# Iran Before The Islamic Revolution > Iran Before The Islamic Revolution is a 2013 image-macro meme pairing sepia-toned pre-1979 Iranian photos with captions mocking the predictable internet nostalgia cycle about how Western Iran once was. "Iran Before the Islamic Revolution" is a catchphrase and image macro format that parodies the recurring internet habit of sharing sepia-toned photos of 1960s and 1970s Iran to highlight how "modern" or "Western" the country looked before the 1979 revolution. What started as earnest nostalgia posts on Reddit in 2013 became a full-blown meta-meme by 2018, with users mocking the predictable cycle of these posts and the shallow historical framing behind them. The format peaked in 2022 when a Barbie movie still captioned "Iran before the Islamic Revolution" pulled in over 90,000 likes on Twitter[4]. ## Origin The trend of posting pre-revolution Iranian photos online predates the meme format itself. On June 26, 2013, Reddit user /u/Kamais_Ookin posted photographs of Iranian women without the hijab to the r/HistoryPorn subreddit, collecting over 2,000 upvotes[4]. This wasn't an isolated post. Over the following years, similar images appeared across Reddit, Imgur, and early social media, always focusing on the contrast between pre-revolution and post-revolution Iran[4]. The transition from trend to self-aware meme happened on June 25, 2018, when a now-deleted Reddit user posted a meme to r/Izlam that directly called out the pattern. That post earned over 3,800 upvotes, marking the first known instance of someone treating "Iran before the Islamic Revolution" as a punchline rather than a caption[4]. - **Platform:** Reddit (r/HistoryPorn for the trend, r/Izlam for the parody format) - **Creator:** Unknown (community-created from recurring Reddit posts) - **Date:** 2013 (trend), 2018 (meta-meme) ## Overview The meme works on two layers. First, there's the sincere version: users post grainy photographs of Iranian women in miniskirts, couples at nightclubs, and Tehran's neon-lit streets from the Pahlavi era, usually captioned with some variation of "Iran before the Islamic Revolution." These posts focus almost exclusively on the absence of the hijab or veil in pre-1979 Iran[4]. Second, there's the parody layer: users mock how predictable and shallow these posts are, pointing out they reliably farm upvotes and engagement by presenting a cherry-picked slice of Iranian history[2]. The photos typically depict upper-class urban life in Tehran during the Shah's White Revolution period, when aggressive modernization programs promoted rapid urbanization and Westernization starting in 1963[3]. Critics of the meme note that these posts erase the realities of life under the Shah's regime, including the SAVAK secret police, widespread rural poverty, and the fact that the modernization benefits were unevenly distributed across Iranian society[1][3]. ## How It Spread By the early 2020s, the parody format had taken over. On November 28, 2021, Twitter user @lawyerman_ktk posted "\*opens western history book\* / Iran before the Islamic revolution," picking up 4,900 likes[4]. The joke was less about Iran and more about the internet's addiction to recycling the same historical talking point for easy engagement. The format's biggest single moment came on June 28, 2022, when Twitter user @ElectionLegal posted a still from the 2023 Barbie movie with the caption "Iran before the Islamic Revolution." The tweet hit over 90,000 likes in a year, turning the meme into one of the more popular Barbie-related jokes of 2022[4]. Reddit's history meme community kept the format alive too. On September 14, 2022, /u/mo_omar69 posted a meme about the trend to r/historymemes, racking up over 14,000 upvotes[4]. Two weeks later on October 2, Imgur user GloryArse posted a parody targeting the specific "Iranian people at the beach" variant of the nostalgia post, which pulled in over 120,000 views[4]. The meme also found a second life as a tool for political commentary. In a 2025 essay, writer Zakir Kibria used the format as a lens for examining how American audiences consume Muslim identity, arguing that the meme "was never about Iran" but rather about conditional acceptance of Muslim modernity[1]. Meme generator platforms like memeOS added the format to their template libraries, noting its dual use for "genuine historical comparison and to parody the predictable nature of internet nostalgia"[2]. ## How to Use The format is flexible, but most versions follow one of two approaches: **Sincere version:** Post a vintage photograph from pre-1979 Iran (typically showing women in Western clothing, nightlife, or university settings) and caption it "Iran before the Islamic Revolution." This version is usually played straight on history-focused subreddits. **Parody version:** Take any image showing people in modern Western settings, glamorous environments, or absurdly idyllic scenarios, and caption it "Iran before the Islamic Revolution." The joke works because the image is obviously not Iran. The Barbie movie still is the best-known example of this approach. Some users also post memes that call out the trend itself, mocking how reliably these posts generate upvotes and engagement. A common variation uses the format "\*does X\* / Iran before the Islamic revolution" to joke about how the topic pops up in predictable contexts, like opening a history textbook or browsing Reddit's front page[4]. ## Cultural Impact The meme taps into a real tension in how Western audiences engage with Middle Eastern history. The scroll.in essay by Zakir Kibria frames the nostalgic posts as "colonial fan fiction," arguing that they measure Iranian "progress" purely by proximity to Western cultural norms while erasing the authoritarianism of the Pahlavi regime[1]. The Shah's White Revolution, which ran from 1963 to 1979, did introduce land reform, women's suffrage, and literacy programs, but it also dismantled traditional institutions, triggered mass urban migration, and concentrated wealth unevenly[3]. The meme's parody layer reflects a growing awareness among internet users that these posts strip away context. The Shah's modernization came packaged with the SAVAK secret police, suppression of political dissent, and the silencing of Shia clerical leaders like Ruhollah Khomeini, whose opposition to the reforms eventually fueled the revolution itself[3][1]. By turning "Iran before the Islamic Revolution" into a recognizable punchline, the meta-meme pushes back against a one-dimensional reading of Iranian history. ## Fun Facts - The r/HistoryPorn post that helped launch the trend in 2013 focused specifically on women's clothing, setting the template for nearly every "Iran before the revolution" post that followed[4]. - The Barbie movie still version outperformed the original nostalgic posts by a factor of roughly 45x in engagement, with 90,000 likes versus the typical 2,000-4,000 upvotes[4]. - The earliest known parody was posted to r/Izlam, a subreddit dedicated to Islamic humor, making the Muslim internet community one of the first to call out the pattern[4]. - Meme generator sites now offer the format as a customizable template, treating it as a recognized genre alongside classics like Drake Posting and Distracted Boyfriend[2]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is "Iran Before the Islamic Revolution"? It's a meme format built around the internet habit of posting vintage photos from 1960s-70s Iran, typically showing women in Western clothing, captioned "Iran before the Islamic Revolution." It's used both sincerely and as a parody of predictable nostalgia posts[4]. ### Where did "Iran Before the Islamic Revolution" come from? The trend started on Reddit around 2013, when users began posting pre-revolution Iranian photos to subreddits like r/HistoryPorn. The meta-meme version, which mocks the trend itself, first appeared on r/Izlam in June 2018[4]. ### What does "Iran Before the Islamic Revolution" mean? In its sincere form, it's a nostalgic look at Iran's pre-1979 secular culture. In its parody form, it mocks how users recycle these images for easy engagement without acknowledging the full historical context, including the Shah's authoritarian rule[1][4]. ### How do you use "Iran Before the Islamic Revolution"? Either post a vintage Iranian photo with the caption played straight, or take any unrelated glamorous image and caption it "Iran before the Islamic Revolution" as a joke. The parody version works because everyone recognizes the format[2]. ### Is "Iran Before the Islamic Revolution" still popular? Yes. The format is still actively used on Twitter, Reddit, and meme generator platforms as of 2025, both for genuine historical posts and for parody versions[1][2]. ### Why do people keep posting photos of pre-revolution Iran? These posts reliably generate high engagement because they present a visually striking contrast that feels revelatory to audiences unfamiliar with Iranian history. Critics argue this makes them ideal for "karma farming" on platforms like Reddit[2][4]. ### What's wrong with the "Iran before the revolution" posts? Critics point out that the photos show a narrow slice of upper-class urban life and ignore the Shah's secret police, rural poverty, and the US-backed authoritarianism that eventually triggered the revolution[1][3]. ### What was Iran's White Revolution? An aggressive modernization program implemented from 1963 to 1979 under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It included land reform, women's suffrage, and literacy programs, but its uneven benefits and erosion of traditional institutions helped fuel the Islamic Revolution[3]. ### Which version of the meme went most viral? A June 2022 tweet by @ElectionLegal using a Barbie movie still with the caption "Iran before the Islamic Revolution" hit over 90,000 likes, making it the format's biggest single post[4]. ### What subreddits feature this meme? The trend is common on r/HistoryPorn and r/OldSchoolCool, while parodies appear on r/historymemes and r/Izlam[4]. ## References 1. [How Zohran Mamdani is busting the fake nostalgia of ‘Iran before the Islamic revolution’ memes]() 2. [Iran Before the Islamic Revolution Free Meme Generator | memeOS]() 3. [White Revolution (Iran) | History, Significance, & Effects | Britannica]() 4. [Iran Before the Islamic Revolution - Know Your Meme]() 5. [Prostitution in Iran]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/iran-before-the-islamic-revolution Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library