Document Type : Original Article

Author

• Mohammad Ali Bidokhti

Assistant Professor, Department of Handicraft, University of Birjand, Birjand

Abstract

In the sociology of art, by looking at artworks from the outside important aspects of their production, distribution and reception are revealed. In the other hand, one of the best methods to study various subjects related to cultural productions is to study how they are represented in the media and cinema. Cinema is the most important art of the contemporary world that in which the reflections of many cultural and social issues can be studied. Thus, by studying the method of reflecting the sociological dimensions of the Persian carpet phenomenon in the art of cinema, it is possible to achieve a true recognition of the situation and status of handmade carpets in the cultural and social spheres of contemporary Iran. The purpose of this paper is to study how the sociological dimensions of handmade carpets were represented in the movie "Persian Carpet", which was made in 2006 as a collection of 15 short films by 15 prominent Iranian filmmakers. The main purpose of this research was to know the image and composition that was reflected in the sociological dimensions of Persian handmade carpets in the film "Iranian Carpet" as an outstanding film in this field. Research is based on theoretical opinions of Victoria Alexander (Cultural Diamond) and Nathalie Heinich (Mediation) and the methods of data collection were observing the mentioned film, and studying the printed texts and also Internet. The type of research is descriptive-analytical and the method of analysis is qualitative. The results obtained in this study showed that the sociological aspects of hand-woven carpets were not adequately represented in this film and only in four of the 15 episodes, a good emphasis was observed on this field.  In contrast, there was observed a lot of attention to the aesthetical attractions as well as cultural and identity dimensions of handmade carpets. Moreover, in four films focusing on sociological issues, while all four elements including production, mediation, distribution and consumption have received necessary emphasis, more attention was paid to the field of production and mediation, and less attention was paid to the field of distribution and consumption. Finally, in the field of consumption, the focus was on global consumption.

Keywords

• Iran
• Handwoven Carpet
• Sociology of Art
• Cinema
• Economy