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Gifts and Kinship: Women as Men’s Signs in ʿArus-e Ātash

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Mostafa Sadeghi Kahmini  and
Nima Behroozi Moghadam
Mostafa Sadeghi Kahmini
Affiliation:
English Language and Literature at Shiraz University
Nima Behroozi Moghadam
Affiliation:
MA in English Language and Literature from Shiraz University
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Abstract

This essay investigates the Iranian film ʿArus-e Ātash, directed by Khosrow Sināʾi in 1999, through the lens of gender studies. In doing so, it employs Claude Lévi-Strauss’ theory of kinship and elementary structures in order to create a context for the social structure of ʿashira as the prevailing unit of society among Khuzestāni Arabs of Iran. The significance of gift exchange as the predominant form of making alliances, as well as the position of women as the nucleus of these exchanges, is further discussed to shed light on the different socialization of male and female individuals in the ʿashira. Using Lévi-Strauss’ ideas in conjunction with the gender feminism of Kate Millett and Catharine A. MacKinnon, the study explores how women in primitive societies have the dual function of being the men’s property on an objective level as well as the means for alliance-making on a subjective one—a sign and a value at the same time. The essay concludes that men can also be considered as the victims of the patriarchal system since it creates a cultural image of men imbued with excessive masculinity that they may not be able live up to.

Keywords

GenderFemale IdentityKinshipGift exchangeʿashiraʿArus-e ĀtashIranian cinema
Type
Film Review Essay
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 6 , November 2018 , pp. 961 - 977
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2018

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