Western Cannon in Iranian Popular Culture Post-colonially speaking, the lure of western canonical works for the adapters of a developing country, such as Iran, seems the most recognizable stimulus to choose magnum opus of canonical writers like James Joyce (1882–1941), William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906), Tennessee Williams (1911–83), Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), and Arthur Miller (1916-2005). Many of these adaptions won national and international awards and some of them were very successful in the box office. However, the infidelity to most adapted texts---their differences in their plot, theme and characterization--- violates such an assumption. It is interesting to mention that Iranian cinema is not the only realm that welcomes Western cannons. Popular sitcoms, children’s programs, talk shows, TV serials, and even advertisements adapt Western cannons with different degrees of fidelity and/ or indigenization. Benefitting from the tenets of Comparative Cultural Studies, this article tries to shed light on the nature of the adaptations of western canons in Iranian culture, the significance of their choice and their inevitable cultural deviations in 21st century Iran. It is concluded that more than colonial incentives, the adaptors care about marketability and indigenization of their work to the extent that in many cases the original text is lost in the labyrinth of audience, adapters, producers, and financial lures.

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