Disagree and you shall be valued: a semiotic examination of how photojournalism constructs “valuable” Iranian bodies across Time

ABSTRACT

Departing from the synchronic trend dominant in social semiotics research, this study examines the diachronic interplay between semiotic cues governing power relations, and global political power dynamics. It examines thirty years of photographic coverage given to Iran in Time Magazine, focusing specifically on diachronic interaction analysis (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006, Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge). The significance of these discourses is examined with an interdisciplinary conceptual lens comprising of social semiotics (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006, Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge) and critical theory (Butler 1993, Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. New York: Routledge). The analysis reveals the even amongst a routinely “othered” national community, some actors are rendered more “valuable” by the camera. Specifically, the interactive cues of gaze, camera angle and social distance accord more power to male dissidents, and female trailblazers, discursive choices serving as an indictment of Iran's socio-political systems. Furthermore, this paper extends van Leeuwen's (2008, “Representing Social Actors.” In Discourse and Practice, edited by T. van Leeuwen. New York: Routledge) work on visual “othering,” and suggests three new categories for examining how visual cues create “valuable bodies”: adjacency, subjectivation, and empowerment.

KEYWORDS:

• Iran
• Time magazine
• photojournalism
• social semiotics
• news magazines
• national images

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professor Maureen Taylor (University of Technology Sydney) and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive, insightful comments on earlier versions of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sameera Durrani

Sameera Durrani is a Lecturer in the School of Communication, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. She has a PhD in Media, Film and Theatre from UNSW, Sydney, and an M.Phil in Communication Research from the University of Punjab, Pakistan. She has previously published on photojournalism and political communication. Her research interests include issues of representation and identity in the media, visual communication, social semiotics, and public diplomacy.