A Paradox in Women’s Role in Tension Management in Family (An Analysis of "I Am a Mother" Film)

The family has an important role in reproducing cultural system and socializing individuals. But this institution is not always stable and sometimes undergoes challenge and tension in everyday life. One of the most current tensions in family life is due to misunderstanding between parents and children on different issues. This article deals with this problem by symptomatic reading of the film ‘I am a Mother’ and with the question that what a mother may do in such circumstances to solve the problem. The film shows the situation many families in Iran may have experienced. That’s why dealing with the paradoxical position of the mother in the film, reveals the deadlock of the parental relation in families. The findings show that what looks like maternal sacrifice in the first glance, is a pervert attempt to monopolize familial relations by the mother. Hence, the familial relation which is supported by maternal sacrifice, is susceptible to unexpected pathologies. This claim does not intend to undermine humanist values like sacrificing (especially that of women in the family life), but in some circumstances, the order which prevails is different from what people suppose.