Youth Representation in Popular Cinema (Comparative Study of Two Periods of Reform and Fundamentalism)

The aim of this paper is to understand youth representation in popular cinema after the Islamic Revolution with comparison of two periods of reform (1997 - 2005) and fundamentalism (2005 – 2010). To achieve this goal, the advent of cinema, popular cinema and cinema as a mass communication has been studied. In the following, the theories of representation, semiotic, Stuart Hall's coding theory, and theories of young people would be discussed. Finally, a conceptual framework is presented based on the representation theory and Hebdige's view about the representation of youth. Semiotics is the method of the present paper that is based on Selby and Cowberry’s patterns for analysis of the technical codes, and the patterns validity and semiotics of Barth for analysis of cultural codes. By focusing on these patterns, the three movies from Reform period (Under the City's Skin & Party & Me, Taraneh, I Am Taraneh, I Am Fifteen Years Old) and three movies from Fundamentalism period (Tambourine & About Elly & Pay Back) have been chosen purposefully to be studied and analyzed. In addition, at the end of every chosen scene from these movies, we explain for more understanding by using the considerate codes of Fiske. The results indicated that popular films (the movies with top selling) at these two periods are representing the different vision of young people. In each of these two periods, the conflicting references have been seen to word the young people. At the Reform period, young people have been shown by some concepts like "adherence to the structure", "hope for the future", "self-confidentce", "audacity", "accountability", "idealism", "law-abiding", and "democracy and freedom". In opposite, at the Fundamentalism period, young people have been represented as "anarchist", "show-off", "no Identity", "antisocial", "confused between tradition and Modernity", "lawbreaker", and "risk-taker". Therefore, we can say that about the representation of young people at the Fundamentalism period, kinds of media panic in the popular cinema have been exposed.