نشریه هنرهای زیبا - هنرهای نمایشی و موسیقی
پیاپی 80 (زمستان 1402)

Popular music can be a venue where the demands of society are revealed, especially the trends of the youth. Therefore, studying this type of music from different angles, apart from the analysis of musical issues related to it, gives the possibility of revealing many of the internal events of a particular society at a particular time. In addition to its broad musical characteristics and styles, popular music is one of the important manifestations of social changes. The other two branches of music, classical and folk music, with all the different titles such as scholarly/serious/artistic for the former, and folk for the latter, are due to their stability/limitations, as they should be, they cannot provide researchers with the possibility of studying the fluid and cultural conditions of society. The bias of active currents of a society towards a particular style or genre of music often indicates the existence of some tendencies and desires in the society which are not necessarily expressed directly. Some of these tendencies can be expressed or satisfied through popular music. After all, popular music makes it possible to create criteria for distinguishing between elite and popular culture. Considering the increase in the tendency towards Anglo-American popular music styles in Iran, the overall goal of this research is to analyze the cultural foundations of the acceptability/unacceptability of Anglo-American popular music in Iran, through a multifaceted study that examines the reasons for the increase in the tendency towards this type of music and its prevalence. This research focuses on the last few decades. The types of tendencies of popular music in Iran, that is, a branch that is derived from and imitates western popular music, including those from the prominent singers and groups, from the beginning of this type of music in Iran. At the beginning,  the predominance of Latin and Eastern European music is studied. A few decades later, an increasing trend towards Anglo-American music in the late period, along with the stylistic features of these music, have been identified and analyzed and classified. To analyze the causes of these trends, either from the point of view of melodic quality, with the proximity of Latin and Eastern European popular music aesthetics to Iranian aesthetics, or from the perspective of the relationship of lyrics  and music, especially Anglo-American popular music styles in its adaptation  to characteristics of the Persian language. The issue of imitation, is identified with the initial appearances of Anglo-American popular music in Iran, and versus original pieces by Iranian musicians. The main findings of this research, in addition to identifying many incompatibilities of Anglo-American music in melodic and verbal fields with the aesthetics of Iranian music, indicate the increasing tendency of musicians and audiences towards Anglo-American popular music, especially in terms of content, as well as the ability to provide the possibility of trans-regional exchanges.

Painting is an art form that reflects our imagination (or internal vision) or our perspective of our surroundings. One of Children’s use of paintings is to realize and depict dream and insights that are sometimes unattainable for them. Children do not select drawing instruments randomly; their choice indicates their personality. Painting is a natural process for a child, and due to insufficient verbal expression, children prefer to use art for communication. A child expresses their feelings for such things as dreams, hopes, nightmares, fears and joys by using line, form and color in drawing. Lines and forms that apparently may not mean anything special to anyone else, reflect and reveal their character traits. The important period of childhood painting starts from  age 2 and continues until 13. This period is divided into different intervals in terms of a child’s cognative and verbal ability such as 2 to 3 years old, 3 to 5 years old, 5 to 8 years old and 8 to 13 years old. Identification with children’s ability to express themselves through visual art has always received much attention by various individuals, including artists who attempt to attract children via a variety of methods. Animation is considered an artistic and captivating media for children that can make the impossible world possible for them; therefore, it can be used to convey concepts to children. Drawing one of the popular cartoon characters in the world of animation is interesting for them. Children see themselves in these animations and observe that their favorite hero can do and experience things that they cannot do in their real life. Children normally intend to be in the place of their favorite cartoon characters. This reaction can be vividly observed in children's drawings as they take their favorite characters as role models. Animation artists, such as the painter and animator, Farshid Shafiei, have created a lot of art work with this vision. Shafiei can be regarded as an illustrator, writer and animation director. In his works, Shafiei attempts to discover new visual possibilities and in each animation, he extracts potential capacities and pursues a story of abstraction. Mahdiyar is also a child whose paintings have been observed and analyzed from the age of 3 to 8. Using an integrated consensus of pediatric psychologists, the present study attemptes to persuade a functional psychological view on this demography, based on collecting data from library/field sources and audio-visual archives as well as case studies. Hence, three short animation films: Persimmon, My Dad’s Car, and Sidewalk produced by Farshid Shafiei and selected works of Mahdiyar have been chosen and analyzed. The result indicates that children’s painting can be a special source for creating animation in a new style in terms of simplicity in style, color and illustration that can create appropriate suitable connection with the audienc.

This study explores the aesthetic manifestation of mono no aware, a term in Japanese philosophy and thought, in Japanese animation productions. This research explicates whether this concept is present within Japanese animations, and if so, in what manifestations. These issues are in the heart of the present research. Understanding this Japanese philosophical concept and examining its presence in Japanese animations can contribute to a better comprehension of the worldview that governs these animations.  The primary objective of this research is to explain the meaning of mono no aware in philosophy and aesthetics, and then to analyze the representation of this concept in Japanese animations. The study also delves into how the dramatic effect and manifestation of mono no aware are formed in Japanese animation. In addition, this research investigates how this concept manifests in the scene graphic and musical aspects of the investigated works. Furthermore, the present study examines the function of Mono no aware in shaping the characters of the animation's personages. The approach used in this research is descriptive-analytical utilizing library sources. The opinions of thinkers such as Motoori Norinaga and Onishi Yoshinori are examined to explain the main features of the mono no aware concept. Subsequently, two animations, To the Forest of Firefly Lights and Wolf Children, are analyzed using a semiotic approach. Images from these scenes are incorporated into the research for better clarification. The research findings are presented in two charts depicting the manifestation of the concept in each examined work. Despite the qualitative nature of this research, charts are included to illustrate a relative comparison between the two animations. These charts display the obtained scales of examined parts, including characterization, dramatic effect, scene graphic, and music. The research results indicate that in both animations, mono no aware is present to varying degrees, with a predominant manifestation in characterization and scene graphic, respectively. It is also evident, to some extent, in dramatic effect and music. The influence of narrative on all these aspects is crucial for obtaining these results. A significant secondary finding suggests that mono no aware is sometimes manifested in metaphors and legends within Japanese animation stories, such as Gin's fading in To the Forest of Firefly Lights or the death of the werewolf in Wolf Children. Sometimes manifestation of mono no aware is in the verbal literature and the behavior of the characters. Furthermore, according to the research findings, it has a fundamental role in the dramatization of a number of Japanese animations. These aspects not only provide a new perspective for the audience but also contribute to enriching and added layers of the narrative. Thus, it is apparent that Mono no aware can be manifested in Japanese animation, whether subtly or profoundly, over short or extended durations. Understanding the concept of Mono no aware proves valuable for comprehending the stories of Japanese animations and the art and culture of that region. Consequently, an enhanced realization of Japanese philosophy leads to a deeper understanding of the meaning of Japanese animations, suggesting a connection between Mono no aware and Japanese animations.

Memory and Cinema Studies have emphasized the importance of representing traumatic experiences by means of special structural and visual arrangements. Most screen studies have explored avant-garde films and the discovery of their capabilities, particular innovations and flashbacks. In fact, structuralist/materialist films in the 1960s, which inherited the legacy of 20s European avant-garde cinema, have innovative technical and aesthetic elements that potentially are capable of depicting experiences similar to trauma. According to Maureen Cheryn Turim’s writing about cinematic flashback, these films, which are fragmented and disjointed due to the unpleasant experiences after the war and the industrialization of societies and also the impact of modernism on the mind and body, are exactly similar and equivalent to the traumatic flashback (return of trauma to the mind). To better understand this issue, it would be helpful to look at the inherent characteristics of trauma in the studies of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) researchers and psychologists in this field. In this regard, familiarity with Chris Brewin’s situational accessible memory (SAM) in dealing with traumatic memory and Laub and Auerhahn’s eight spectrum of forms of knowing and not knowing trauma will be helpful for identifying trauma’s characteristics and reaching out a deeper understanding of the relationship between trauma psychology and trauma cinema. This research applies the statements of P. Adams Sitney, a historian of American avant-garde cinema, and two famous avant-garde cinema theoretician and filmmakers such as Malcolm Le Grice and Peter Gidal in order to provide a detailed description of structuralist/materialist film features. It is determined that some of the features of these types of films such as ambiguous images, attention to material, constant repetition of images, flickering effect in light, rejecting all content and narrative and so forth are very similar to the undecipherable and unknown memories resulting from the traumatic event. For this reason, Paul Taberham, according to the cognitive film theory, considers avant-garde filmmakers as practical psychologists, who use innovation in narrative and visual structures to impact on the viewer's memory and visual perception.Therefore, an avant-garde and materialist filmmaker creates different and complex perceptual and receptive activities and brings specific and indescribable mentalities into reality. Robert Breer who was an American experimental filmmaker, which influenced by modernist arts, utilizes special innovation and initiative in his single-frame concrete animations to perform the flashback’s shock, disorientation and perceptual fatigue. Therefore, Breer is known as a practical psychologist which on the verge of representation and abstraction, stability and instability of shapes and creating Instability between motion and stillness, creates tensions between deep space and the flat picture of the screen. In conclusion, we will address how it is possible to create perceptual stimuli and create an experimental animation similar to the traumatic mind of today's human being.

The multidimensional nature of mourning, which has various definitions in religion, metaphysical beliefs, and culture, encompasses the content of death and resurrection of the fertility god. Music, as one of the elements of mourning rituals, expresses communal grief to mourners and contains symbolic aspects and meaning for the respective cultures. The multidisciplinary phenomenon of music, apart from having artistic aspects, has a function related to human beliefs, especially in many ancient civilizations, with specific focus on Central Asia.This qualitative paper has chosen a painting from Iqbālnāma of Nizami, N.4363, from the National Museum of Iran, with the theme of Mourning for Iskandar. The purpose of choosing this artwork was the multiplicity of musical instruments, which was rare among other mourning paintings. These instruments are depicted in a more realistic style, thus suitable for this research's approach. On the other hand, Iskander has a high position in Iranian literature, history, and mythology, which makes his identity linked with mourning rituals. This painting has been studied using a purposive sampling method with a historical-analytical approach based on Erwin Panofsky's iconography method and library sources. The present study also intends to explain the function of musical instruments in mourning rituals to answer these two questions: "What musical instruments were used in mourning rituals?" and "What are the symbolic meanings and functions of these musical instruments?"In the first stage, a pre-iconographic description using the morphological analysis of the instruments in the painting and the names and formal characteristics of the instruments, such as shape, material, holding the instrument, gender of the musician, etc., were revealed. These instruments include membranophones and idiophones, such as Daf, Dayere, Sanj (Cymbals), Dohul, Tabireh (Tambourines), Tabl (Drums), and the aerophones (Ney), which are also seen in other paintings related to the Mourning of Iskandar (e.g., the painting in the National Library of Paris). The iconography analysis found that similar instruments were used for mourning in the painter's contemporary period (Safavid) and historical and even mythical mourning rituals. Although there is no mention of musical instruments in Iskandar's mourning in Iqbālnāma, mourning rituals originated from rain-making rituals, in which the common elements, both imitate the resurrection of the fertility or rain god (such as Siavosh and Tishtar). This mythological archetype has been reduced through several stages of transformation, from rain-making rituals and dramas to mourning for the king or the god/goddess, and its narrative elements, such as playing musical instruments, were recreated in the mourning rituals of historical and epic heroes (Iskander).Therefore, the mourning instruments in Iskandar's mourning and rain-making rituals from Siavosh and Ishtar originate from similar archetypal functions. These instruments usually have a direct relationship with the concepts of mourning and rain-making in terms of the word’s etymology and morphology. From mythological history until now, each instrument symbolizes the act of ‘asking for rain and sustenance from the sky to the earth’. At some point in mythological history, its symbolic function was common, and gradually, its symbolic aspect has been reduced and has become a normal ceremony for mourning the dead.

This article investigates the symbolic and emotional roles of color in Corpse Bride (2005), a full-length stop-motion picture directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson. Using a qualitative research method, the method of color utilization is used to illustrate the characters, and the dichotomy of the sociocultural conditions depicted in the two story settings within the film. The applied colors convey emotional impressions and symbolic meanings, which can be attributed to the theories of color aesthetics expressed by Johannes Itten. Both the lighting color and color of visual elements imply various meanings, reflecting the characters' moods and feelings as well as their social, cultural contexts and the atmosphere of their places. The filmmakers have been successful in this attempt as they use colors artfully for specific times and places of the story. Generally, in Burton’s films, the protagonist journeys to a colored world, sometimes through a means of transition or passing through a rabbit-hole. In Corpse Bride, the hero struggles between the two worlds of the dead and living. One is designed in a boring and miserable atmosphere like a living world, it is in contrast with the dead world, which is colorful with sense of vitality of life and freeness. The living world is concurrent with the Victorian era (19th century Britain), experiencing the dominant issues of the Industrial Revolution. As the story takes place in this period, the study describes how the applied colors work as the elements showing the moods and emotional feelings of the characters that living world is expressed with their own specific colors. The directors presented such a difference through using types of opposing colors. Two color palettes constitute the color values utilized to depict the world. Each palette contains colors to help reflect particular traits of its own world which root in its ruling ideology and the hero’s attitudes, behaviors and beliefs. Therefore, the colors in the dead world are pure saturated values that depict a pleasant atmosphere, whereas a range of saturated values in gray illustrate the living world to be depressing and gloomy. In fact, the directors reveal the unhappy feelings of the living world through a series of combined gray colors to show its residents in their own society involved with strict matters and hardships. The film shows two types of worlds, one extracted from the real world and the other comes from their imagination. Although they both display the places of a story, they are considerably different in terms of their creation as parts of visual elements for an animated film. Developing the living world’s concept, the directors might be assisted by experiences of the real world as they know, as well as studying the Victorian era, while creation of the dead world was only dependent on his imagination of such an unseen world. Thus, the main significant reason for showing these objective and subjective worlds was the particular utilization of color in order to contrast and depict the mindset attributed to each place.