نشریه هنرهای زیبا - هنرهای نمایشی و موسیقی
پیاپی 72 (زمستان 1400)

Throughout the history of art, the study of metaphors has been among the most important discussions within various art forms, especially in literature. In the modern era, the analysis and application of metaphor is expanded over a wider spectrum of disciplines, including cognitive sciences, philosophy, and performing arts. There is a classic view in regards to metaphor, maintaining that the term is just a linguistic phenomenon and not a conceptual one. On the other hand, a new approach to the concept of metaphor, is the theory of “conceptual metaphors” proposed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. This second view, known as the cognitive view, recognizes the human body and the concepts regarding physical, tangible aspects of life as the origin of many metaphors. As we read in the introduction to their theory, Lakoff and Johnson believe in three main findings based on the cognitive science. The findings are as follows: the mind is innately embodied; thought is generally unconscious; and  abstract concepts are primarily metaphorical. In theatrical directing, “mise-en-scene” is one of the major elements of the play which contributes significantly to the creation of visual aesthetics on stage. Nowadays, mise-en-scene not only affects the positions of the actors and their motions, but also includes other major elements such as composition, picturization, and motion with all the other elements of performance such as decor, costumes, music, and lighting. The question presented in this study is how visual metaphors on stage are created through mise-en-scene. Since visual and physical forms are of great significance in theater, the approach employed by the present study towards mise-en-scene and its relationship with visual metaphors is based on the theory of conceptual metaphors. In order to analyze this proposition, this approach is applied to Bahram Beyzai’s play, Eighth Journey of Sindbad.  This work includes various metaphors in its text and performance thus serving as a good example for the use of metaphors and their significance in this study. In order to answer the presented question which regards the process of creating pictorial metaphors and metaphors that are indicated in the original text through mise-en-scene, first the generalized metaphors and specifically the main conceptual metaphors in Eighth Journey of Sindbad are marked: “life is a journey”, “time passing is motion”, “argument is war” and “orientational and spatialization metaphors”. Various scenes of the text representing these metaphors are shown and their mise-en-scenes are analyzed in a way that describes the process of shaping the intended metaphor as a visual metaphor based on the concept of the very scene through mise-en-scene. The aspects of metaphor in composition and picturization, motion and action are particularly analyzed. In addition to that, the role of audio-visual elements for devising metaphorical mise-en-scenes are examined—such as decor and scenic design and accessories, makeup and costume design, lighting, music and sound design. According to the results of this study, the visual metaphors are capable of being created through mise-en-scene, stage composition, and audio-visual elements of the play on the stage.

Understanding the effects of social and ideological components in animated films, especially on its intended audience, namely children and adolescents, is important. The gender stereotypes that are introduced to us as children are reinforced throughout our lives. Audiences absorb the concepts of these workss and in return relate them to their own individual lives and current values of the society. Walt Disney Company animations have always been one of the most fascinating pastimes for children and teenagers. Among the subjects of these works, the representation of female characters has been one of the main themes of Disney animation productions. The company's first feature-length animated film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, released in 1937.  80 years later, Zootopia was released in 2016. The evolution of gender and personality stereotypes in these works over the past years, given the cultural context in which they are produced, is a thought-provoking process. The influence of cultural and social factors on the studio's heroism can clearly be seen, just as the producers of these works follow certain strategies and policies to represent the content of the films. In this article, 13 examples of the most important works of the Disney Company from the period between 1937 to 2016 have been selected as the subjects of this research. Selected animations are chosen from works in which the female protagonist is the main axis of the story. The main issue in this research is how women are represented in the content of Walt Disney Studios animation media and the evolution of this representation in the direction of its productions. The reason for choosing these works was the impact of the studio's intellectual and cultural developments on gender stereotypes in the context of their production. The research question is how the representation and meaning of animation media of the image of the female heroine in these works has been depicted and how this representation is influenced by discourse, ideology and values of the time in which the movie was produced and finally how the female hero evolves from the first to the last Disney animation. This study tries to analyze the desired works based on the theories and approaches of representation, in order to evaluate the representation of the female protagonist and its evolution in Walt Disney animation cinema. In this paper, explicit, implicit and ideological implications are analyzed using Roland Barthes' three-level semiotic model. Findings indicate major changes in the process of representing female characters in these productions; the way female heroes are represented from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century, the changes of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and the changes of the last decade. These developments can be considered contemporaneous and influenced by the first to third waves of the feminist movement.

This article attempts to obtain an accurate definition of the structure of amal, one of the most significant forms of old Iranian music. In order to do this, all the definitions of amal, as recorded in the treatises of the Montazamiye School, have been analyzed and compared with each other. Then, after the clarification of the structural characteristics and content of amal, six types of this form are recorded with the help of formulas. Afterwards, the branches (sub-groups) of amal, namely kar and rikhte, have been explored. Afterwards, the structure and content of two tasnifs, recorded in the treatises Jame’ al-Alhan and Maqased al-Alhan by Abd al-Qadir Maraghi, have been analyzed and compared to the characteristics of amal in the treatises. It is concluded that the two aforementioned tasnifs are a type of amal. Therefore, by analyzing these tasnifs, a concrete example of the compositional method of vocal music in old Iranian music, as well as an instance of amal, is presented. The results of this article present a practical method for the composition of amal and its branches for Iranian composers. After studying and comparing the available definitions of amal in the treatises of the Montazamiye School and analyzing the observations of Safavid writers, it is determined that amal in its primitive structure is composed of three constituents, namely sarkhane, miankhane, and bazgooy. However, it is also possible to multiply each of the miankhane and bazgooy constituents. Therefore, in an expanded form, amal has a five-part structure consisting of sarkhane, the first miankhane, the second miankhane, the first bazgooy and the second bazgooy. As it was mentioned, between these two initial and expanded forms, two possibilities may also occur, which result from the multiplication of only one of the constituents of miankhane and bazgooy. The present research also demonstrates that two genres kar and rikhte, categorized as types of tasnif in the treatises, are derived from amal. The characteristics of kar can be explained in this way: if the initial sentence or sentences of the sarkhane of amal convey alfaz-e naqarat instead of poetry, amal-e mostahel or kar is formed. In addition, the characteristics of rikhte, as the second branch of amal, can be explained thus: with the removal of the independence of each of the constituents which shape amal, by suspending the meaning of the last phrase in each section, a musical piece is obtained which has lost the independence of meaning of the constituent parts. This lack of complete closure for each section and the formation of a kind of connection and dependence by suspending the ending of each section on a suspended degree lead to the formation of a form called rikhte derived from amal. The investigations of this article prove the flexible nature of old Iranian music forms and demonstrate that by relying on old forms, it is possible to create new forms that would fulfil the present needs of contemporary Iranian music.

The question of “identity” has been a critical problem in the context of Iranian musical tradition. A three step approach is used in this article in order to best address this important and pending issue.  First, the authors identify how this problem is built in a society focusing on a musical culture.  Secondly, the number and more specifically which discourses are formed around this issue are introduced and discussed.  Lastly, the authors propose how to classify Iranian classical repertoire using these data.Initially it is important to explain the conditions of recognizing “identity” as a problem. It seems that reference identity, other’s identity, communication and information development are three critical components in forming the issue. The first refers to a society which has some specific characteristics. The second, “other’s identity” is a reference to a comparison of other cultures with different identity characteristics. In the 20th century, the most significant comparison of other’s identity is with the western culture. The third component has become effective since information technology is influencing cultures specifically in the second part of the 20th century. The second step is analysis of discourses about identity, is discussed through a genealogy of several expressions that are used for naming and explaining Iranian tradition, by different classes of opinions in the culture. The first expression is Melli (national) music. This thought of musical identity comes from an idea that tradition is closely related to national identity which is the conclusion of Alinaghi Vaziri’s school of thought. One of the most prominent characteristics of the discourse, is that it accepts some western musical values as a means to modernizing music. The second expression is Sonnati (Traditional) music which is focusing on a historical heritage as the main identical idea. Reference and the main source of authentication in this thought, is the Radif as classified repertoire of the Qajar era which is the central repertoire of the discourse. The third expression is Dastagahi music which is the name of traditional Iranian musical language. The importance of this expression is due to the specific musicological approach rather than nonmusical nomenclature from the previous categories mentioned. Its approach to the internal content of music is unique and significant in the tradition as a whole. The content of the music in these two last discourses are intergrade able. The last cornerstone expression is ‘Iranian classical music’. This is a music-based terminology and has been used frequently in the last 30 years. This expression tries to overcome the identity challenge by collecting various aspects of words that represent a comprehensive musical perspective. This expression has a wide and unified view about the identity of tradition; while representing its own ideal repertoire that is a continuation from the historical tradition of Iranian music. With reference from another research by the same authors: Recognition of Central Features as Characteristic Elements in Iranian Classical Music (2020), the classification of terminology and repertoire representation brings together the categories of Sonnati and Dastgahi whilst separating Melli repertoire as another genre and using ‘Iranian classical repertoire’ as a general term that represents all of these aforementioned categories. On the other hand, there is a repertoire that could not be classified as part of the Iranian classical context but it’s a part of western classical repertoire which apply some characteristic elements of Iranian music. They are referred to as Iranian-based (western) classical repertoire.

This essay examines the most important elements on the formation of globalization, and cosmopolitan thought, and then examines its effects on Qatsi trilogy directed by Godfrey Reggio. The term of globalization is a significant concept in the field of interdisciplinary studies and has entered into other broad fields such as sociology, political, economic, moral and cultural orientations. Throughout modern history, intellectuals such as Immanuel Kant, tried to understand cosmopolitanism and world peace. Kant in his book “Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch” used these notions as a theoretical framework by reconsidering the issue of world peace, and puts before the rulers the principles that he believes will lead to the establishment of lasting and eternal peace in the world. Also, we have referred to the views of other theorists in this field. In this article, Godfrey Reggio's trilogy including Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance (1982), Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation (1988), and Naqoyqatsi: Life as War (2002) are analyzed based on this idea. The fundamental question addressed here is to what extent Qatsi trilogy has been influenced by globalization and cosmopolitanism ideology, and also how much these movies have used the basic concepts of this ideology. In Koyaanisqatsi, we refer to Anthony Giddens' view of modernity and the globalization of inseparable phenomena, one of which cannot be explained or understood without the other. According to Giddens, "modernity is inherently globalizing". He defines this as a spatial-temporal process when it can be identified in any important aspect of contemporary social life. Throughout the film, we see countless elements of modernity that, according to Giddens, lead us to globalization. In Naqoyqatsi we are confronted with an issue called war and terrorism, which is one of the hidden concepts of this documentary. Therefore, referring to Kant's democratic peace by which he pointed to the possibility of avoiding war, and raised the issue of tolerance, emphasizing the need for education in this field among societies to prevent war. So we come to the important issue of tolerance, and whether humanity, made up of governments and their citizens, can achieve peace through tolerance in a world where the fires of small and large wars are rising at every moment. The reason seems to be that without tolerance, there will be neither a global citizen nor a cosmopolitan. In Powaqqatsi, we have addressed the issue of the arduous work of labors in the third world for the advancement of modern societies. Then, based on John Rawls' ideal theory of the rationality of universal justice, we have tried to provide an appropriate answer to the question of injustices in the real world. This film calls for a global change for the benefit of humanity and the environment. Finally, according to the analysis and examination of the various dimensions of this idea, we conclude that this idea has influenced this trilogy from different angles due to its coverage of universal themes and broad semantic dimensions.

This study examines female musicians during the Qajar dynasty. The purpose of this article is to find out how female musicians worked in this period. The data provided by this study is based on 118 paintings belonging to that era, which indicate that the number of paintings of female musicians and dancers were more than men. One of the main reasons for the portrayal of women was the order of the kings and the decision of the patron. Although the king was a very decisive factor in this regard, the relation between gender and the musical instruments cannot be fully understood by relying on paintings alone. The elements that can be studied, however, showed that among the common instruments of the Qajar period such as: Tār, Setār, Daf, Naqāra and finger cymbals were seen more in the hands of women whereas the Tonbak, Kamānče and Santour were seen more in the hands of men. In addition to the instruments mentioned, some instruments such as Tanbire Nobān, Dāyere and Čang have only been seen once in the iconographic examples. The Čang became obsolete from the late Safavid, but the illustrator of the book One Thousand and One Nights has depicted a relatively imaginary instrument. In the Qajar period, unlike the previous periods, -such as the Timurid and Safavid, painters were less concerned about drawing with details. In the paintings of this period, the number of mentioned components varies greatly. There are two possible reasons for this negligence: lack of knowledge of Qajar painters about music and instrumental details and drawing the general state of the instruments.  Regarding the instruments, the difference that can be seen compared to the previous eras is showing the perspective, the bowl of instruments, in the paintings. In this study, only in two paintings, a man performing acrobatic moves and two men dancing together were seen, and also in a painting of Kamal-Al-Molk, “drag queens” were seen. Naturally, considering that the painters mainly depicted the interior of the court and the women's gatherings, the absence of drag queens in such occasions and subsequently paintings, can be justified. However, according to some written sources, sometimes these boys had the privilege to go inside the women’s quarters. In this study, the presence of women in the paintings, was divided into three categories: single, female and mixed gatherings. In the mixed ones, female dancers and musicians were seen around and next to the caliphs, who were probably the king's women. Other paintings depict women in the presence of the caliphs and his guests, a woman in a group of men, and a group of musicians including male and female dancers and musicians. Compared to paintings from previous periods such as the Safavid, it can be said that the above dancers were prostitutes. Numerous dances were also common during this period, and dancing with knives and [wine] glasses was new compared to previous periods. This research is fundamental in terms of purpose, analytical-descriptive in terms of method and historical in terms of nature.