Post-revolutionary Iranian Cinema and the Representation of Woman Social Values: a Comparative Analysis of the Reformist and the Fundamentalist Periods

This paper explores the question of how post- revolutionary Iranian cinema represents woman’s social values. We used Goffman’s gender display theory and his interaction theory to make up our theoretical framework for such study, and added Max Weber’s concept of ideal type to address the issue in a more plausible way. The latter section of our theoretical approach was used with the intention to make interpretive patterns of the represented social values of women in post revolutionary Iranian cinema.

Methodologically speaking, this study employed semiotics study that falls in the category of qualitative methods. To meet the requirement of such approach we selected a number of non-probabilistic samples as units of observation from among movies that matched the necessities of our theoretical approach. The samples were analyzed at two different levels 1- Barthes’ narration model, 2- Keith Seleby & Ron Kowdery models.

The findings are presented here based on two following descriptive patterns: 1) “transformation of subjectivity; i.e., a change in interpretation”. This pattern indicates that values such as “patience and tolerance” are constructed; and 2) “a lying, multi-faced and deceptive figure” that indicates the precedence of a constructivist model of lying. This type of female identity is represented as a socially repetitive behavior and a value that represents how women are depicted in cinema.