Nexus between Masculinity and Culture in Cyrus Nowrasteh’sThe Stoning of Soraya M.

Abstract

This research work explores the nexus between masculinity and culture in The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008). Soraya, the protagonist of the movie is the victim ofstrict Muslim culture of her society. She is also the victim of masculinity and stoning culture. Despite her innocence, Soraya is stoned to death blaming her an adultress. Due to strict rules and norms of her culture she has to accept this cruel fate. Including Soraya, other female characters are also restrictedby social and cultural taboos. But they cannot raise their voice against such dominations due to male’s control towards female. Soraya can be taken as an example of courageous lady to fightagainst male’s superiority. Only females have become the victims of their culture but not males. It is because males are regarded as the decision mekers and they heve power to control females. But females have a very low status in the society due to masculinity. Muslim/ Iranian Feminism is taken as a significant approach to analyze the movie in this research work. Anitta Kynsilehto’s Islamic Feminism as well as Miriam Cooke’s Women ClaimIslam are taken as supporting theoretical toolto analyze the text. Likewise, cinematography has played a significant role in the movie.Various cinematic techniques used in the movie clearly present central character’s suffering.The cinematography which consists of camera angle, light, setting, dialogue etc justifies the suffering and pathetic condition of the protagonist and other characters. Light is very necessary to create an image exposureon a frame of film. Lighting contributes to the emotional response to an audience watching a film.