Representation of National Identity as a Political Affair in IRIB Historical Series

Political issues have assumed media quality in recent decades under the influence of the emerged intellectual turns. The media have turned into the most important ground for semantic representation and dispute in the political environment. Media representation and meaningbuilding are not inherent and natural affairs, but rather are based on discourse structures which hint at power relations. In this paper, influenced by “cultural studies” approach and by taking advantage of the theories of Stuart Hall’s “Representation” and Gramsci’s “Hegemony” theories, the mechanism of media representations of national identity and its political dimensions in TV historical series have been examined. For this purpose, a random five television series of “historical” genre, which have been aired in recent decades on different IRIB channels were examined and analyzed. The results show that political power is a determining element in media representation and being influenced by the resolve of such a power which has been manifested in the dominant political discourse, representation of national identity and its political dimensions have gained an ideological characteristic in TV series. The dominant political discourse has created a process in TV programs through civil hegemony in the media that has resulted in ideological representation of national identity and its political dimensions.