{"id":11,"date":"2025-09-08T01:33:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T01:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sarahlola.bergbuilds.domains\/DocResearch\/?p=11"},"modified":"2025-09-08T01:33:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T01:33:57","slug":"how-elahe-esmailis-location-affects-storytelling-in-a-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarahlola.bergbuilds.domains\/DocResearch\/?p=11","title":{"rendered":"How Elahe Esmaili\u2019s Location Affects Storytelling in \u201cA Move\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On December 2, 2024, Elahe Esmaili films and publishes a documentary called \u201cA Move\u201d which highlights her experience returning to her hometown, in Iran. Inspired by the movement for women\u2019s rights in Iran, she no longer feels comfortable wearing a hijab. Her family and friends share common values which require women to wear a hijab, and she clearly expresses that her values no longer align with theirs. Esmaili\u2019s location influences the film through her close-knit family and her choice to share her story from the position of a participant observer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esmaili\u2019s location influences the film through her close-knit family. Her choice to capture a sweet moment of her family and friends dancing, laughing and smiling together makes viewers feel the love they share through the screen. Therefore, when she shares clips of that same community silently judging her for not wearing a hijab, it feels more devastating. In Doing Documentary Work<\/em>, Coles writes, \u201cOnce more, the issue is that of location\u2014how a particular writer or researcher decides to commit himself or herself with respect to those others being studied, watched, heard, made the subject of a writing initiative\u201d(Coles Chapter 1, Pg 24). By following the scenes of her mother asking her to wear a hijab, to the community dancing together, with a clip of her mother praying and crying, demonstrates how much her mother loves her but feels somewhat betrayed by her in a way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Esmaili\u2019s location influences the film through her choice to share her story from the position of a participant observer. The entire documentary is filmed as if the viewer is actively participating in everything with Esmaili. She does a very good job at capturing her experience as an Iranian woman who is doing something against societal norms and her family\u2019s expectations. As Coles explains, \u201cI may well be called a \u2018participant observer\u2019 or an \u2018advocate\u2019 by readers or colleagues, or by myself in what I say or imply about myself: someone who has become \u2018involved\u2019 with those he has met\u2026 one who worked alongside those he was getting to know\u201d(Coles Chapter 1, Pg 23). This idea perfectly encapsulates Esmaili\u2019s role, since she is not an outsider or simply just an observer, but is rather someone who is actively involved and whose presence shapes the story. What is particularly beneficial about Esmaili\u2019s choice to incorporate this style is that viewers understand much more about her experience and feelings this way. If she were to create a documentary about the movement for women\u2019s rights in Iran from an outsider\u2019s perspective, viewers would lack the empathy and understanding of the true experience of a day in the life as a woman in Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esmaili’s location shapes the documentary by evoking emotion in the viewers. Her choice of sharing her story from the position of a participant observer allows viewers to feel both the love and judgement that she experiences from her community. Esmaili clearly exemplifies Cole’s definition of location in documentary work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On December 2, 2024, Elahe Esmaili films and publishes a documentary called \u201cA Move\u201d which highlights her experience returning to her hometown, in Iran. Inspired by the movement for women\u2019s rights in Iran, she no longer feels comfortable wearing a hijab. Her family and friends share common values which require women to wear a hijab, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahlola.bergbuilds.domains\/DocResearch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahlola.bergbuilds.domains\/DocResearch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahlola.bergbuilds.domains\/DocResearch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahlola.bergbuilds.domains\/DocResearch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahlola.bergbuilds.domains\/DocResearch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sarahlola.bergbuilds.domains\/DocResearch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13,"href":"https:\/\/sarahlola.bergbuilds.domains\/DocResearch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahlola.bergbuilds.domains\/DocResearch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahlola.bergbuilds.domains\/DocResearch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahlola.bergbuilds.domains\/DocResearch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}