The Political Veil and Oil Colonialism in the Iranian Film ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’

This study explores the iconicity of the veil in Ana Lily Amirpour’s Iranian film A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014). While the film is widely attributed to the discussion of feminism that frames the veil as a sign of patriarchal oppression, this understanding fails to take into account the historical and imperialist influences that tied veiling with oppression, a discourse that had gained momentum during the era of the European colonisation of the Middle East in the nineteenth century, and particularly one that merged with oil exploitation under Iran-led modernisation efforts. It also overlooks the politicisation of the veil in modern Iran by both secular and religious forces which was inextricably linked to oil politics. Therefore, this study examines how the veil discourse in Iran is entangled with oil imperialism. It employs a historical analysis method to situate the film within the petro-political history of Iran to understand how it affected the veil discourse throughout. By drawing on postcolonial theory, this study concludes that the veil discourse in Iran is essentially intertwined with oil imperialism, a view that not only supports the film’s narrative but is also one that is often overlooked in feminist media critiques.