The Day I Became a Woman

Examine the use of physical space and cultural identity through Marzeah Meshkini’s “The Day I Became a Woman.” One of the main reasons of location and cultural identity in their film is financial situation. The low budget films have to use location that they have, they allow to or it’s a proxy of find a way of avoiding restrictions imposed by a rule or law without actually breaking the stifling censors.  They also limited to the high-tech digitalized computer imagery.

Ahoo scene: This scene is very different from other Iranian movies and films. It shows how men are more powerful and controlling. The scene was about a woman in her thirties in a bicycle race of about one hundred women. She was being chased by her husband on horseback. He was threatening to divorce her on the spot if she didn’t abandon the race immediately.

The close shots between the horse’s legs and the wheels of the bicycle with Ahoo’s legs peddling rapidly, these shots represented the difference between ages, meaning that the horse was of an older era and the bicycle being more modern. Another example of the close shot is of Ahoo’s facial expressions, mostly of desperation to achieve freedom from the overbearing banter of her husband. Overall, the tight shots represented the desire of Iranian women to break free from the old world beliefs and to become more modernized women, being free to run and race amongst others.

In viewing this film from a Western civilization perspective, most men now, and even fifty years ago, wouldn’t view this action of a woman to be offensive. This part of the film probably wouldn’t be having even been created because of the difference in the way men and women interacted with each other. Things have changed over the years; however, the way that Iranians view their women, then and now, is so very different from the other half of the world. Where some might have viewed this scene as kind of funny, looking at it through Western eyes, it is sadder than anything.

The location of this movie was in the desert. Ahoo was riding the bicycle on the paved road in the middle of the desert. The men were riding along side of the paved road in the sand. This scene is trying to show the audience that the men and their method of transportation were more powerful than the women riding bikes on the paved road. The women chose the easier paved road to ride their bicycles on, as it is near impossible to ride in the sand. The road represented the modern world. Ahoo was thirsty and struggling, fighting for herself. The men were able to change off to harass her in her endeavor.

The only person that could get her off of the bicycle was her brother. This represents the strength of the bond between a brother and sister in this part of the world. During this part, the filmmaker created this as a super long shot to make it difficult to see the actions between the brother and sister. In Iranian films, men are not allowed to touch women; therefore, it allows the audience to imagine the scene instead of it being iven to them. This represents the cultural location of familiarity of the filmmaker.

 
Written by student: Donald