ABSTRACT
Iran's urban population connected their daily lives to the war with Iraq (1980–88) primarily through state-produced media on national television. Though the state-produced docudrama Ravayat-e Fath (The Narrative of Triumph), which aired between 1984 and 1987, was presented as journalistic work, it enters the realm of fiction to fulfill its objective: To recruit soldiers. Through mythical stories, epic narratives, dramatic cinematography, mourning songs, reports from the war front, and interviews with soldiers, the series promises triumph through martyrdom. This chapter investigates how war propaganda and the concept of martyrdom generated tools like shaming to control the population during and after the war.
