A Pharrell-Inspired Dance Uprising Has Been Crushed In Iran
Six people have been arrested. Not happy, Tehran.
Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’ is a song with strange powers. As well as allegedly possessing antibacterial properties, it has the power to make people film themselves dancing awkwardly in the street. The daggy phenomenon has already struck in Beijing, Khartoum, Florence, Sydney and Melbourne, among scores of other places.
Unfortunately, Tehran is not a great place to be dancing awkwardly in the street. A group of six young Pharrell fans found this out when they were arrested for the heinous display of public indecency that you’re about to see.
The primary issue with the seemingly innocuous (some would argue completely innocuous) footage is that the three women in the clip are seen dancing in public, in a state of relative undress. Under Iran’s Sharia law, women must be covered from head to toe while in public. The secondary issue is that the clip represents an obvious celebration of Western culture. Such a celebration has been a bad career move in Iran ever since the West-sponsored Shah was ousted by the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
In light of the seriousness of the incident, Tehran Chief of Police Hossein Sajedinia saw fit to comment on the incident, denouncing the fan video as a “vulgar clip which hurt public chastity”, and making ominous mention of something called “cyberspace”. Sajedinia went on to crow about the speed with which he arraigned the hardened criminal gang, before (allegedly) smooshing an ice cream into a small child’s face and cackling maniacally.
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Gif courtesy of Gary Kemble