Summary of Responses to Farrokhzad

CONTENT

Trapped & Numb

Loni writes that the film is filled with sadness, trauma, and searching. Kelsey also felt the film conveyed a trapped feeling and depicted persons who were “waiting for the end.” Gabby found a common theme in both The House is Black and Sin: “that of desperation and a feeling of being stuck. The voiceover in the film gives off a sense of despair that the people feel and that they are constantly waiting for a ‘redemption’ that will never come.” She furthers: “Her poems explain that even though she feels alive with her lover, she remains feeling like a ‘bird stuck in its cage…’ The author speaks of loneliness, ‘an empty house, a house of darkness,’ similar to the loneliness that the lepers feel from being ostracized and isolated from the rest of their society. It seems that the biggest commonality between the lepers and Farrokhzad is that both feel that they are trapped in this repetitive cycle of despair and waiting for it to end.”Conor intriguingly and provocatively compared The House Is Numb to pornography. “In my opinion,” he writes, “the use of disturbing images leaves the mind nothing to work with but what appears on the screen. It’s a bit like a pornography in that sense because after seeing something like that one might feel a bit over stimulated. Burnt out even. This feeling of numbness stems from those ideals. Interestingly enough the disease itself that was examined in horrifying detail effects the nerve cells rendering the victim numb.” Jessica also found numbness in the poem “Wind-up Doll,” which, she writes, “describes a similar kind of numbness as was shown with The House is Black, especially because the faces all seemed mostly lifeless, dull, unblinking. In the following stanza, Farrakhzad depicts exactly the kind of acceptance of a dark, unforgiving life many lepers appear to feel:

       Like a wind-up doll one can look out

      at the world through glass eyes

      spend years inside a felt box

      body stuffed with straw

      wrapped in layers of dainty lace. (27)”

She finally explains that although “some are trapped by their ailing bodies, Farrokhzad seemed to be trapped by the desire to love…” Anthony found the film dark and foreboding, and uncomfortable to watch. “I am very squeamish,” he writes, “so seeing all of those people so marred by leprosy was difficult to stomach. In my opinion, this may have been by design. I believe the Farrokhzad may have wanted to expose the audience to a level of discomfort that we are not used to.” He then read some of Farrokhzad’s poems, hoping that the poems might offer him more hope: “I saw the title The Ring. I thought that might be promising; not so much. It had me believe that there was an engagement, which would normally be a happy occasion. However the last verse says otherwise, ‘Distraught, she sighed: Vaye! Vaye! This band---, so lustrous and aglow---, is the clamp of bondage, of slavery.’” Nicole too, found she was “reading a lot of sad and depressing words” that echoed her experience of the film. Lastly, Heather compared a scene in The House Is Black to the poem ‘Lost’: “When reading the poetry of Farrokhzad, many images or faces of the film came into mind. One poem in particular is ‘Lost.’ The second stanza starts off with ‘I keep asking the wretched mirror: Tell me, who am I in your eyes?’ It goes on to say that she is not the same woman as she once was. This poem made me think back to film where one woman was looking at herself in the mirror, possibly thinking about how her reflection is not the same as it once was. The woman is no longer who she used to be.”

           

Hope

Others of you interpreted the film The House Is Black as conveying a hopeful message. Maggie found joyous poems while reading Sin. “She has a poem titled ‘I Will Greet the Sun Again,’” Maggie writes, “where she shows an emotion of hope. The people in the film display actions of hope and joy while praising and worshiping their God.” Allyson H. basically thought Farrokhzad embraces the darkness, but tells the viewer not to give up. Keleigh found that “Farrokhzad continues to speak about darkness in Sin, namely in the poem entitled ‘Gift.’ In the poem, she ‘speaks out of darkness’ just like the lepers in the colony were trying to speak out. Darkness can represent a feeling of depression and hopelessness. Through her movie, Farrokhzad was trying to tell the stories of the lepers to people around the world. In this sense, she was speaking out of the darkness on their behalf so that she could give the gift of their faith and bravery to the rest of the world. In the next verse of the poem, she asks someone who visits her to ‘bring a lamp and a window [so she] can look through at the crowd in the happy alley.’ I think this verse could be used to symbolize the lack of freedom those in the leper colony had because they could never leave. The lamp (light) parallels the movie because the lepers want to be able to see joy and happiness but it is tough on them when their outlook on life is so bleak and they are surrounded in blackness. Only when they see the light will they be able to take joy in seeing people being happy. This coincides with the idea that the lepers are waiting for the end; they want to see light at the end of the tunnel because then they will not be suffering from leprosy anymore and they would be able to look down on the happy people in the alley.” Ally Headings writes that she “felt a sense of hope for the lepers when the male voiceover was stating facts about leprosy, because he said, ‘Leprosy is not incurable. Taking care of lepers stops the disease from spreading. Wherever the lepers have been adequately cared for, the disease has vanished.’” She adds: “And inside the colony is where the lepers are receiving the treatment that they need, so it doesn’t seem so farfetched that one day they’ll all be able to leave that place. Towards the end of the movie Farrokhzad says, ‘The harvest season passed, the summer season came to an end, and we did not find deliverance […] We wait for light and darkness reigns.’ And so a message that I got out of this movie was that no matter what awful conditions that may enter your life, keeping a positive attitude and seeing the beautiful things in life can go farther than we sometimes may think. Things will not resolve themselves overnight.” Ally also found that the poem “Captive” reminded her “of the leper colony in The House is Black. Even though she is not physically imprisoned and the lepers in a sense are imprisoned, I think it relates well to how the lepers feel. She mentions that she daydreams about her escape. I don’t doubt that some of the people suffering from leprosy have thought about the day when they’re able to leave that place.” The daydream, then, is the hope within this poem. Jamie thought that there was a “confusion of hopefulness and misery” in Farrokhzad’s literature and film. “Taking a closer look at the individuals, even their facial expressions followed this pattern,” Jamie writes. “As the woman had blocks placed on her hands, she felt nothing; her face was solemn and emotionless. Close-ups of distorted faces appeared as if they were mug shots, portraying the colony as ‘outsiders’ or people who don’t belong with the rest of society. On the other hand, Farrokhzad shows a little [girl] combing [another] girl’s hair as they both smile to the melody of a happy man.

“When looking at her poetry,” Jamie adds, “this contradicting style continues throughout her collection Sin. A poem that stuck out to me was ‘On Loving.’ In this poem she wrote:

                I’m so filled with you

                I want to run through meadows,

                Bash my head against mountain rocks,

                Give myself to ocean waves.

The comparison of running through a meadow and bashing her head against mountain rocks does not line up – one is clearly relating to happiness while the other relates to a suicidal state…Juggling between whether life is worth holding onto or letting go is a key message in both her poetry and film productions. The idea that when times are rough and you are dealt a unfair hand, you have two contradicting choices: be thankful for what you do have or do not accept reality and look for a new way of life.”

Wholeness

Katherine constructed a three-tiered, lovely critique and found Farrokhzad’s creative work to be fundamentally “whole.” “It is clear from [Farrokhzad’s] poetry,” Katherine writes, “that she finds a lot of importance in a few areas: the body; nature; spirit. Almost every moment of the film touched on at least one of these areas. For the easiest example, the film showed the effects of leprosy on the bodies of these Iranian individuals living together in a colony. Her quick cuts of treatments for the disease featured fingers pressed flat with heavy weights, feet spinning pedals similar to those on bicycles, and a pair of special scissors cutting away “imperfections” from the back of a hand. Throughout her poetry, Farrokhzad mentions the body often, even by personifying inanimate objects such as the waves. The next area that I found emphasized in both film and poetry was nature. The film showed quick cuts of the outdoors: leaves floating on water, trees, birds, etc. Her poetry mentions the sun, flowers, sky, dewy grass, springs and fields, just to name a few. Finally, the author/filmmaker believes in the importance of spirit; from her own spirit about which she writes beautifully, delicately, and abruptly simultaneously, to the spirits of others. The film showcases the spirits of the lepers through their dancing, their faith, and their playfulness.

            “I believe these three distinct areas (body, nature, and spirit) enhance the poetic message that is embedded within The House is Black. That message, to me at least, seems to be one of wholeness, and acknowledgement of such. By ‘wholeness’ I mean the acceptance of people and life, and all aspects of them… mind, body, soul, nature, nurture, etc.”

Humanizing Disease

Melissa, Hina, and Jessica concentrated their critiques on how Farrokhzad manages to humanize disease. Melissa writes: “The film has potential to affect a large audience of many backgrounds and cultures. She has accomplished this by portraying the lepers in the colony as ordinarily as possible. They are filmed playing games, singing, eating, resting, spending time in groups as well as alone. The only difference is their physical appearance. Normally, a person may be aghast when seeing a person plagued with leprosy for the first time. However, I believe the film acts a sort of shield to open the doors to the leper colony without as direct of an impact. Because of this, a viewer will be more comfortable, and therefore more receptive to the intended message. It’s like Farrokhzad is trying to ease us into it so we are sure to accept the fact that these are people too, and that there no longer needs to be a stigma against them.”

            She continues: “Her poetry is a type of shield as well, using description, metaphors and a roundabout way of discussing a subject that may otherwise not be as, say, beautiful as the prose on the page. In The Gift, she says: “O kind friend, if you visit my house,/bring me a lamp, cut me a window,/so I can gaze at the swarming alley of the fortunate.” And inMates: “slipping from the tap/then, two cigarettes/two spots of glowing red/the tick tick of a clock/and two hearts/steeped in loneliness…” These two poems have a beautiful flow throughout their entirety, yet, are discussing very sad things. I think her message through both forms of art is that you can find beauty within the dreadful.” Hina finds that Farrokhzad is able to convey this humanizing message through the way she shows beauty and normalcy of persons suffering from leprosy: “The House is Black is a short film full of both moral and poetic messages. It defines what beauty and normalcy are in regards to the lepers. The film shows that just because all of the people presented have deformities that doesn’t mean they’re any different from other people. They still live as normal lives as possible. The children still play, the adults pray daily, and the women still get married and have children. Women even wear makeup and still dress up despite they’re different appearance. Beauty and normalcy are things that all people experience regardless of their situations.… It presented that leprosy may be a disease, but those who are still affected by it are still people and they should not be treated like animals. By being sent to colonies, the world was basically saying that they were no different than diseased livestock, they just couldn’t kill them…Most of her poems, though on topics that differ from leprosy, revert back to the same topic: beauty. She finds beauty in everything from the waves of the ocean to the eyes of her lovers. They all demonstrate a sort of appreciation for the simpler things in life, which can relate back to the film. Everyday tasks in the colony present the people as regular and not out casted to a colony. Just by revealing what their everyday lives consist of, the film provides a better understanding of the colony and its people. It shows that the people of the colony actually were human and should have been treated as such.”

Ultimately, Jessica finds that Farrokhzad portrays persons with leprosy with dignity: “Watching the House is Black made me feel compassionate towards the lepers because of their disfigurements, and their sadness at being forced away from society. There are many times throughout history where people are removed from society when they're deemed unfit. Your race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, mental health, physical abilities or disabilities can make others fear your differences, so through the influence of commanding authority figures, these different people are ostracized. For whatever reason, we seem to forget that all people are people. Farrohkzad brought back the humanity to the lepers, forcing the viewer to feel both shocked and empathetic through the jump cuts of leprosy faces, amputations, deteriorating noses of the young and the old, men, women and children.”

Pro-Colony Argument

Heather, however, argued that while watching The House Is Black, she was convinced that the colony offered a kind of safety to those suffering from leprosy: “In The House is Black, Farrokhzad creates beauty through something that can easily be seen as ugly or even scary. We see quick shots of people who have been affected by leprosy and the harm it does to their bodies. Through some repetition we learn that leprosy can be curable, but the affects cannot be reversed. One can try to straighten out their fingers, but limbs cannot grow back. Even though the people with leprosy have some deformities or disabilities, we still see smiles or happiness in many of them, especially the children. I see this colony as their safe haven. They can learn, they can heal, they can get treatment, and they can play. To me, this is beauty. Outside the colony, they would be judged, they would not have much help, and maybe not enough money for treatment…”

Wake-up Call

Billy felt that the film was a wake-up call. “I think she is clearly disgusted with how we as humans can take diseased people and exile them to a place where they can only interact with other diseased people,” he writes.
“These lepers are being treated as filthy animals that we would just throw outside and forget about…. The first thing that really popped out to me, was the fact that the lepers were still praising God and thanking God for everything. They had every right to be depressed and have no joy at all, but they still danced and laughed and played as if they completely forgot about their disease. I think of the people in today’s society who think their nails need to be done every other week, their hair needs to be perfect every day, they have to have the most expensive clothing and jewelry on, and if they don’t have those things then their life is terrible. We need to start looking at the big picture and realize that our happiness cannot come through materialistic things. We are dooming ourselves as a culture if we continue in this manner. This film really opened my eyes to this.”

FORM

Quick Cuts, Timed Sounds

Ally Headings found a remarkable moment in Sin and compares it to The House Is Black: “[Farrokhzad] writes, ‘drip drop drip drop drip drop of water’ and lays it on the page as if the words were actually drops of water. It’s interesting. And she separates words like ‘eyes’ and ‘hands’ by entire lines which reminds me of the quick cuts of faces and feet and hands in The House is Black. There is also a part in the movie where she makes quick cuts to the beat of a wheel on a wheelbarrow. It’s like the entire movie has a certain rhythm to it, much like her many poems.” Bridget “read” the film’s sound track like a beating heart or ticking clock: “The most prevalent idea I came across in this film was this feeling of waiting. Through quick frames and clips, mixed with well-timed sounds (a man tapping on a wall, men playing a type of board game), I felt like the movie was almost counting down to something. The way the movie was filmed reminded me of a ‘tick, tock’ kind of feeling, almost as if a clock was ticking away as the seconds passed by…”

Repetition

Allyson H. found that repetition played a hugel role in Farrokhzad’s work: “Just as Farrokhzad repeats shots quickly in the film to make sure we haven’t forgotten them, she repeats certain stanzas in many of her poems in Sin to make sure we haven’t forgotten them, either.” Conor, too, focused on what he found to be boring effects of repetition in Farrokhzad’s poetry: “On another note, when reading some of the poetry in Sin I found her works to be somewhat underwhelming, especially after watching a film that was so moving and at sometimes unwatchable. To be completely honest only a few poems really stuck out at me and I found her use of sensory imaging to be a bit forced.  One line I did enjoy, ‘I delivered myself from myself’ I found to be slightly existential. Perhaps a quandary of when soul meets body or vice versa. I think the biggest thing that bothered me was that she used a lot of the same imagery over and over again blue veins, acacia scent and breasts seemed to pop up more often than not.”

Gendered Voices: Opposing Views

Chris describes how gendered voices gave The House Is Black, in effect, two different viewpoints: “The man’s voice versus the woman’s voice show two different things. The man…is very factual and almost matter of fact with his voice, while the woman speaks in a very light voice that almost calms you, and is much more hopeful then the man’s. The man states how leprosy is incurable, while the woman…[speaks] of enjoying life and the different good things in it. These two voices together [show] two different ways of looking at this leper colony.”