Iranian Court Theatre and the representation of crime and harm in the process of social trends

The role of crime and social damage in undermining moral values and disrupting social order cannot be underestimated. These issues are influenced by factors such as inequality, discrimination, and injustice in various areas such culture, society, politics, and the economy. Movies, as an important cultural medium, serve as a valuable resource for understanding the causes of crime and social harm. This research focuses on Iranian court cinema and aims to explore how they portray crime and damage. The study analyzed 22 out of the 1744 films produced in Iranian cinema over the past four decades. A purposeful sampling approach was used, resulting in the selection of 10 films for analysis. These films were chosen due to the sensitive and taboo nature of the subject matter, as well as the potential attraction for public opinions. The qualitative research method, specifically Barth's narrative analysis, was employed. It involved coding the explicit and implicit messages and examining social codes at three different levels using the Fisk method. Four categories were identified to address the question of how crime and harm are represented in social disputes. The results show that murder, rape, and drug trafficking accounted for 62, 14, and 9 percent of the criminal acts portrayed in the selected court cinema, respectively. Acid attacks, child abuse, and abortion each accounted for only 1%. In terms of social harms, misogyny and divorces constituted 53% and 27%, respectively, while, suicide, addiction, and immigration each accounted for 5% of the films. It is worth noting that murder and misogyny emerged as the most prominent themes in Iranian court cinema over the decades. In the 1980 and 1990, rape and acid attacks not addressed in court dramas. While cinema has been successful in representing important aspects of crimes and harm throughout the societal changes, the analysis of the selected films suggests a discrepancy between the films produced and actual trends of crime and harm in society. This raises concerns regarding the subject design and content of court dramas. Utilizing the expertise of court filmmakers and focusing on real content can contribute to informing the society more effectively. To address this issue, it is recommended that the production of court films with the evolving nature of crimes and social issues.