The following is the full text of the speech delivered on July 3, 2010 by Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution in a meeting with the artists and staff of the IRIB.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
I wish to welcome the dear friends, brothers, sisters and the prominent and valuable artists. I have not had a meeting with such an audience, and I have not had the opportunity to listen to their views and see the popular faces of the people whose names and faces I have only seen on TV.
Thankfully, I found this opportunity today. I personally met with many of the dear friends and listened to their comments. Meeting you dear friends is interesting for me. Be sure that if there was more time, I would stay several hours longer today and listen to the comments of more people, and maybe all those who had something to tell me. Your comments are useful to me. Face-to-face meetings can challenge preconceptions or help convey the points that one believes should be conveyed.
There is a shortage of time. I mean there is not enough time to discuss everything that I have noted down today because we will naturally have to end the meeting when it is time for midday prayers. We will have to end this meeting at adhan. There is about 25-30 minutes to discuss the points I have in mind.
The reason I said I am prepared and patient enough to listen to all your comments is that the IRIB, especially the dramatic arts department, is more important today than ever before. I am not at all indifferent to TV programs. I do not have this attitude. Dramatic arts are very important. The scope of their effects and cultural influence is extremely vast. We are a people who are dynamic, a people who have something to say to the world, a people who have a sense of identity, and for the same reasons, we have made great enemies. Thus, today we are faced with enemies that have resorted to different methods, including artistic methods, especially dramatic arts. This shows how much effort we should make regarding the issue of dramatic arts and how much material and spiritual investment we should make as a dynamic people who have something to tell the people of the world. For this reason, I attach a lot of importance to this issue.
Today the IRIB has a very important role to play, and it should also shoulder a great responsibility. You dear friends who are responsible for one of the most sensitive departments of the IRIB have a very important role in the present conditions and in the future of your country. I believe that the IRIB is the main center for intellectual guidance. Imam Khomeini (r.a.) was not just trying to say something kind when he referred to the IRIB as "the great university of the country". The IRIB is truly a great university. It should teach appropriate divine, human, political and other lessons to the people. This is what I expect from the IRIB. Now see what you want to do in this arena.
Of course I expected to hear the comments that were made today in this meeting. That is to say, the comments that were made today were not unexpected to me. I already knew many of the things that you said in this meeting. I know that you do not have psychological security when producing an artistic work, that you are preoccupied with the lack of psychological security, that you are worried about criticisms and that you may get into trouble with the judiciary, the police, and other such organizations. However, the important point is that you are artists, and artists have a delicate nature. If thick-skinned people like me were upset by the subtle things that concern and shake you and make you complain, the situation would be totally different now. Since my youth, I have always been in contact with different kinds of artists - mostly, men of letters - and I am aware of the subtlety and delicacy of their nature. Now I do not know how to ask you to ignore these criticisms and do your job. Everybody is free to criticize. Consider the TV series "Joseph the Prophet" as an example. A TV series was made in which all religious aspects and different considerations were taken into account. It was about the life of a prophet. It was based on morality, not the common themes such as love and lust that modern films of the world are based on. The series was a success throughout the world of Islam - and maybe in some non-Muslim parts of the world as well. Many criticisms were voiced in our newspapers. They explicitly leveled different criticisms against it, and they created other problems as well. Such things happen. What I am trying to say is that you should not be concerned about many of the things that you usually complain about. If you are preoccupied with these concerns, I assure you that it will not be possible for you to continue. Some of the preoccupations may not even be real - they may be illusions caused by the delicacy of artists' nature. Therefore, you should not be thwarted by these preoccupations and concerns. This is one side of the issue.
The other side of the issue is that there are certain red lines that have to be observed. By red lines, I do not mean political red lines, as I am mainly concerned about ethics, religion and other such things. Sometimes it is not really necessary to cross certain moral red lines in our films and TV series. Sometimes you see that if a certain part were removed from an otherwise appropriate series, the series would not be negatively affected. There are such problems in our series. It is not appropriate to show some of the romantic relationships which are reflected in our films. Reflecting such relationships can create moral corruption. This is different from another series in which a character is led to believe a certain thing, and at the end he realizes that he was wrong. Nothing is wrong with this particular case. But it is harmful to reflect an inappropriate romantic relationship - such as love triangles and squares. There is nothing one can do in such cases. We should just avoid reflecting such things in our films. This is one type of problem that our films are suffering from.
Imagine that a film has been made to look like a criticism - and criticism is definitely a good thing - but it is not in fact a criticism. It is more like nagging. There is a crucial difference between criticism and nagging. Criticism means that you find a negative point in a work, and you show and downplay that negative point relying on the positive points that the work enjoys. Naturally, the essence of a dramatic work is its plot, and you have a hero and a goal in the plot. The hero is after a goal, and he has to face certain challenges. You portray the serious and real challenges. The aim of the hero is to face the challenges and achieve the goal. The obstacles that the hero faces are the evils. After all, what is it that the director and the scriptwriter want to do through the plot? What do they want the outcome of the challenge to be? This is an important point. If the outcome of the challenge between good and evil is to let good overcome evil, then you should present good in your work. Of course there is nothing wrong with presenting evil in your work as well, but it should become clear that there is good in the work and that the hero is after good and lays down his life to fight for it. Sometimes the hero is even shown to give up his life in order to achieve his goal. That is to say, in spite of the fact that you have shown evil, you have also shown something bigger - namely, selfless efforts to counter this evil. This is criticism. As a clergyman and as an official of the Islamic Republic, I would like to tell you that there is nothing wrong with this kind of criticism. Rather, this kind of criticism is favorable because it helps society move towards eliminating the shortcomings, and this is something good.
But sometimes this is not the case - the purpose is to nag. That is to say, a negative point is singled out, and it is constantly repeated. Is it possible to eliminate all the negative points and weaknesses from a society? Is it possible to remove all of them? It is a different matter if you pick a certain point for nagging. It is not an honor or an advantage for a person to nag and paint a bleak picture. It is not an honor to create despair. When you show evil but fail to show the element of good that is supposed to fight and overcome evil, you are in fact spreading despair and disappointment in society. In spite of the great influence that films and dramatic works enjoy, when people watch your movie, they say, "What is the use of this?"
I am encouraging you to criticize, but you should engage in genuine criticism - that is to say, you should show the fight and challenge between good and evil so that it becomes clear that although there is a negative point in society, there is also a movement and enough motivation to eliminate it. If you show poverty, you should not try to show that there is poverty in society but no motivation to fight it. Otherwise, your film will create despair. It will paint an unrealistically bleak picture of society.
Dear brothers and sisters, as some of our friends mentioned, we are living in an era which is exceptional in terms of its political importance. We are treading a difficult and dangerous path. Of course the Iranian nation will safely reach the end of this path. But we are in the middle of a great movement. Do you not see it? The greatest economic, military, political and scientific power of the world is clearly showing its enmity towards us. This is a very important and significant sign. What is it that our nation has done to infuriate the self-righteous powers that are not even prepared to recognize other countries? Of course they are saying beautiful things and making beautiful comments about democracy, human rights and cooperation among nations of the world, but is there any wise person in the world who does not know that their comments are just blatant lies?
The same people who spitefully fought and opposed this nation for 30 years, the same organizations and systems whose factories produced chemical weapons and gave them to Saddam Hussein to use against Iranian soldiers and cities, the same people who create cultural networks against our people produce such movies as "Not Without My Daughter" and "300", a pack of lies and malevolence which were produced to undermine the honor of the Iranian people. You know better than I do that they create networks with the aim of destroying foundations of the family and undermining modesty and hijab which are millenniums-long legacies of Iran, and you know that in terms of carnal matters our people have been a modest and noble people since before the coming of Islam. And now the same people are claiming that they are not opposed to Iran and that they are not hostile towards the Iranian nation, but they are showing their enmity day and night. This issue is very important. This shows that our nation is active in a great arena and that it is standing firm against these powers' arrogant, colonial and greedy demands - and it is common knowledge throughout the world that they are after these goals. We are in the middle of a public battle. Our nation is fighting a battle. In these conditions, it is our responsibility to be aware of what we are doing in the area of political work and orientations.
As a director, as an actor, as a scriptwriter, as a major element that plays an important role in creating an interesting dramatic work and as a person who is active in the arena of dramatic arts, if you promote resistance and help identify the enemies, you have recognized and fulfilled your role. In this case, you are the protagonist of a true story - just as we have a protagonist and an antagonist in a story or dramatic work. The protagonist makes selfless efforts and moves towards a particular goal. If you are present wherever you should be and fulfill the role you are supposed to fulfill, then you become the protagonist, and the work you produce and the role you play will become more interesting, animated and popular. This is what I expect from our artists, especially those who work for the IRIB.
I appreciate dramatic works. I know how valuable they are. I know how much thought, innovation, imagination, art, effort and sometimes long sleepless hours go into every minute and even every second of the movies and serials you produce. Of course many of those who watch these films are not aware that a lot of effort goes into a short movie or serial they watch. Many artists work together and many imaginative minds work hard to produce a dramatic work. I am aware of this. One should really express one's gratitude and appreciate these efforts. I believe the complaints that some of our friends voiced are appropriate, but the points I mentioned should also be taken into consideration.
Of course I have noted down a long list of points to discuss with you, and I have also written down 14 recommendations regarding different things at the end of the list. It is almost time for prayers, and unfortunately I cannot continue speaking much longer. I should offer these recommendations to Mr. Zarghami. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Zarghami and other IRIB managers, especially those who are in charge of dramatic arts. If it were not for the active role that the managers play, the conditions would become more difficult for our artists. I would like to thank all of you. However, I would say that there are many things to be done and that there are great capacities for further work. As Mr. Zarghami said, thirty three thousand hours of dramatic works have been produced during the past thirty years. This is while more than sixty percent of the series and about forty percent of the movies have been produced inside the country. These figures are really high, and they show that there are amazing capacities in the country. Many countries of the world do not have such capacities. There are only a limited number of famous countries that enjoy such capacities. In fact TV and radio programs of different countries across the world are totally dependant on a few countries, especially America and Hollywood. We have so many capacities. We have good manpower. We enjoy so many hard and soft facilities. We have an eventful history. Therefore, we have many facilities that we can utilize.
You have made strenuous efforts, and your efforts have produced truly good results. But there is still a wide gap between what we have achieved and what we can potentially achieve with the great capacities that we have at our disposal. My expectations of you are very high. I have generally very high expectations of the government officials responsible for such areas - not just the areas that are related to dramatic arts, but in other similar areas as well. I believe these expectations are reasonable. They are not at all unrealistic. The fact that you are working so hard is a sign that my expectations are not rooted in illusions - they are practical. We did not have many facilities in the past - so many efforts are being made, so many artistic works are being produced, and we have so many precious actors and prominent dramatic works now. To be fair, some of our actors are among the best actors in the world. They are truly versatile. Some of the directors are prominent and exceptional. I am not a professional in these areas, and I cannot give you professional evaluations. But when I see a work as an ordinary member of your audience, I can recognize the artistic effects and the artistic prominence of the work. Therefore, there many areas for further work, and you should make more efforts.
One of the things that preoccupy my mind regarding historical films is that you should make the language of such films more expressive. I have offered some recommendations in this regard. The present situation is not really favorable. Historical films happen in a historical setting, but one can see that the language and the dialogues are bookish and apparently "ancient", but they are not. Sometimes those who are well-versed in such matters take a look and see that the scriptwriter has tried and failed to use a language close to that of such historical figures as Sa'di or Beyhaghi. They can see that the language is inappropriate, a language that is neither comprehensible or appealing to the audience, nor appropriate for the informed professionals. One can see that the language is inappropriate. Why is this necessary? They say their purpose is to make the language suit the ancient setting of the film. No, this is not necessary. It is possible to convey the historical feel in other ways. It is fine if your characters use ordinary modern language. For example, you can have two historical characters - such as Khajeh Nezamol Molk or Shah Abbas - use the ordinary language that modern characters use. This will not have any bad effects whatsoever on the film, but the opposite approach will.
I have other such recommendations. Of course most of them are related to Mr. Zarghami. He should make a lot of efforts. When I appointed him to this position, I mentioned in the decree that there should be progress in the performance of the IRIB. Many efforts should be made, especially in the area of dramatic arts, so that you can compete with the unfair opponents that you are faced with.
There is no time for more comments and recommendations. I hope we will meet again sometime. May Allah the Exalted bestow success on all of you.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings