Reza Shah adopts European cultural practices so that Iran would be regarded as an equal.
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Production excerpts from Archival's "The Third Path," an upcoming 12-part series covering the recent history of Iran.

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Staff Credits -
Director/Producer: Shannon Niehus
Creative Director: Michael Knapp
Editor: Rosalee Chan
Multimedia Artist: Miriam Heller
Graphic Design: Matt Heller
Visual Effects: Jim Millen
Researcher: Ladan Sepehri and Golzar Sepehri
Assistant Producer: Maureen Sandlin

Production Credits -
DP: William Knights
Camera Operator: Tim Jolly
Grip: Jamie Burr

Video Transcript -

Reza Shah’s government was very much preoccupied with projecting an image of Iran that was in line with what Europeans at the time considered to be a civilized country.

The modern judiciary was created, the state educational system was created, and ministries were created. Very importantly, the territorial divisions of Iran were modernized because in traditional Iran different provinces had different forms of governance, vis–à–vis the central government. Some had more autonomy than others.

Part of this desire to be seen as “civilized” in the eyes of the Europeans also involved the borrowing of the European cultural practices. With the benefit of hindsight, many of the policies seem ridiculous.

To give you a few examples, the Iranian state made deliberate effort in the 1920s to popularize soccer. The argument was that the British had invented soccer. They played soccer. They had created a world empire. Therefore, there must be a connection between the youth playing soccer and power in international politics.

In 1928 the government decreed that in restaurants, patrons had to eat with cutlery rather than their hands which is still common in the Indian sub-continent or in some Arab countries. All of these were efforts to project an image of being “civilized” so that the Europeans would come to regard Iran as their equal.

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