Discourse Analysis of My Sweet Pepper Land Based on Laclau and Mouffe’s Theory

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the discourse of the film My Sweet Pepper Land based on the discursive theory of Laclau and Mouffe, and seeks to demonstrate how meaning, power, and identity are constructed and stabilized within the cinematic narrative of this work. The film is set in the post-war context of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a space in which the political and social order has been disrupted and competing discourses are engaged in a struggle to define justice, law, and power. Within the theoretical framework of Laclau and Mouffe, discourse is understood as a set of temporary articulations among signifiers that are constantly exposed to contestation and instability. In this film, the effort to establish justice and law emerges as the nodal point of the dominant discourse, around which other concepts such as freedom, power, education, courage, responsibility, and modernity are articulated. The character of Baran, the village sheriff, represents the law-oriented and justice-seeking discourse that attempts to transform floating and polysemous elements into moments with relatively stabilized meanings. In contrast, the tribal chief and traditional forces symbolize a rival discourse grounded in coercion, tribal domination, and the preservation of traditional order, striving to keep alternative meanings within the realm of discursivity. Within this framework, concepts such as “law,” “justice,” “power,” and “freedom” function as empty and floating signifiers that each discourse seeks to fill with its preferred meanings. By foregrounding the actions and dialogues of Baran and Govend, the female teacher, the film places a modern, education-centered, and law-abiding discourse at the core of its narrative, while marginalizing the traditional and tribal discourse. The construction of otherness between “law and force,” “modernity and tradition,” and “justice and corruption” plays a fundamental role in ensuring the coherence of the film’s dominant discourse, through which a chain of equivalence among justice, law, education, freedom, and courage is formed. On the opposing side, a counter-chain of concepts such as corruption, domination, violence, and restrictive traditions is constructed to define the rival discourse. Deconstruction in the film gains meaning through challenging established power relations, gender norms, and the traditional order, revealing that the stabilization of a justice-oriented discourse is possible only through confrontation and conflict with dominant forces. Ultimately, through the use of persuasive strategies, the film invites not only the characters within the narrative but also the audience to embrace a discourse of law, justice, and social change. The findings of this analysis indicate that My Sweet Pepper Land is a clear example of the representation of discursive struggle in cinema, effectively depicting the mechanisms of articulation, hegemony, othering, and the instability of meaning in accordance with Laclau and Mouffe’s theory.