History, Domination, Infiltration, and Opposition in the Film Industry A Review of the Iranian and World Cinema

Since its inception, the film industry has been at the service of the goals of colonial, intellectual, and cultural policies and has become a tool for infiltration and cultural transformation in the target communities. The emergence and development of this industry shows that, given its appeal to the general public, this phenomenon has always been at the heart of the cultural policies of colonial states towards other countries and cultures. In fact, the film industry can be considered the cultural infantry of the hard policies of the gluttonous states. Presenting a historical overview of the emergence and development of the film industry in the world, this article, first, attempts to demonstrate that this industry has been used as a power instrument by colonial states. The second part of the article is a review of the story of the cinema in the pre-revolutionary period, which confirms the policy of cultural infiltration of colonialists adopted by the Shah’s regime. Finally, the post-revolutionary Iranian cinema policy is discussed. The results of the present research underline the point that religious, revolutionary, and cultural potentials of Iranian cinema have not been properly explored and are in need of paying more attention.