Iran's "Body of Desire"
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The Iranian "Body of Desire"
No, no, nobody is desiring the body of Mahmoud Ahmad-something or other. Well, maybe the Israelis. But not in any sexual way (excluding, of course, the former night club bouncer *wink* Avigdor Lieberman who has a thing for Persians).
No: The real "Body of Desire" is a Columbian telenovela other wise known as "El Cuerpo Del Desceo" that is driving Iranian women into constantly washing their burkas and pushing the mullahs into seething madness in rage over those sexy Columbians.
Iran is, of course, a repressive nation as the fanatical kooks running the state obsess over "Western corruption" penetrating their nation in the form of movies and music. Iranians often have to hide their purchase of American films and music. And needless to say, Western-style parties are strictly forbidden by the religious police who roam the county seeking to keep people, especially the young, in line with their brand of fundamentalism Islam.
But - as oppressed people everywhere - Iranians resist. To live is often to resist. And they find ways to buck the suffocating authoritarianism in their country by creating a black market. And telenovelas are no excepción:
In the past the state reacted by confiscating dishes on rooftops, which led merely to fresh orders. Nowadays, the authorities prefer to jam the offending signal, which is a lot more complicated but quite a bit more effective. But this too is generating opportunities of its own.
Since the summer, conservatives have become alarmed by the hold that Farsi1’s fatuous fare was exerting over huge numbers of mainly urban Iranians. No middle-class dinner party, it seemed, was complete without analysis of Salvador (above), the hunky hero of “Body of Desire”, a Colombian telenovela. Conservatives responded by denouncing Farsi1’s “corrupting” effects, and its signal was jammed at the end of July.
Since then, the channel has begun broadcasting from a different satellite. Middle-class Iranians needed help in reorientating their dishes accordingly. “I had to wait for days,” says one viewer, “and when the satellite man finally did come, he spent his time receiving calls from other clients, who wanted him to go and fix their dishes.” She hopes to counter future disruption with the help of a remote device that allows her to change the angle of her dish from her living room. Best of all, “Body of Desire” still has several years to run.
The telenovela may outlast the corrupt and morally bankrupt Iranian regime.
