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Masculinity, Comedy, and Control: Davoud Esmaili and The Taming of the Shrew
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Mohammadtaghi Ghasemi   , Fatemeh Bornaki * , Abbas Godarzi |
| Department of English, Ka.C., Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran. |
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Abstract: (836 Views) |
Few dramatists have achieved the global reach and adaptability of William Shakespeare. In Iran during the Pahlavi era (1925–1979), Shakespeare’s works entered cinema in ways shaped by modernization, secularization, and Western influence, yet mediated by censorship and persistent patriarchal norms. While tragedies addressing regicide and royal authority were largely unstageable, filmmakers adapted “safe” plays like The Taming of the Shrew into the commercial filmfarsi genre, blending melodrama, comedy, and spectacle. Davoud Esmaili’s 1969 feature The Cat Is Killed at the Bridal Chamber, inspired by both Shakespeare’s play and Zeffirelli’s 1967 film adaptation, exemplifies this process, presenting the comedy through exaggerated humor while normalizing masculine aggression and female subordination. Employing Linda Hutcheon’s theory of adaptation and Laura Mulvey’s concept of the male gaze, this article examines how the film reinterprets The Taming of the Shrew not as critique but as reinforcement of patriarchal authority, revealing how filmfarsi both reflected and intensified gender hierarchies.
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| Keywords: Shakespeare, Adaptation, Iranian Cinema, Filmfarsi, Masculine Violence |
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2025/12/27 | Accepted: 2026/02/4 | Published: 2024/09/21
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