A Multi- modal Study of the Negares in Siavash and Zahak's Narratives (Based on The Grammar of Reading Images Approach of Kress and Van Leeuwen)

The Grammar of Reading Imagesis a new look into pictures, located in social semiotics. It is implemented in decoding the pictorial signs. Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006), inspired by Halliday’s metafunctions have devised a similar structure for reading pictorial signs named Representational, Interpersonal, and Compositional meanings. The aim of this study is to investigate appropriate answers to the following questions. Can this approach be successful in decoding the Representational, Interpersonal, and Compositional meanings? How much can this approach find the grammatical and semiotic patterns in pictures? Can this approach find the patterns responsible for shaping the special styles of pictures? This study has been conducted on two pictures selected among 23. They have been painted by Soltan­mohammad based on the Siavash and Zahak’s narratives of Shahtahmasb Shahnameh. This study has been divided into three sections. First, the theoretical basis of Reading Images approach was explored. Next, the cases in the pictures which are in accordance with the components of this approach were discovered. Finally, the cases which were in conflict with this approach were discussed. The results of this study reveal that there is a kind of sexism in the pictures which do not exist in these two stories of Shahnameh. In addition, the painter has no tendency towards using perspective, and modality in analyzing his paintings. Furthermore, the echelon structure of the “emergence of snakes on the shoulders of Zohaks’ picture shows the echelon structure of the society it belongs to.