Critical Discourse Analysis of the Film Walnut Tree Based on the Laclau–Mouffe Theory

Abstract

Discourse analysis is regarded as one of the significant topics in the field of linguistics. Various frameworks have been proposed by theorists for the purpose of analyzing discourse. One of these frameworks is the Laclau–Mouffe theory (1985), which has proven highly effective in the analysis of political and social discourses. The present study was conducted with the aim of identifying the mode of articulation in the film Walnut Tree within the framework of Laclau–Mouffe’s theory (1985). This research is qualitative in nature, and in order to achieve the study’s objective, data were collected through observation of the film and examined using the content analysis method. The findings indicated that the floating signifiers “victim,” “resistance,” “hopefulness,” “indifference and silence of international institutions,” “Kurdish identity,” “father,” “family,” and “media censorship” were all articulated around the central signifier of “the oppression of the Kurds.” In the film, by challenging the official discourse, elements such as the “hostility” of international institutions toward the Kurds, the “marginalization” of Kurdish communities, the silence derived from the “power” of international institutions, media censorship as a form of “deconstruction,” the “otherness” of international institutions, and the “chains of equivalence,” including the chain of child–pregnant mother–father–Sardasht–chemical bombing, were depicted. In conclusion, an articulation of the film was presented.