Interpreting Farsi 1: The Case of Victoria and Iranian Women

In this article we examine how Iranian women put an interpretation on Victoria, a very popular satellite TV series on Farsi One channel. Based on Active Audience Theory especially Cross-cultural Consumption, audiences consume media texts in different manners. By using qualitative method and in depth interviews with 30 women, we try to show that watching Victoria series produces a kind of excessive enthusiasm that leads to the emergence of “Love of Watching” or “Watchophilia”. Moreover female audiences of this TV series interpret Victoria’s role (the heroine) as independent and assertive. Presenting an assertive woman filled the female audience with delight. Findings showed that having empathy with the heroine is a strong mechanism in watching TV series. Comparing real conditions of female viewers’ lives with visual text is subject to controversy among them. This process has led to the formation of an active reading around judgments about feminine roles and expectations from it based on show of Victoria’s role. Family, occupation and educational major are variables effective on this kind of reading. Moreover we will try to argue that “drawing comparisons between the viewers and the characters” is the dominant aspect in reading Victoria series among Iranian women