A logical interpretation of brutality in ISIS “Shocking” videos : a multimodal discourse analysis

Abstract EN

The Islamic state of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) emerged as an offshoot of al Qaeda in 2014.

it quickly took control of large parts of Iraq and Syria.

this study analyzes five ISIS most “shocking” videos all released in 2015.

multimodal analysis nowadays seeks to achieve an inferential process of reasoning about the best interpretation of films.

this study uses Janina Wildfeuer’s framework, ‘logic of film discourse interpretation’ (2014) as well as the appraisal model of martin and white (2005) to analyze the data under investigation.

this study aims at ; showing how a logical approach to film analysis can help attaining better interpretation and form the argumentative structure of the videos ; modifying Wildfeuer’s model so that logical relations can be maintained in consecutive as well as non-consecutive shots which proves that ISIS follows a certain pattern in its slaughtering crimes ; and showing how ISIS justifies its brutality and threatens its enemies.

the analysis reveals that the data under investigation follows certain logical patterns.

the study modifies Wildfeuer’s model which proves that ISIS follows a certain pattern in its slaughtering crimes.

it also reveals that ISIS, through such videos, aims to send a threatening message to the whole world and to justify its crimes.