cinema trust The sales of Iranian cinema has reached 935 billion tomans and statistics show that 75% of this sale, equivalent to 695 billion tomans, belongs to comedy films! But is this process in favor of Iranian cinema or to its detriment?
According to ISNA, in the years after Corona, when many believed that going to the cinema as a collective entertainment would be lost, “comedy films” were able to save the cinemas in Iran and increase the box office sales several times before. upgrade This amazing sale of comedy films has caused that in the last two years, cinemas have less time to screen films from other genres, and unconsciously, capital has also flowed towards comedies; Of course, this trend is completely opposite to what we see in the home show network, because in the last two years, most of the popular VOD works have been made in the social genre.
In this situation, many Iranian cinema experts consider the 75% sales of comedies this year as an opportunity and many of them interpret it as a serious threat to the whole of Iranian cinema, which was known as social cinema.
It is necessary to explain that according to the statistics of Samfa, the sales of Iranian cinema from the beginning of this year to the second of October has reached 935 billion tomans, and the statistics show that 75% of this sale, equivalent to 697 billion tomans, belongs to comedy films!
People need happiness
Perhaps the most important and main reason for the public’s interest in comedy films is the need of people for humor and happiness in facing everyday social problems. Cinema, as a place to have fun and escape from the worries of life, plays an important role in creating a positive spirit in the society. Besides, the cinema is still considered one of the affordable entertainments of the society and many people may not prefer to devote this little entertainment to watching social or thoughtful movies.
Positive effects on the cinema industry
Some experts who believe in the non-interference of the government in the box office of cinemas, believe that the dominance of comedy in cinema can be positive from various aspects. The increase in sales and income generation for cinemas and producers leads to the economic prosperity of this art-industry. Also, the growth of this genre, due to its high transaction, can lead to the discovery of new talents in the field of directing, writing, etc.; This is what we have seen in several comedy films in the last two years.
Focusing too much on comedies may reduce the diversity of genres and weaken other parts of cinema; What has happened in recent months has caused all other genres except comedy to include 25% of cinema box office sales! The decrease in the overall quality of cinema, the dissatisfaction of a significant part of moviegoers, the possibility of repetition of subjects, the loss of creativity in comedy productions, the loss of the global view of the social films of Iranian cinema and its replacement by underground films can be among the consequences of replacing the comedy genre instead of all genres. be another
Challenges and possible negative consequences
However, other experts in the field of cinema, most of them, express concern about the current situation for the future of cinema.
They believe that focusing too much on comedies may reduce the diversity of genres and weaken other parts of cinema; The incident that has been seen in Iranian cinema in recent months has caused all other genres except comedy to include 25% of cinema box office sales. The lack of serious works in genres such as social, can cause a decrease in the overall quality of cinema and dissatisfaction of a significant part of moviegoers. Also, the possibility of repetition of subjects and loss of creativity in comedy productions is also clearly visible. In addition to these issues, it should be noted that Iranian cinema is known in the world for its social productions and it is not unlikely that with this process, the world’s knowledge of Iranian cinema will go towards underground works whose production is expanding every day.
Long-term impact on culture and art
In addition to the mentioned issues, many believe that the long-term challenges and effects of single-genre cinema are more than its impact today. In a way that this process may affect the culture and art of society. Neglecting social, historical and philosophical issues in cinema can lead to the superficialization of public culture in artistic tastes. All this makes cinema no longer able to maintain its diversity and depth as a mirror of society. On the other hand, not paying attention to the qualitative aspects of cinema and only paying attention to its entertainment aspect will eventually lead to a serious decrease in the level of home theater productions, television and even the quality level of the audience’s artistic and cultural vision.
Supporting policies under the fragmentation of decisions of parallel institutions!
Undoubtedly, in order to avoid the negative consequences that can be caused by the continuation of single-genre cinema, it is necessary to apply support policies for the production and screening of diverse films. However, Iranian cinema has shown that adopting a general policy for it is never efficient due to the fragmentation of decisions in parallel cultural institutions, and everyone takes decisions in their own interest according to their organizational policies. But it seems that it is necessary for the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in its new period to consider a role for each of them in this direction, while collaborating with parallel institutions active in the field of cinema. Of course, in this direction, there is a big challenge in front of the decision-makers, and that is to create a balance between the support decisions and the economy of the private sector, which can be destroyed overnight, and the public sector has a special expertise in this matter!
Another problem in the way of creating a balance in the field of cinema is the situation of the screen, which deals with the audience as a customer. Producing the best movies in different genres is useless if the audience is not encouraged to watch it; Because in the last two years, good films were made in the field of social or holy defense, whose sales were not equal to a tenth of their production cost! In this direction, it is clear that the Ministry of Guidance firstly needs to open the hands of filmmakers to define more audience-friendly subjects in the social, political, sacred defense and even comedies whose 90 minutes are not based on dancing and singing, and secondly, institutions like Seda And urge Cima, the art field, Ouj organization, etc. to stand by him.