19-year-old Iranian Sahar Tabar went through 50 plastic surgeries. She did it to see the face of her idol, the main Hollywood beauty, Angelina Jolie, in the mirror every morning. Some people think that she overdid it a bit and turned into not Lara Croft, but rather one of Tim Burton’s characters in pursuit of the ideal look. In addition, the girl tortured herself with diets and dropped to 40 kilograms. But the Iranian herself seems to be quite satisfied with her tuning. She has more than 300 thousand subscribers on Instagram (запрещена в РФ) and the more comments she gets, even if not the most pleasant ones, raise the advertising price.
And the Russian TV presenter, Maria Komandnaya, is being disturbed by Iranian football fans for the opposite reason. In their opinion, she’s too beautiful, and it can turn out badly. I’ll explain. If tomorrow, the host of the World Cup draw appears at the ceremony in a revealing dress, Iranian television will stop broadcasting. So Komandnaya is now choosing her outfit under the strict guidance of Iranian representatives.
Vadim Zavchenchenkov is ready to give her advice: Vadim, hello.
- Good evening.
- For Iranian journalists, even makeup is banned. What should Maria do?
Vadim Zavchenchenkov: Alexei, it’s impossible to please everyone. But if Maria’s dress is too revealing for the Iranians, their religious feelings won’t be hurt anyway, because the Islamic Republic has long ago found a way to get around these problems.
It was under these latest photos in Maria Komandnaya’s Instagram that there were hundreds of comments, and this isn’t just a figure of speech, in Farsi. From the Europeans’ point of view, there’s nothing special in the photos. But for the Iranians, if the draw host appears looking like this, it’s really fatal. But this photo, by the way, in a kerchief with the Rubin Kazan player from the Iranian national team, Sardar Azmoun, still leaves a chance for the Iranians to watch the show live. After all, this is what Iranian female television hosts look like. Clothes hide the body from prying eyes, hair is covered with a hijab.
In 2009, they made the dress code more rigorous. Bright makeup was outlawed. Now, according to experts, Iranian television is having a thaw period.
Maksim Alontsev, RGGU professor, Iran Today observer: "In recent years, women have been allowed a somewhat bigger freedom in choosing their own outfit. But this freedom isn’t about removing the kerchief, but about showing a hair curl from under it".
But people in Iran can rarely see a live broadcast of world events from other countries as they go against Sharia law. Here is a fresh example. At the last Oscar ceremony, the dress of the actress Charlize Theron was too revealing for Iranian censorship. The recording of the event was shown, and they seriously worked with the film beforehand. It only worked so-so. Sometimes the special effects didn’t keep up with the star’s movements.
The level of the person’s fame doesn’t matter. Four years ago, US President’s wife, Michelle Obama, participated in the ceremony. There was no way to watch a live broadcast in Iran, but local media couldn’t just skip such an event. As a result, they literally drew a dress on the US first lady’s photos from the ceremony.
It’s possible that if Maria Komandnaya chooses a dress which is inappropriate for the Iranians, they’ll do the same with the Russia’s World Cup draw.
Maksim Alontsev: “If it’s a question of respecting the fans’ feelings, the recording of the draw can be shown, and they’ll retouch everything that's possible in Maria Komandnaya’s look”.
By the way we would also be condemned by the Iranian television. It must look something like this. On Iranian television, the tie is considered an attribute of alien European culture.
Thank you. Vadim Zavchenchenkov told us how we should please the Iranian censors.
