Cinematic Representation of Iran's Political Fabric; Critical Discourse Analysis of the Movie "Identity"

 
Extended Abstract
 
Ebrahim Hatamikia’s films represent Iran’s sociopolitical problems and reflect the government approach toward internal and external affairs.  Despite the credibility of his movies, they have not been studied by their position vis-à-vis various political groups and events. This article is designed to offer a study the first long feature film, i.e., the Identity (1985) made by Hatamikia.  We launched such research to discover where the movie and its text stand between rival discourses in the period of its production.
 
Theoretical background
1. Representation Theory
Representation is concerned with what the media portray, how topics are presented, the modes of discourse at work, and the character of debates and discussion. The dimension of representation in the public sphere points to such basic questions as what should be selected for portrayal and how should it be presented (Dahlgren, 1995: 15).
The concept of ‘representation’ is central to the study of all media forms. We think "representation" has close links to issues of depicting reality.  In other words, much media texts (drama, for instance) set out to be ‘realistic.’ It is possible to understand the term ‘representation’ in several ways. First, ‘to represent’ can mean ‘to present or depict something.’ In essence, what we see can never provide the viewer with simple, unmediated access to the ‘real world.’ No matter how ‘realistic’ the presentation might be, it is a construction, involving decisions about where to place the camera, how to edit the material, and so on.
A second way in which the term ‘representation’ appears where one might talk of a statesperson or politician as a ‘representative’ of the people. Accordingly, media images can be seen to represent or ‘stand-in for’ us, the consumers (Casey et al. 2008: 234-235).
Three approaches explain how language is structured to work as a representational system. One approach is that language is reflective, and it simply reflects or resembles a meaning that exists in the world. A second approach to language is the intentional one and is based on the notion that any act of communication conveys precisely what the communicator intended. A third approach is a constructionist approach to language, and this encompasses the notion that meaning is not reflected or imposed, but constructed (Webb, 2008: 43-44).
 
2. Critical Discourse Analysis
The earliest ambition of discourse analysis was to describe sentences and to gain autonomy for itself as a ‘scientific’ area of academic study. Under the heading of discourse, studies of language have come to be concerned with far wider issues. Discourse linguists analyze, for example, the structure of conversations, stories and various forms of written text, the subtleties of implied meanings, and how language in the form of speech interacts with non-linguistic (e.g., visual or spatial) communication. Under the headings of cohesion and coherence, they study how one communicative act depends on previous acts, and how people creatively interact in the task of making and inferring meaning (Jaworski and Coupland, 1999: 4)
Calling the approach 'critical' is a recognition that our social practice in general and our use of language, in particular, are bound up with causes and effects which we may not be at all aware of under normal conditions Specifically, connections between the use of language and the exercise of power are often not clear to people. The normal opacity of these practices to those involved in them - the invisibility of their ideological assumptions, and of the power relations which underlie the practices - helps to sustain these power relations (Fairclough, 1995: 54)
 
 
Research procedure
This research is conducted by leveraging Fairclough’s framework for Critical Discourse Analysis because with the help of this method we can go beyond the text and represented discourses and examine the social context in which this text was produced. The social conditions which we study can be specified as social conditions of production, and social conditions of interpretation. These social conditions shape the MR people bring to production and interpretation, which in turn shape how texts are produced and interpreted.
So, in seeing language as discourse and as social practice, one is committing oneself to analyze the relationship between texts, processes, and their social conditions (Fairclough, 2001: 20-21). Corresponding to these three dimensions of discourse, Fairclough distinguishes three dimensions, or stages, of critical discourse analysis:
• Description is the stage which is concerned with formal properties of the text
(Fairclough, 2001: 21) And the extraction of the experiential, relational and expressive values, which refer to a representation of the natural world, social relationships and the producer’s evaluation of a bit of the reality (Fairclough, 2001: 92-93).
• Interpretation is concerned with the relationship between text and interaction - with seeing the text as the product of a process of production, and as a resource in the process of interpretation (Fairclough, 2001: 21).                                      • Explanation, the third and final stage is concerned with the relationship between interaction and social context - with the social determination of the processes of production and interpretation, and their social effects.
 Conclusion
The above analysis on the movie "Hoviyat" proves that the political circumstances make their mark on such text.  These circumstances were the case during the external war and internal conflicts, and At some points, its positioning is clear such as when it represents the Iraq-imposed war on Iran which was marked as the battle of Islam and infidelity. Or when the picture of Ayatollah Khomeini appears nest to Quran representing a holy object.
But its favoritism does not limit to the obvious elements and by emphasizing on the ideological connection between the revolution, the war, Ayatollah Khomeini and Islamic values, stands against secular approaches or other approaches which oppose Ayatollah Khomeini.
Further, in the study, we found out that the film as takes a side in favor of “The Islamic Republic Party,” it supports “The Traditional Left Wing” over “The Traditional Right” and the latter’s emphasis on acting in the framework of religious laws rather than pursuing the public welfare.
 
Keywords
The Identity, Critical Discourse Analysis, Islamic discourse, The Traditional Left, The Traditional Right.
 
References

Casey, Bernadette et al. (2008). ‘Television Studies: The Key Concepts,’ 2nd edition. London and New York: Routledge.
Dahlgren, Peter (1995). ‘Television and the Public Sphere: Citizenship, Democracy, and the Media.’ London, Thousand Oaks, and New Delhi: Sage.
Webb, Jen (2009). ‘Understanding Representation.’ Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, and Washington DC: Sage.
Jaworski, Adam and Coupland, Nikolas (1999). ‘The Discourse Reader.’ London and New York: Routledge
Fairclough, Norman (1995). ‘Media Discourse.’ London: Edward Arnold.
Fairclough, Norman (2001). ‘Language and Power’ (2^nd edition). London and New York: Routledge.