Call Me Medhi

Tracy 1 Caleb Tracy Dr. Chipman Multicultural Theatre February 17, 2014 “

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Getting In  On the Inside Joke:

 A Look at the the Cultural References References in Call Me Mehdi  No one likes a joke that they don’t understand. It either makes you upset that you don’t get it, or you try to understand it by getting the facts behind it. I have decided to do just that with the jokes presented in the play “Call Me Mehdi,” Mehdi,” by Torange Yeghiazarian. There are many references to Islamic culture in this play and other issues surrounding it. I, being a typical, American-cultured American- cultured person, don’t quite understand them or have heard about the issues. issues . Through this short essay I wish to gather some background information on a few things. Then I will find their significance within the play. Those points of reference are the author’s cultural i, and finish with the plays “title reference,” background, the references to the Rasht i, the joke in reference to Imam Zaman. Torange Yeghiazarian is a native Iranian she founded the Golden Thread Theatre Productions. She directs, acts, and writes. She is an advocate for the MidEastern culture to be well represented in America. Yeghiazarian has many programs where she tries to engage those of us in this culture in plays about the Middle East. This characteristic of hers is well highlighted in her writing. The story line of Call Me Mehdi

is all around the misunderstanding of Islamic culture between and American

husband and his Mid-Eastern wife. With that as a basis for her writing we get what

Tracy 2 she is all about in her work. With that understood we can look into the next few points. The references to the Rashti in the play got me curious. What exactly are they? Why would, as the joke in the play says, a Rashti man come home to his wife dancing around naked? Ziba says it’s because they are “too liberal.” What does “too liberal” actually mean? In the context of the cultural aspect the belief of the people of city of Rasht , or Rashtis. The people of Rasht played a big role in start and radicalization of what was called the “Constitutional Revolution.” The beliefs of the group of people that were radicals, represented a pro-modern and social democratic system for the reformation of Muslim rituals and traditions. This would mean that they would have not supported the strict rules of women being forced to wear the highly conservative “abaya” dress. The joke tells of the man of this decent of beliefs coming home to his wife completely naked. The fact that it is a typical characteristic that would only be accepted to that man and not many others of the culture is the comical aspect of the context in the joke. That understood I can see what she meant by liberal and why the joke is funny. The next issue is the matter surrounding the context of the “title joke” the “Call me Mehdi” one. The play has a woman calling out to “Imam Zaman.” The first question is, who is Imam Zaman? Well to call him that will find you hardly anything in your search. He is actually called Imam Mehdi. The whole joke is in the name. “Call me Medhi. ” There is a definition for Mehdi in the Islamic culture. ˆt is a part of their religion. “Medhi is a name for the future prophet that will come to earth to re” 

instate Islam and lead the worthy Muslims to paradise. The Sunnis view the Mahdi

Tracy 3 as the heir of Mohammad. The Mahdi is expected to arrive to rule the world and to reestablish righteousness. He is a holy person that has divine intentions. He is a “holy savior.” This brings me to the context of the joke. You will find yourself laughing if you understand the irony of the story. The woman he has chosen to come back for and save is beautiful and well endowed with very large breasts. He was meant to come back and save the religion of Islam. Not a sexy woman. Thus, in that context, I see why the joke is funny. The way Ziba describes it in the show only comes touches on why it’s funny. Knowing more of the background to the joke gives me more insight. There are definitely no major issues here. The points I make are the ones that bring up my final discussion topic; the jokes from other cultures. All of this research on the references led me to develop more searches on the subject. There are a lot of jokes in the Mid-Eastern culture. They all stem-out to be about the politics, which is woven into the culture. I found many cartoons that are from their culture and websites devoted to their jokes. I reflected these final 10 points: -

Tracy 4 Work Cited http://www.goldenthread.org/torange.htm http://www.iranchamber.com/cities/rasht/rasht.php http://www.shia.org/mehdi.html