A Separation, an Ideological Rift in the Iranian Society and Culture: Media, Discourse and Ideology

Media can be a good representation of dominant ideologies in society. The analysis of such discourse can shed light on the mental and social structures of people in society. Adopting van Dijk’s (1995) layout of discourse ideology and his (2000) practical and general outline of ideological analysis, this study analyzes the Iranian movie A Separation, the winner of the 84th Annual Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film. The data are transcribed, modified, and then translated into English. What is of particular interest to the authors is to examine the discourse of the movie based on van Dijk’s (1995) layout of discourse ideology which tries to approach ideology by ensuring the triangulation of society, cognition, and discourse. The authors are more interested in analyzing people’s simple daily ideological behaviors which are rooted in their cognition and dominate their social activities. Having mapped these specific terrains, the authors attempt an examination of the ideologies of the film on levels of meaning, forms, and action and interaction.