Is this Iran? Depiction of the 2009 Iranian post-election protests in mass media and in the webcomic Zahra’s Paradise

Abstract

On 19th February 2010 the first episode of the webcomic Zahra’s Paradise was posted on-line. Only eight months had passed since the violent post-election riots in Iran had erupted. Using eyewitness reports, videos, photos, blog entries, and similar sources, the authors created a fictional story that was deeply rooted in reality and that was familiar to many in Iran.
Considering the importance of visual representation of state brutality, since more credibility is placed in visual than oral testimony (Mirzoeff 2006), this webcomic played an important part in divulging the protests at a global level and made the politically sanctioned torture “incontestably real” (Scarry 1985). This essay will explore how the documentation of the events and their presentation in the mass media have been reflected in this webcomic and discuss the significance of social media and the Internet in the development of the post-election protests.