"What is being sold is a[n] ideological narrative in which the veiled woman functions as an immediately recognizable symbol of oppression, repression, backwardness, and unfreedom."
What this ordeal has shown me is that I'm surrounded by morons. What is being sold is a ideological narrative in which the veiled woman functions as an immediately recognizable symbol of oppression, repression, backwardness, and unfreedom.
The morality police merely provide the narrative justification. The image does the real ideological work.
Western audiences do not need to understand the history of the Iranian Revolution, the social composition of its supporters, the role of war, sanctions, religion, class, or national sovereignty. The veil already communicates everything the audience has been trained to see. It operates as a visual shorthand for an entire civilizational story.