A Comprehensive Synopsis of a Critical Discourse Analysis of the Second Pahlavi’s Construction (Development) Programs’Implications for Women’s Identity (A Case Study of the Portrayal of Female Identity in This Era’s Cinema)

Abstract

The implementation of development programs of the second Pahlavi is analyzed from an economic or political view, while they are implied in the field of culture. The Iranian woman's identity has undergone changes under the influence of these cultural development policies. In this article, we study the representation of female identity in the movies of this period with the aim of investigating the changes of that. Considering that this representation was made under the programs of capitalist development, the theoretical framework of Adorno and Horkheimer's cultural industry from the Frankfurt school was used to critically show the representation of the implications of capitalist development on the cultural industry in the cinema of this period. In accordance with the framework of the Frankfurt school, the critical discourse analysis method of Laclau and Mouffe was used to identify the discursive changes of this representation in different periods of production and distribution of cinematographic works. Based on the findings of the research, four discourses have been identified from the beginning of the second Pahlavi period to 1327, the implementation of the construction program (1327-1343), the Ministry of Mehrdad Pahlabad (1343 to 1357) and the emerging discourse of the "new wave of Iranian cinema" (1340-1357). The analysis of these discourses shows that the representation of female identity in the cinema of this period has gradually changed from the traditional veiled identity to a more naked western identity, and the latter identity has been represented as the identity of the progressive and developed class.

Keywords

• representation
• second side
• development
• cinema
• female identity