A look at the mental impact of the murder of Mehrjooi and his wife on artists; Canker sore

Charso Press: Terrible, terrible, frightening, terrifying, I reject these words one by one, I feel that these words do not have the weight and magnitude of the night of the incident and the crime of murdering Mehrjooi and his wife, no matter how I search, I can’t find a word with the same weight as that black night. Or Qadrmuslim can’t do justice to the content, think about it, you are sitting in the kitchen comfortably and calmly, you have loaded food and you are packing your cigarette, when suddenly they attack your life with knives and clubs and… the thought of that moment makes one’s body hair. It stings, I think to myself, the moment when Mehrjooi and his wife were gloating with the killers, what were I doing at that moment, or in other words, what were we doing? A cold sweat breaks out on my body and I remember sitting on the couch and fiddling with my cell phone.

On the morning of the day when the murder of Dariush Mehrjoui and his wife was published, due to my work field, I had many conversations and inquiries with my colleagues about the nature of the murder, but I had not explained the issue to the family that day and I did not let it be discussed.

Until around noon, my father called me and said: Why did they kill Mehrjooi, daughter? What’s the matter? This child who had not hurt anyone? I really didn’t know what to say.

I gave him a dry and empty compliment and asked my father not to follow Mehrjooi’s news. It didn’t take a moment for my brother to call. The next day, my aunt, cousin, and cousin called. I explained the story openly and asked them not to continue because of the negative impact. But I couldn’t stand it myself.

I wouldn’t lie if I said that during all this time that the news of Mehrjoui’s murder and the arrest of the killers was being published, I was going step by step and reviewing the details; Only one question did not come out of my mind and that was what deep hatred caused this crime?

In the streets and alleys, without introducing myself, I would talk to people about Mehrjoui and ask them, do you know about Mehrjoui’s murder? What is your definition of this murder? At night, I used to lock the doors three times out of fear, I was delusional, negative thoughts about people were running through my head, is it possible to behead a person for 30 million?

But the hard moment was watching the reenactment of Mehrjooi’s murder. It was as if I couldn’t breathe anymore, what a scary and terrifying show, I said to myself, what did they do with Mehrjoui at that moment? You unscrupulous people died for a few pieces of gold?

Indeed, the last one or two weeks have been difficult and shocking for the people of the media, but what was the mental condition of the artists who had a close relationship with Mehrjoui Hasher and publishing?

Browsing the messages and memoirs of recent artists shows what difficult moments they have gone through, Tanaz Tabatabai’s sorrowful memoir: “This fire that remained in my heart will not be extinguished by any water.” Or Asghar Farhadi’s text: “I can’t find words to write, this time the weight will not be light.” Or Masoud Kimiaei: “I can’t speak.” Similarly, Homan Sidi: “What is wrong with it?” Or Mehdi Karampour: “I promised myself that I would never write anything again. I lost my grudge against Abbas Maroubi, but… and with Mehrjooi’s departure… I promise it will be the last.”

It takes time for artists to get rid of this nervous pressure

I am having a conversation with Gholamreza Mousavi, one of the film producers and someone who has a lot of connection with artists, about the spirit of artists. He says: Mr. Mehrjooi was one of the most important artists of our country, the one who made the best films in the history of cinema and is considered one of our most innovative filmmakers. His absence has definitely affected other artists with this heinous murder. And it has made them frustrated.

He says: As far as I know and as can be seen in the talks and opinions of the artists, they are often sad and not in a good mood. Of course, this suffering spirit is normal for artists who have higher sensitivity. But it will undoubtedly take a long time for the moods of the artists to get rid of these nervous pressures.

The trauma experienced by the artists is great

Since the consequences of the murder of Dariush Mehrjoui and his wife can be investigated from various aspects, first of all, we talked to Dr. Ali Sahibi, a psychologist. It definitely affects people’s well-being and quality of life on the part of people and its interpretation. Especially artists who are familiar with the effectiveness and scope of Dariush Mehrjooi’s works and life. This damage affects them more and they are in the tighter circle of cinematographers, and the damage and trauma they experience will be huge. Apart from shock and disbelief and intense feeling of sadness, fear and anxiety is another phenomenon that dominates them and includes them.

Pointing out that as a result of this disaster, the whole society is traumatized and social trust is shaken, this psychologist explains: two fundamental concepts are very important in the lives of us humans, especially artists, first: the feeling of security with the concept of whether I Am I safe in the community where I work and create content? Second: It is a matter of trust, by defining how much I can trust the forces that are supposed to protect me, am I being cared for and protected enough?

Activism of cinematographers declines

He says: When the trust and security of people and artists are damaged, their professional and social activism declines and social hope is lost, and the general public and especially artists experience social helplessness. In a way, such an event affects and damages the entire society. Mr. Mehrjooi was an active activist. We have few outstanding people in cinema who have done many great works. Each of his films was shown in specific social-political situations and at the same time, it created many actions. The killing of such an important activist will definitely have a great impact on the actions of other filmmakers. Of course, this story can have another form and increase activism, but its negative side is stronger, and considering the end of Dariush Mehrjoui’s life, the filmmaker says to himself: Where do I want to go? Such a look is definitely disappointing.

Either they migrate or from the creation of the work

They refuse

In another part of his speech, Dr. Sahibi says: When the activism of an artist is lost, he either migrates or refuses to create a work. You can look at this story from another point of view, and it is the type of murders that have a historical background, and because of that, the historical memory leads to people’s disbelief. If a person, institution or official gives a correct explanation about these murders, but people or artists do not believe that such an incident happened based on a personal motive. Their assumption is that this arrangement was used to silence the voices of the artists, in other words, their personal perception of this event is that this event is a conspiracy even if it is not.

Naturally, with the occurrence of such a tragic incident, the emotional turmoil among artists and non-artists increases. This confusion is more severe in some people and they can hardly manage their emotional turmoil, but some people regulate their emotions quickly, but it is a fatal event and the will of a person alone is not able to remove this emotional turmoil.

Artists should talk to each other more

Personally, I advise artists to talk to each other as much as they can to renew their spirits, to hang out with each other as much as possible, artists are usually more isolated than others, and their desire is to solve the discomfort in silence and within themselves, but My suggestion is that they should be present in the crowd. Talk to each other about this incident and their grief and pain so that their emotional turmoil can be better tolerated and regulated and not deposited in them. They should not isolate themselves in any way, as this is a very wrong thing to do, and finally, consider the fact that our history has more or less seen such great losses and losses, from Qal Mohammad Masoud to the untimely death of Forough. Farrokhzad and…but artists have had their mourning at any point and then rose from the fire like a phoenix and presented more noble works to the society.

This psychologist doctor says: You can look at this story both with a documentary method of optimism and with a documentary method of pessimism in the sense that we say to ourselves that this story is the end of the road and it will affect and remain stable throughout my life. The optimistic view says that such an event is not unique to us and does not have a lasting effect on all areas of our lives. We can get through that too. These artists think that walking on the Bedouin path is a false way of life.

The artists who look at this event with a documentary method of optimism, although it is difficult to overcome this crisis, but they can turn this anger and failure into precious works and dedicate it to the memory, memory and value system of Dariush Mehrjoui.

My advice to artists is:

Life is about making a home in your shell

It is to sink into the heart of the flame and not burn

The feelings of millions of people were hurt

We also spoke with Dr. Seyed Hassan Mousavi Chalak, the head of the Iranian Social Workers Association, he told “Etimad”:

These days, one of the news that is at the top is the murder of a well-known person in the field of culture and art, especially in Iranian cinema, the late Dariush Mehrjooi, due to the type of murder that took place in his case, has hurt feelings a lot, and on the other hand, killing The late director’s wife and the manner of her murder shocked the artistic community.

Because these people are well-known and people used to communicate with their films and works, the impact of their death in the society is greater. Basically, artists are popular among people according to their characteristics, especially in the case of Mr. Mehrjooi, because of his background, this popularity was even higher.

This university professor continues to explain: The fact is that violence in society has negative effects on other members of the society, but this effect is even greater in the artistic community. As we have seen in their reactions in different spectrums, it is indicative of this point. The murder of Dariush Mehrjoui not only occupied the artists and the artistic community, but the news about it went further and was drawn into the political and policing spheres as well. As far as the highest relevant authorities reacted to this issue. I want to say that it was an issue that involved more than the artistic community. From another point of view, it can be said that the violence of the murder of Mehrjooi and his wife was not only limited to his family members, take a moment to pay attention to the words of the late Mehrjooi’s daughter about her parents.

Known people should be safe

Mousavi Chalak continues: But the important thing about this murder is the sense of insecurity that such murders instill in other artists. As you know, Ali Daei’s necklace was stolen earlier, or another athlete’s cell phone was stolen from him, the violence that exists in this type of crime and due to the prevalence and fame of artists or athletes, old and young, affects men and women more. And it hurts their spirits.

According to this sociologist, the works and films of Dariush Mehrjoui and basically he himself had a lot of inclusion among the general public. In this sense, it should be said that his murder not only affects people and artists, but the society is affected by these murders, and due to the greatness of the name of the victim, It may have more destructive effects on the people and the society: Look, in recent times, a major part of the news in cyberspace was devoted to how Mr. Mehrjooi and his wife were killed, and the reaction of the people and politicians was an expression of its prevalence. But what is certain is that such murders are neither the first nor the last. But I wish the authorities would take some measures for the safety of influential, big and well-known people.

This university professor continued his speech and said: Considering that the officials also published the reconstruction of the murder scene, this incident will not be erased from the mind and soul of the man so easily and it will not be effective. This murder and its effects have been discussed for years.

The release of the reconstruction scene was a complete mistake

Mousavi Chalak emphasizes: I wish the authorities would have been a little more patient and thoughtful about publishing the pictures of the reconstruction of the murder, because the publication of these pictures is disturbing and makes the public opinion angry and upset. If the work is to be reported to high-ranking authorities, then these images can be seen in private, but there is no need for the public opinion to see these images and have a negative effect on people’s psyche, as if a murder has happened again in the society. It has happened since the beginning. Unfortunately, I have to say that publishing the scenes of the murder was not only a mistake, but it also promotes violence and has learning aspects. I wish the authorities would think a little.

Anyway, such violence has happened in the society and I think it is necessary for artists to take into account the aspects of self-care, some of which are personal care and some of which are aspects of learning that must be addressed. Today’s society is very violent, and artists must take care of themselves in different aspects of life