Modernized Iranian family and its critique in late Pahlavi era cinema1

This article examines the transformation of the Iranian family during the Pahlavi era through the lens of cinema, focusing on FilmFarsi and the Iranian New Wave. It argues that modernization did not replace traditional values but recontextualized them within an emerging consumerist and visual culture. Drawing on Marx’s concept of commodity fetishism and Debord’s society of the spectacle, the study shows how the family – historically rooted in economic and religious structures – came to function as a commodified image within the modern urban landscape. Through readings of three FilmFarsi works – The Brother (1971), I Am Going to Buy a Dad (1974) and The Nightwatch (1975) – the article demonstrates how the lower urban classes encounter the family as a desirable yet often unattainable ideal consumer spectacle. In contrast, Dariush Mehrjui’s Mr. Gullible (1970) offers an explicit critique of commodification, framing it as symptomatic of moral decline and the erosion of patriarchal values. By distinguishing between the explicit critique of New Wave cinema and the critique-enabled representations of FilmFarsi, the article highlights the multiplicity of responses to modernization. It ultimately argues that the Iranian family’s evolution reflects not rupture but an ongoing negotiation between tradition and competing visions of modernity.