay life, a d iscourse w h ich