Love from an artistic perspective: part I

Perhaps one of the most vital themes throughout life, how does art’s heart beat? Here’s an Iranian snap perspective on love.

Love, easy to pronounce, but usually hard to announce. A single word depicted by virtually every artist, whether covert or overtly. From cinema to handicrafts, it’s the brand name, symbolized by a red heart icon that is replete.

Part I: The silver screen

Starting with the recent or current series on ifilm, most people would agree that Joseph (AS), the prophet of God, symbolizes love.

Halfway through the broadcast, you expect him to retaliate against his cruel brothers if a chance. But will hate step in? On the other hand, there’s Zoleykha’s material love that is incapacitating Joseph (AS). Legally restricted, the pious young man is just between a rock and a hard place. Is it the lover-Zoleykha who, in a U-turn, is putting the innocent Joseph behind bars? Could that really be a love-turned-hate?

Psychology introduces 7 types of love.

Put simply, it could be material cause, friendship (shared goodwill), familial, universal (such as love for God), uncommitted type, reason- or duty-based, and last but not least, self-love.

A fine example from the series recently aired on ifilm is Leila’s loneliness, which chronicled the familial love of a young woman whose persistence drew everyone’s admiration.

Love is capable of energizing you, but when does the fuel burn out? No surprise, the longer lasting type would possibly fascinate most people.

On the silver screen, the popular type is material love that would perhaps lead to familial. No surprise, out of the 92 series a click away on ifilm website right now, recurrent is the theme of the 4-letter word, L-O-V-E.

It’s $38.6 billion a year.

That’s the global box office sales last year (MPAA report). What is beyond entertainment that makes you want to watch another love story, or a flick partially themed with a type of love?

Back to ifilm, as a channel you subscribe to, the majority of those series – thousand plus episodes- is themed with love in the particular culture we live in, and the messages we have for the global audience, our dear ifilmers.

Think about those 7 types of love, and how it is or will be leading your life?

Some people even don’t love themselves. Does that status contradict falling or being in love? From self-love to love for God, love is with you throughout your life. It’s the single most everyday matter that is out there, right inside your heart.

What is your compass for love in actualizing your life’s roadmap? And is there at least a single sort of love that is everlasting?

Stay with the series of short articles on love, to get a reflection on yourself, from an artistic standpoint; one that might bear the potential to further calibrate your compass, your heart!

MF/MF