Resource Management and Public Opinion Engineering in the Representation of Martyrdom and Suicide in Cinema: A Comparative Study of Iranian and Hollywood Films After September 11

Subject Areas : Human Resources

mohammadreza قائدی ¹ , Mir amin Javaheri koohi ² , samad zahiri ³

1 - Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran
2 -
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2025-07-02 Accepted : 2025-08-24 Published : 2025-09-15

Keywords: management of symbolic resources, martyrdom, suicide, legitimacy of violence, Iranian cinema, Hollywood 9/11,

Abstract :

In the contemporary world, media, particularly cinema, as one of the most significant sources of symbolic meaning, plays a central role in managing public opinion, shaping collective perceptions, and reproducing discursive orders. This article, focusing on the concept of voluntary death (martyrdom/suicide) and aiming to analyze the use of symbolic resources within the framework of cultural policies, conducts a comparative study between the cinema of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hollywood cinema in the post-9/11 era. The theoretical framework of this research integrates socio-cultural, phenomenological, and discursive-ideological approaches. The research method is qualitative, based on purposive sampling and the selection of key films within the two aforementioned cinematic systems. The findings indicate that in Iranian cinema, martyrdom is represented as a sublime, self-sacrificial act rooted in religious values and national identity, whereas suicide is portrayed as an individualistic, reprehensible act devoid of moral and social legitimacy. In contrast, Hollywood cinema, by constructing a dichotomy between the "American martyr-hero" and the "Middle Eastern suicide terrorist," contributes to the reproduction of the national security discourse, the stabilization of identity boundaries, and the shaping of public perceptions regarding violence and its legitimacy. This comparative study demonstrates that the representation of voluntary death in both discourses is not a reflection of a universal reality, but rather a discursive construct that serves to symbolically organize the social and political order. In this context, cinema, as a cultural and ideological institution, plays an influential role in managing symbolic resources within systems of power and governance.

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