Representation of Power Discourse in Iranian Cinema: Language, Silence, and the Body in Taste of Cherry

Document Type : Original Research

Authors
Morteza Asemani 1
Mojtaba Monshizadeh 2
Ali Rabiei 3
1 Department of Linguistics, S T. C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 Professor, Department of Linguistics, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran
3 Assistant Professor, Department of English, S T. C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
10.48311/eijh.2026.117294.82810
Abstract
This qualitative study employs multimodal critical discourse analysis to examine how power is represented in Abbas Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry. Integrating Michel Foucault's conception of power relations, Norman Fairclough's (1995) model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and Peircean-Barthesian semiotics, the research investigates how speech, silence, and the body function as discursive and visual-semiotic elements within the film's narrative structure. Through close analysis of six key scenes selected for their semantic density and discursive tension, the study interprets the body as a signifier of ideological struggle and silence as a mechanism of resistance embedded in power relations. The findings reveal that Kiarostami constructs a decentralized configuration of power: the omission of dialogue and the visual presence of the body actively destabilize conventional models of domination. Moreover, ambiguity and narrative suspension function not merely as stylistic devices but as discursive strategies that foreground agency, exclusion, and biopolitical tension within Iranian art cinema. Ultimately, this research demonstrates how cinematic form itself becomes a site of discursive struggle and a means of reconfiguring hegemonic power
Keywords
Critical Discourse Analysis
power discourse
Foucault
semiotics
silence
body
Taste of Cherry
Subjects