Cultural Representation in Yellow Magazines: A Review of Cultural Discourse Change (A case Study in 1365, 1375 and 1385)

The present article aims to compare the status of representation and the flow of cultural discourse in yellow magazines in the time span of decades of 1360, 1370 and 1380 Based on this, the study employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods such as content analysis and semiotics, to answer such significant questions as understanding narrative and aesthetics, sub-cultural propensities and represented values in yellow magazines. To this aim, the study carries out content analysis on 144 issues of the 6 following yellow magazines: Javanan Emrouz (Today's youths), Zane Ruz (Today's woman), Khanevadeh (Family), Ruzhaye Zendagi (Life's Days), Hamshahri Javan (Young Fellow Citizen) and Dokhtaran (Girls). Beside the content analysis, the study also examines the cover of 52 volumes of the aforementioned magazines during the given period using picture semiotics methodology. The research findings show that yellow magazines usually are confused in representing culture, which could be called a cultural schizophrenia. In other words, these magazines keeps fluctuating between representing popular components of the culture and life style on the one hand, and standard components of the culture and local culture on the other. For the same token, analyzing identity becomes very difficult for researchers.