Semiotic Analysis of Religious Identity in Iranian Animations (Case Study: Semiotics of the Prophets' Animation)

Abstract

Today, media representation has become a fundamental concept in cultural and media studies and plays an important and central role in analyzing media texts. On the other hand, religious identity as a form of various forms of social identity is influenced by the growing influence of modern media and cultural goods and products, including animations. The main purpose of this research is to study how religious identity is represented in Iranian animations. This research has been conducted in the cultural studies approach, with emphasis on Stuart Hall's theory of representation and using theories related to religion, in particular the Glock and Stark's theory. The statistical society includes Iranian animations that have been produced and broadcasted over the past years by the Islamic Republic of Iran, with a focus on religion and religious issues. Sampling in this research was carried out through non-random purposeful sampling and 3 parts of the animation of "Prophets"(Noah's ship, Cold Fire, Patient) were selected as the sample. To analyze the semiotics of animations, Barthes's narrative model and also Fisk and Hartley's triple analysis, have been used. The results of the research showed that the representation of religious identity in Prophets animation is associated with orientation, media frameworks and ideological functions. In these animations, various aspects of religious identity, such as ideological, ritualistic, experimental and consequential, are represented.

Keywords

• animation
• representation
• semiotics
• religious identity