Discourse analysis of good and evil in the representation of criminal courts in post-revolutionary Iranian cinema

Justice is one of the most common concepts in all disciplines and contemporary criminal justice systems. However, this common concept at the stage of implementation, in each particular discourse, is the subject of special controversies and arguments based on good and evil. The present study has chosen Laclau and Mouffe's approach for the critical, inclusive, and historical Features in analyzing these dualisms of discourse analysis. The results of the analysis show that the concept of justice as a central signifier of competing discourses has been influenced by unique political and social conditions, which has led to different dualisms in the representations of the pre-reform and post-reform era. Before 1997 cinematic courts have been represented in such a way as to counter the evil, which is an anti-Islamic element in this period, as an obstacle to justice. In this regard, the concept of crime and violation of justice has been patched up by the judicial system itself. After 1997, a social barrier, the patriarchal atmosphere, impedes achieving justice. In this period, good and evil are reduced to the dualities of men and women and In this regard, the function of the court is to reproduce the patriarchal atmosphere in a formal way And the concept of crime and violation of justice is linked to masculinity. As a result, post-revolutionary cinema criminal courts, under the influence of discursive constructions, have been incapable of achieving justice, and the expectation of justice has largely been introduced outside of the court.