Discourse Analysis of Madness in Nasser Taghvaei's Tranquility in the Presence of Others

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Art university of Isfahan Faculty of Research Excellence in Art and Entrepreneurship

2 Full time faculty member at the Art university of Isfahan

10.22034/scart.2025.141405.1541

Abstract

Among the three films recognized as the pioneers of the new wave, "The Cow" and "Tranquility in the Presence of Others" with the screenplays adapted from the literature of Gholamhossein Saedi along with the intellectual atmosphere of their directors, develop a madness-driven discourse that cannot be associated with the dominant intellectual discourse of that period. The main research question of this study is: How is madness represented and constructed in the film "Tranquility in the Presence of Others" directed by Nasser Taqvai? The question is required to analyze the discourse of madness during an era of Iranian modernity when modernization is significantly highlighted in the society. This study therefore looks into madness in this film relying on the discourse analysis of Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau, and Michel Foucault. The conclusion shows that the madness depicted within the middle class in this film is the consequence of an underdeveloped modernism which lacks a democratic civil society. Modernism is represented only through clinical and medical point of view ending up with a kind of madness inclined toward destruction and despair, lacking its potential rebellious and revolutionary facets.Key Words: Madness, Discourse, Tranquility in the Presence of Others Movie, Foucault, Laclau and Mouffe.

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Main Subjects

Sociology of Culture and Art

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 27 November 2025

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