Journal of Socialomics

Abstract

Construction of Reality and Naturalization of Ideology through the Discourse of Cinema: A Critical Discourse Analysis of a Separation

Ali Mozaffari, Ali Rahimi and Saloumeh Khodabakhshi

Researchers have analyzed movies and books, some have tried to have a discourse analysis and some a critical discourse analysis. The aim of this paper is twofold: first it aims to study the discourse of A Separation, the critically acclaimed 2011 Iranian film drama, showing how realities are produced and social norms are renormalized through the discourse of this film. Another objective of this study is to investigate the comments and reactions that this film received based on Van Dijk’s theoretical framework. Therefore, an attempt was made to reveal the hidden ideology and ulterior motives of commenters and show how one can make use of discursive strategies and linguistic elements as well as derogation and euphemization to make the audience believe what he/she thinks. After studying the discourse of some selected dialogues and comments of A Separation, Nader from Simin, the researchers showed that how a film can produce realities and instill ideologies in the audience. In addition, they endeavored to indicate that how one can practice the mentioned strategies to misrepresent “the other” and overestimate the positive qualities of the “self”.