Politics of Othering and Censorship in Iranian Cinema

Abstract Two recognized red lines exist in Iranian cinema: a moral one and a political one. The moral line protects the sanctity of modesty and the family, while the political protects the principles of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This article examines modes of censorship in Iran by looking at written regulations, unwritten norms and the ways of cinematic representation. It delves into censorship as a continuum in its visible and invisible forms. The visible is explicit censorship that takes hold in the process of representation and draws attention to what has been censored. On the other hand, the invisible includes less apparent forms of control, the ordinary ways of curtailing expression. What follows is a description of ten types of censorship and their exclusionary nature in relation to the macro censorship red lines that lead to self-censorship on a micro level, both in movies and everyday life.