| Abstract [eng] |
This paper examines the problem of legitimate and illegitimate coercion—a topic prevalent in political philosophy, sociology, and legal studies, but rarely addressed within the field of semiotics. In Lithuanian, “prievarta” encompasses both violence and coercion, while “teisėta” refers to lawfulness, legality, and legitimacy—distinctions which are discussed in the paper. The semiotic analysis conducted in this thesis aims to reveal how the problem of legitimate and illegitimate coercion is constructed within selected discourses and what kinds of values are attributed to acts of coercion. The objects of analysis are two feature films by director Gustav Möller: ”The Guilty” (2018) and “Sons” (2024). The theoretical part of the study briefly introduces key concepts of coercion, violence, and their relation to state penal structures, and also reviews previous semiotic studies on related themes. The analysis is based on Algirdas Julius Greimas’s frameworks of narrative semiotics and the semiotics of passions. The findings show that coercion is invested with different values depending on whether it originates from state institutions or from individual moral frameworks. In “The Guilty”, a contrast emerges between the values attached to lawful and unlawful coercion from the perspective of a law enforcement institution (the police) and those stemming from the personal moral duty of an individual. Meanwhile, in “Sons”, different value systems are constructed between the prison institution and a mother’s desire for revenge following the wrongful death of her son. Based on these findings, the paper suggests that alternative modes of legitimacy of coercion operate alongside the categories of lawful and unlawful coercion as defined by state institutions. |
