Representation of death in the cinema of the sixties and nineties in Iran, based on the theory of Norbert Elias

The research descriptively-analytically examines the representation of death in the two decades of the 60 and 90 in Iranian cinema. The purpose of this study is a comparative study of the representation of death over a period of three decades (60 to 90) in Iranian cinema and its content and visual changes to represent death, as well as the ontological nature of death in Iranian cinema. The theoretical foundations of the research are based on Norbert Elias's theory of death and its differences between traditional and modern societies. Elias believes that in traditional societies death was visible, but in modern societies death is hidden. The statistical population of the study is 127 films from the two sixties and nineties, that is, all films from the two sixties and nineties in which death occurred. Of these, 43 films are from the sixties and 84 films are from the nineties. In selecting the sample population compared to the films made in these two decades, 6 films from the sixties and 12 films from the nineties were selected by simple random sampling. The results show that the films of the sixties took a traditional and premodern approach to representing death. Visibility of death, the presence of the family in the moment of mourning, peace and fearlessness in the time of life and acceptance of death, has been the dominant approach in representing death in this decade. The results of the nineties show that the representation of death in films is based on and consistent with modern death; Absence of the corpse, unhappiness and fear of death, anxiety about death, rejection and striving to survive are the most important signs of death in this decade. According to the research, the changes are due to social changes and changes in form and content in cinema.