representation

In post-war Iran, the university has been more than just an institution for knowledge production; it has served as a contested arena where discourses, shaped by the turbulence of power and politics, have redefined its identity. This study seeks to unravel the discursive formation of the university in Iranian cinema by exploring three key questions: How have issues pertaining to the university and academic knowledge been discursively represented in post-war films? What distinct orders have these discursive formations followed, and how can their emergence be understood in light of the social and political conditions of post-revolutionary Iran? Employing Foucault’s discourse analysis, eight films from four post-war political periods were purposefully selected: What Else Is New? and Pari (Reconstruction era); The Last Supper and In Purple (Reform era); Heartbroken and In the Cage (Principlist era); and We Won’t Get Used to It and The Sweet Taste of Imagination (Moderation era). The findings point to an implicit politics of truth in post-war Iranian cinema, one that eschews a rational or accurate depiction of the university and academic knowledge in favor of peripheral, often corrosive themes about the institution. Rarely portrayed as a hub of scientific inquiry during this period, the university is instead depicted in films as a space of intellectual confusion, a breeding ground for revolutionary subjects, or a source of social maladies and unconventional relationships. By undermining the university’s scientific role, these portrayals have nudged policymaking toward greater surveillance and control, while transforming societal attitudes from admiration to mistrust. Through a sharp, locally attuned lens, this study bridges gaps in prior research and sheds light on the broader implications of these discourses for the future of education.

In our country, a lawyer as a representative is listed under an establishment, and it is necessary to distinguish between the profession of legal representation and other ordinary representation. In western countries, these two are separated and the simultaneous use of two models of representation is prohibited. This research has been done by analytical-descriptive method. Its purpose is to compare the Islamic-Iranian model of advocacy with its western model. It was concluded that the common law of most western countries did not provide a definition of representation and left this important to the executive process. Therefore, at the place of execution, the difference between the two types of attorneys is evident and the simultaneous use of judicial and civil attorneys is prohibited. As a result, the possibility of lawyers abusing their powers has decreased, which is considered a preventive measure against crime. Influenced by the Islamic-Iranian model of our country, according to the respectable jurists, a definition of advocacy has been implemented, and there is no definition of the profession of advocacy in other legal sources. Therefore, in the first place, it is necessary to state the exact definition of legal representation and then separate their nature and legal effects from each other. The executive system of our country is not able to influence the subject's rights like the western executive system.

The communication and information revolution has created a new space of human existence that lies outside the old concept of time and space i.e. free of borders and is rapidly changing our world. The second space, that is, virtual is constantly developing and expanding, conceptualizing, producing and disseminating content, and intertwining itself with the natural world. This article combines the dual spacization and representation theories to identify how national identity, as the highest and most significant, is represented in the virtual space. By adopting the critical discourse analysis method alongside grounded theory, our examination of Instagram posts identifies a confrontation between Iranian and Islamic identities and a need for greater convergence and interaction between these two identities to achieve a moderate, balanced identity that fosters national cohesion and harmony. Targeted strategies and policies pursued by political and other relevant institutions, in particular micro and macro planning of the use of virtual space, will bring Iranian and Islamic identities closer together, offering an Iranian-Islamic identity that more effectively represents Iran's culture and civilization.

The economic, social, and political changes and developments of recent years have led to a change in the social classes of society. The aim of this article is to examine how the urban middle class is represented in the cinema of the 1390s (2011 – 2020) . In this study, class is considered, based on Bourdieu’s definition, to be a combination of various economic, social, and cultural capitals and habits of individuals that also have subcategories. The representation of this class in the cinema of the 1390s has been analyzed with Hall’s constructivist approach to representation. Among the films of Iranian cinema of the 1390s, three party films, Kami’s Party (2013), Atomic Heart (2014), and Khargioush (2016), which represented a specific branch of the middle class, have been selected. These films have been examined using John Fisk's critical semiotics method at three levels: social reality codes, representational codes, and ideological codes. The findings show that these three films represent a branch of the middle class called the new "petty bourgeoisie" that, by combining the types of capital and their habits, represent a similar lifestyle. Common cultural-class patterns based on the consumption of signs: Habits whose moral foundation is based on pleasure. This lifestyle is characterized by the lack of a single guiding principle in the field of consumption. A kind of cultural omnivorousness in the field of the consumption of signs is evident.

This research, considering the importance of the social position of women and their role in various fields of society, aims to sociologically analyze the representation of women’s images in the murals of Tehran. The method of this research is categorized under qualitative studies, utilizing the social semiotics approach of Kress and Van Leeuwen. The data of this study includes 80 murals across Tehran, selected purposively from the main and significant murals in the city's main squares. The time frame for selecting the murals is June and July of 2023. Sampling continued until reaching saturation. The data were categorized using MAXQDA software version 2020. The results indicate that the focus and emphasis of the analyzed murals in representing the social components of women are on religious identity (depicted through various actions such as praying or making supplications), national and patriotic identity (represented by images of martyrdom or defense of national and patriotic values), and emotional identity, particularly motherhood with care and affection. The social and economic status of women in the murals of Tehran reflects an independent woman, often employed, holding a valuable social position within the family and possessing professional prestige. These murals, with emphasis on high social positions such as being a martyr’s mother, the esteemed role of motherhood, studentship, research, and specialized professions like medicine and engineering, aim to present a respectable and independent image of women.

In this research, with the aim of increasing knowledge about how the cultural components of the nation brand of Islamic Republic of Iran are represented on Instagram, 75 sample posts (with purposeful sampling) from five selected pages in a certain period of time, using the qualitative content analysis method has been analyzed based on 13 summarized components. According to the findings of this research, the "places and buildings" component is ‎the most prominent and main cultural component represented in the nation brand ‎of Iran. Also, the components of "popular culture", "cultural lifestyle" and "natural ‎scenery and beauty" are other significant components in this regard. Moreover, ‎the characteristics represented from the cultural dimension of the nation brand of ‎Iran show that Iran is country with a rich historical, artistic, cultural and natural ‎heritage and has beautiful architectural works and natural landscapes. Also, ‎Iranians are kind, friendly and hospitable people, and in general, Iran is a very ‎attractive and enjoyable destination for tourists. Generally, the mentioned ‎components are represented on Instagram in an attractive and pleasant way for ‎the international audience. However, considering the diverse and numerous ‎cultural capacities of Iran, this represented image is incomplete. So that many ‎components, elements and characteristics of the cultural dimension of the nation ‎brand of Iran remain unknown to the international audience on Instagram.‎

With the expansion of social networks, and especially Instagram, the activity of child influencers has grown significantly in recent years. Social network users refer to these children as "Instagram working kids’ who have become a source of income for their families. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to examine the representation of the virtual life of kid influencer on Instagram. In this regard, the child's daily activities, how the mother advertises, identifies and brands, and their interactions with followers have been examined. This research is of an applied type and, considering the main goal, was conducted as a qualitative content analysis using the netnographic method. Therefore, Instagram was considered a research field and through viewing and reading articles, seeing published images, photos and videos, 20 pages of child influencers and six pages of parents influencers were examined over a six-month period. The research findings show that on kids influencers pages, the virtual life of child influencers is focused on four main axes: attracting followers, creating the role of parents, virtual identification and advertising and earning money, and on child influencer parents' pages, two categories stand out: representing a happy family in cyberspace and communicating with followers. Kid influencers are advertising and attracting followers while sleeping, playing, traveling, having fun, acquiring basic developmental skills, etc., and they can be referred to as a category of exploitation in the moment. It can also be said that the goal of all activities of kid influencers pages is ultimately to gain advertising and financial profit..

The most important collective identity is national and ethnic identity because it has an important role in culture, society, politics and even economy. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to represent the national and ethnic identity in the Noon Khe TV series and in its selected parts. The current research is qualitative and the research field of study is Noon Khe TV series. Regarding the subject of the research, only the parts of series that are somehow related to national and ethnic identity were analyzed. For this purpose, John Fiske’s Semiotic method was used and based on the unit of analysis, 16 parts were selected and analyzed purposefully.

The purpose of this research is to represent the culture of sacrifice and martyrdom in the memoirs of martyrs defending the shrine. This research is applied in terms of objective and qualitative content analysis method with inductive approach was used. The research community includes seven books of memoirs of the martyrs who defended the shrine, which were selected by purposeful sampling. The results indicate that the culture of self-sacrifice and martyrdom in the mentioned books were classified in the form of three main categories including forgiveness and sacrifice, hereafterism and guardianship. Martyrdom, self-sacrifice, courage and resistance in the front of truth and service to the people are among the characteristics of these precious martyrs. It was Iranian who became the symbol of Islamic resistance. By internalizing the meaning of resistance and standing in the mentality of Iran and Iranians, they manifested the spirit of resistance in the society. Another main topic of the discussion of hereafterism in this context has been the attention of the martyrs to the fulfillment of religious duties and mustahabbs, establishing the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil, as well as strong family orientation. The third category is also the issue of guardianship. The mentioned martyrs believed that the administration of guardianship in the Age of Absence is the responsibility of the legal guardian, who has the authority and authority in the Islamic government, and in this regard, they sacrificed their lives for the sake of the Ahl al-Bayt and the defense of the Haram.

Motherhood is a symbolic, objective, concise, attributed, and mythical role of females that dominates both their personal and social life and constructs gender identity. Media, such as television, can represent this role through various programs, including series. The main goal of this research is to find out what image of the mother is presented in the popular series of the first forty years of the Islamic Revolution. Accordingly, and based on the studies of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB)’s Research center, the four most-watched series, “Paeez-e-Sahra” (The Fall of Sahra), “Pedar Salaar” (The Patriarch), “Motaham Gorikht” (The Suspect Ran Away) and “Delnavazan” (The Kind) were selected. In fact, from each decade, one of the most-watched series in which “Mother” plays a serious role was selected. Then, using the semiotic method and based on Selby and Cowdery’s model, the selected scenes from each series were examined. Based on the findings, the image of the mother presented in these series has neither remained completely stable nor has it constantly changed. In fact, on the one hand, some characteristics of the Iranian mother are emphasized, and on the other hand, it was tried to modify some characteristics and stereotypes of the mother. With the comparison of Kowaltzke and Stewart’s octet stereotypes, it was found that the stereotype of “housewife” has been portrayed in Paeez-e-Sahra, Pedar Salaar, and Motaham Gorikht, and the stereotypes of “the working woman” and “the perfect mother” has been depicted in Delnavazan. Also, the image of the mother in Delnavazan has undergone many changes compared with the other three series

This study aims to investigate women in Kiarostami cinema in different historical and social periods to discover and represent the cultural patterns that have dominated women's society.On this basis, three sweet movies, Report and Ten, have been selected as the field and sample of the study based on the purposeful sampling method. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the theory of representation, and Barth's semiotic analysis method was used to analyze and interpret the data. According to the results of the research, since the power is historically, socially and symbolically in the hands of men, therefore, cultural concepts and categories are defined based on the male system and are inherently dominant concepts.These concepts and categories in (the film report) are made in passive and violent subjects, in (the film Shirin) they are incapable and of course can be used in some cases for the benefit of men's conditions and in (the film Ten), they are dependent on the decisions and preferences of men's society. , have been represented which, in fact, introduces women as having a subordinate and non-independent identity.In this way, women face not only structural and social obstacles for progress and change in their lives, but the structure of the patriarchal system, like conscience, is deeply rooted in their minds and thoughts, and even in their absence, it sends a powerful message to women and to them. He reminds them to follow the instructions.

This research examines the representation of women's faces and clothing components in the wall paintings of Tehran, considering the importance of women's social status and their roles in different fields of society.

The method of this research is included in the category of studies with qualitative approach and semiotic method. The data of this research includes 80 murals in the city of Tehran, which were selected with a purposeful method from among the custom murals in the main squares of the city of Tehran and to represent the face and clothing components of women. The period of choosing wall paintings is June and July of 1402. The number of data selections was determined by reaching the saturation stage.

Findings of the research: 

In the images used in the wall paintings of Tehran, the clothing components represented in these images were fully veiled and fully covered, which did not match the variety of women's clothing in the society. The faces represented in these pictures are devoid of any cheerfulness and beauty and are mostly represented as sullen and sad faces.

The representation of women's faces and clothing in wall paintings is an inconsistent representation and does not match the realities of women in society. This mismatch in the field of clothing and makeup, appearance, is clearly comparable. The images represented in the wall paintings are women without any vitality.

The present article tries to examine the representation of disability in the movie “Chrysanthemums Flowers” with the discourse approach of Laclau and Mouffe. Due to the fact that identity is developed via social interactions of the individual with others in the process of socialization, and since people with disabilities often find a ruined identity within society, this research’s approach to disability is influenced by Goffman's theory of social stigma, which is defined a socially constructed phenomenon as disability. The post-structuralist discourse analysis approach of Lacla and Mouffe has been applied as the research method. According to the findings, the dominant discourse in the film "Chrysanthemum Flowers" is the lack of limitations of the disabled person, which is articulated around the signifiers of acceptance, education, fatalism, agency, independence, and a positive image of the body. Along with this dominant discourse, a sub-discourse of empowerment has also been shaped. The film, centered on the main hub of agency and support, has marginalized passivity and social exclusion and has led to the dominance of the social model of disability

As a representation, landscape is a particular way of seeing. landscape is not only an ideology, but a visual ideology and a power relation. The purpose of this article is to investigate how to use billboards and visual memorials to present the desired discourses and imagery of local governance in the urban landscape of Dezful. To achieve this goal, all the billboards and visual memorials of the city are studied  in a semiotic and representational way. Then the studied cases in terms of imagery patterns were studied and the characteristics of each of them were examined to get a clear picture of the semiotic landscape and representative designs of the city of Dezful. The results of this research show that with the start of the war and considering the damage done to the city, the local government felt the need for a new image related to the role of Dezful in the war. After the war, imagery related to the clergy enters the urban landscape in a new and completely contextual way. After several decades of dominance of these two discourses, with the emergence of new necessities, emerging discourses such as cross-border resistance and historical also entered the urban landscape of Dezful. In this context, cities like Dezful engage in a kind of political-ideological marketing to show their role in the ruling discourse and its key events in a more important and key way.

This article deals with the topic of Representation of the social movements of women since (1920-2016) in movies (Suffragette, The northern land , Iron javelin angels, The Rosa Parks Story ) . The women's movement is an organized movement to achieve women's rights and an ideology for the transformation of society, whose goal is the dream of eliminating all types of racial discrimination and oppression .In this article, the author examines four movies by qualitative and Charles Sanders Peirce's semiotic method and the theory of Charles Tilly’s collective action and fundamental theories of feminism wants to show that how effective movies are in representing social movements of women. Movies seem to play a significant role in representing the social movements of women in society. Research findings indicated that the meanings represented in the films have been: Negotiating the existing situation and oriented identity, having a plan and organized collective behavior, determine the goals, having ideology, obligation and commitment, opposition to violent acts, radical movement, worthiness , commitment and unity.

The implementation of development programs of the second Pahlavi is analyzed from an economic or political view, while they are implied in the field of culture. The Iranian woman's identity has undergone changes under the influence of these cultural development policies. In this article, we study the representation of female identity in the movies of this period with the aim of investigating the changes of that. Considering that this representation was made under the programs of capitalist development, the theoretical framework of Adorno and Horkheimer's cultural industry from the Frankfurt school was used to critically show the representation of the implications of capitalist development on the cultural industry in the cinema of this period. In accordance with the framework of the Frankfurt school, the critical discourse analysis method of Laclau and Mouffe was used to identify the discursive changes of this representation in different periods of production and distribution of cinematographic works. Based on the findings of the research, four discourses have been identified from the beginning of the second Pahlavi period to 1327, the implementation of the construction program (1327-1343), the Ministry of Mehrdad Pahlabad (1343 to 1357) and the emerging discourse of the "new wave of Iranian cinema" (1340-1357). The analysis of these discourses shows that the representation of female identity in the cinema of this period has gradually changed from the traditional veiled identity to a more naked western identity, and the latter identity has been represented as the identity of the progressive and developed class.

One of the ways to know and understand the norms of any society is to refer to their reflection in the media. Of course, stereotypes presented by the media about individuals, groups, social roles, communities and cultures, also affect the way the audience treats these individuals and groups in real and face-to-face situations. In this research, based on the Selby & Cowdery model and using the semiotic method to represent one of the mother roles, namely "Mother-in-Law" in two popular family series broadcast in the first two decades of the revolution, namely "Paeiz-e Sahra" and "Pedar Salar", Which were purposefully selected. In the first series, despite of the mother-in-law is a civilized and urban person with a high social status, but completely stereotypical and with negative traits such as authoritarian, selfish, seditionist, violent, nervous, grumpy and gloomy, slanderous and abusive, theologian, divisive, excuses, full Expectations, oppressors, domineering, annoying and hated are represented. While in the second series, by adopting an anti-stereotype approach, a different image was presented from what is in the minds. In this series, the mother-in-law is portrayed as a humble person, optimistic, calm and kind, smiling and open-minded, satisfied and low-expectation, Godly, polite and eloquent, with emotion and with compassion, realism and love.

On October 7, 2023, the Hamas group launched a multi-pronged attack from the Gaza Strip to the south of Israel. This action, which was the beginning of armed conflicts between Israel and Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas, has been named the “Al-Aqsa storm operation” by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups and “Black Saturday” or “Simchat Torah Massacre” by Israel.In today's world, the media, an integral part of human life, are the main tools people use to make sense of the world. The media's importance in war conditions and crises has doubled, and they have become the most essential sources of reliable information and awareness of the world and its changes.The start of the Hamas attacks on Israel quickly made headlines around the world, and based on their news policies, the media took specific approaches to reflecting this event. The present study investigates the media representation of the Israel-Gaza war in the IRNA news agency, BBC Persian website, Al-Arabiya Persian website, and Deutsche Welle Persian website.For this purpose, Theon Van Dijk's critical discourse analysis method was used in this article to investigate the media representation of the Israel-Gaza war in the IRNA news agency, BBC Persian website, Al-Arabiya Persian website, and Deutsche Welle Persian website and to answer the research questions including "1. How is the media representation of the Israel-Gaza war in different media outlets including IRNA news agency, BBC Persian website, Al-Arabiya Persian website, and Deutsche Welle Persian website?” and “2. What are the differences and similarities between the discourses of these media outlets in the construction of the Israel-Gaza war?” Based on the presented definitions, discourse can be considered an intellectual system consisting of expressions and cognitive and epistemological attitudes that creates a specific way of thinking that serves the interests of a specific group. Some sociologists also consider discourse to be synonymous with ideology.Theon Van Dijk believes that ideology is the basis of common social representations of a group and influences attitudes, judgments, and what members of the group consider to be right or wrong. Van Dijk considers ideologies as cognitive symmetries of power and states that they should work best to serve the interests of a particular group.Critical discourse analysis seeks to answer the question of how discourses reproduce the involved macrostructures. The results of this research showed that the mentioned media have presented different discourses on the Israel-Gaza war, each expressing the ideological position from which they operate. Therefore, the media seek to construct reality rather than act as a mirror that reflects the developing events. IRNA news agency’s discourse emphasized that the return of the issue of Palestine to its rightful place in the world’s public opinion was the primary goal of carrying out the Al-Aqsa storm operation. At the same time, this issue is the consequence of the actions of the international community, especially some countries in the Islamic world that sought to normalize relations with the Zionist regime.IRNA news agency sees breaking the silence of the international community in response to the Palestinian issue and Israel's actions, disrupting the process of normalizing relations between the Arab governments and the Zionist regime, returning the Palestinian issue to its rightful place, and dealing a solid blow to the information and propaganda power of the Zionist regime among the achievements of this operation.In BBC Persian’s discourse, the actions of Hamas were considered to be the leading cause of the war, and the subsequent decision of Israel to start the war was seen as a retaliatory action. BBC Persian describes Hamas fighters as violent and merciless people who have attacked Israeli settlements without any warning and have committed terrible crimes in these areas; therefore, the international community should support the Israeli people and soldiers who are united to fight Hamas.The result of this discourse-making method that was presented in the early days of the war was that when Israel attacked Gaza in the following months, BBC Persian was biased in reporting the fate of the people of Gaza and representing the crimes committed by Israel.In the review of Deutsche Welle Persian news website, a point of view similar to that of BBC Persian was observed; however, Deutsche Welle tried to show Islam as the main cause of these actions, placing Islam in opposition to the West. In this medium's discourse, Hamas is introduced as an ideology and political idea formed on the axis of religion. This issue has caused Hamas to emerge as a social movement that has many followers in Palestine, and the Palestinian people participate in what this group does by supporting Hamas's ideology. In this regard, Deutsche Welle refers to the battles and struggles of the Western allies of Israel with other Islamic extremist groups, such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS, to show Hamas as a part of the Islamic world, which past experiences have shown to be the birthplace of the most extremist ideas.Al-Arabiya Persian's discourse emphasized Iran's role as a negotiator in preventing Hezbollah's involvement in this war. In addition, in the early days of this operation, Al-Arabiya Persian reduced it to the level of an individual reaction, seeking to minimize the disruption of Israel’s relations with Arab countries. What is important to Al-Arabiya Persian is not to create tension in Arab-Israeli relations.

Deception is one of the important moral and social themes that has become a problem in our society. Because media is effective in social construction of meaning, this article attempts to examine what the media has to say about deception in society by examining the works of an Iranian cinema elite who has focused on the deception issue. From Barth's perspective, the media is mythical and imposes ideological issues on society as natural matters. The rigid approach to Stuart Hall's theory of representation also holds that the media is not a reflection of reality and that the social is based on personal ideology. Using qualitative and quantitative content analysis, this article seeks to see what myths and deceptions Farhadi is creating in Iranian society. Quantitative content analysis revealed that Farhadi, of the six components of deception, focuses mostly on "lying" and "secrecy" in his films. Qualitative content analysis showed that "socio-cultural conditions in Iran", "religion and law", and "type of governance" were among the components that were repeated in his works and represented as deceitful factors.