A Love Song for the Cow A Structuralist Analysis Based on Greimas’s Method

This article is to study the movie The Cow, a movie by Dariush Mehrjooie, in the light of the semiotic and narratologist A. J. Greimas. This study is based on his theory that all the process of meaning formation is achieved through the relation of binary oppositions. He maintains that the interaction and conflict between the binary oppositions form the meaning which constructs the basis for all the plot formulas in the narratives. Since structuralism illustrates the process of meaning formation, this article proposes two hypotheses to the basic question of why this narrative ends so tragically and why the destiny of the main character is doomed to failure and destruction. To answer the question, the article studies the confrontation of two main discourses in the narrative; nature versus culture. Regarding them as the inner logic of this narrative and the cause to the forwarding of the plot, the article aspires to prove that whether they can build up a dialog or not, and it will prove how the main character is a victim of the attempt to consolidate and unify culture and nature. Secondly it studies the character functions to see how the attitude of the characters and their misplacement in the model of actants may have been a real cause to the destruction of the main character.