Representing Women's Identity in Iranian Cinema (Discourse Analysis of the Works of Female Cinema Directors at the 35th Fajr Film Festival)

Abstract

One of the most challenging topics in representation studies is the representations made by women on the different aspects of their lives. Accordingly, this study has attempted to analyze the discourse of female identity in the works of female directors at the 35th Fajr Film Festival in 2017. The results of the analysis show that the central concepts in the four selected films generally refer to the representation of common feminine, traditional female and modern female characteristics. Traditional female characteristics include motherhood as the most important role, tendency for patriarchy, tolerance of difficult family circumstances, and adherence to the rules of emotional relationships, family orientation, and opposition to new phenomena. The features of modern women include selfishness, courage, belief to equal rights, disobedience to the spouse, displacement of traditional roles, and the lack of importance of housekeeping. Common feminine characteristics include emotional and sensuality, the importance of maternal role, family as the source of security, the need for emotional interactions in the family, maintaining the family with positive relationships, and sacrifice. Therefore, the three groups of characteristics displayed patterns of Iranian woman in cinema.

Keywords

• woman identity representation
• discourse analysis
• female director
• iranian fajr film festival