Culture Post #3 - Hollywood Movies in Iran

[Haley Harris]

According to a recent Fox News article, most Hollywood movies are edited before they hit the big screen in Iran.  Iran’s cultural adviser, Javad Shamaghdari, decides what movies will be shown and the cuts that are made.  The article states that the two main areas that are subject to editing is violence and sexuality.

“Western films are shown in Iran if they have a philosophical message which is in tune with challenging … the culture of the West,” Milad Dokhanchi, an Iranian-Canadian independent documentary filmmaker who is currently living in Tehran, tells FOX411.com.

Even though Hollywood movies (albeit a revised version) is shown in Iran, most people do not see Hollywood movies on the big screen because they can just buy bootleg copies.  The uncut pirated DVDs are sold for one or two dollars and widely accessible.  One of the reasons is because there is no copyright law in Iran, which means there is no punishment for selling or buying these DVDs.

The article also describes that Turkey has less censorship as far as sexuality and that Lebanon hardly edits the films that are shown in the theaters. 

[Global Studio]

Do you suppose that people who buy uncut, pirated DVDs are worried that they might be punished because of the content of the films? The graphic novel/film "Persepolis" has a scene in which pirated rock music is sold clandestinely on the streets, and it was clearly illegal to be distributing something so 'unIslamic'.