Mehrjui’s Cinema and Psychological Signs: A Semiotic and Characterization Analysis in the Film The Cow Based on the MBTI Model

"The Cow" constructs a system of signs, each carrying meanings beyond its surface.

Author: Dr Masoud Taghiabadi

The film "The Cow" (1969) directed by Dariush Mehrjui, is not only a turning point in the history of Iranian cinema but also one of the most profound visual representations of the psychological and identity crisis of the Iranian individual within a traditional and semi-modern context. Based on a short story from Gholam-Hossein Sa'edi's collection "The Mourners of Bayal" the film transforms a personal crisis into a collective tragedy—one that, in its deeper layers, reflects the interplay of individual psychology, social semiotics, and the structures of the collective unconscious. In the context of Iranian cinema, this film not only marked the transition from commercial to intellectual and thought-driven cinema, but, through its simple, rural narrative, tackled one of the most complex issues of contemporary humanity: the crisis of identity and alienation. While adapted from Sa'edi's "The Mourners of Bayal" Mehrjui, by incorporating elements and characters from other stories in the collection, created a more cohesive and multi-layered film than the original text. Here, the individual narrative of Mash Hassan becomes a collective tragedy—one that, in its underlying layers, mirrors the connections between individual psychology, social semiotics, and the structures of the collective unconscious.

From the perspective of the humanities, two fundamental theoretical approaches facilitate an understanding of the film’s hidden layers of meaning: semiotics and personality psychology. Semiotics, rooted in structural linguistics, began with Ferdinand de Saussure’s research and was later introduced into cultural criticism and film analysis by Roland Barthes and Umberto Eco. In this context, semiotics studies systems of signs that acquire meaning within social, cultural, and historical frameworks. Every image, action, and silence in the film is a signifier referring to a signified—whether a mental or social reality represented within the narrative. From this viewpoint, "The Cow" constructs a system of signs, each carrying meanings beyond its surface. As theorized by Saussure, Barthes, and Eco, semiotics emphasizes the relationship between signifier and signified and the production of meaning within social and cultural contexts. In the film, the cow is not merely an animal; it is a signifier for multiple signifieds such as power, status, tradition, livelihood, and even Mash Hassan’s ideal self. Over the course of the film, this sign loses its traditional signified and, in Barthes’ terms, becomes an "empty signifier"—a sign that, after the cow’s death, loses its traditional meaning and points to emptiness and an identity crisis.

On the other hand, the approach of personality psychology, particularly through the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) model based on Carl Gustav Jung’s analytical psychology, provides an effective tool for analyzing film characters. This model classifies personalities along four dichotomies: Introversion/Extraversion, Intuitive/Sensing, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving. The combination of these dichotomies forms sixteen personality types, each with distinct behavioral and cognitive traits. Among these, the ISTJ type—introverted, sensing, thinking, and structured—is clearly observable in Mash Hassan’s character. This type tends toward order, loyalty to tradition, precision, and a sense of duty, and typically plays a conservative role in social structures. The MBTI model thus offers an analytical framework for understanding the behaviors and reactions of the film’s characters. Mash Hassan is a textbook ISTJ: introverted, sensing, logical, and structured. He defines the meaning and stability of his life through his connection to a traditional and predictable element (the cow). His repetitive rituals, obsessive care for the cow, and loyalty to order and tradition all signal his psychological structure. When this bond is severed, Mash Hassan’s psychological structure collapses, resulting in an identity rupture. From an existentialist perspective, this is the moment of "alienation," where a person loses their authentic self and becomes a stranger to themselves.

On the surface, "The Cow" tells the story of a man named Mash Hassan, who owns the only cow in the village. This cow is not only his means of livelihood but also a symbol of social status, masculine power, and connection to tradition. With the sudden death of the cow, Mash Hassan faces an identity crisis and gradually undergoes a psychological transformation to the point where he believes he is the cow. Beneath this simple narrative lies a complex structure of semiotic references and psychological crises. Mash Hassan exemplifies the ISTJ personality type: an introverted, realistic, structured, and logical man who defines all meaning and stability in his life through a traditional and predictable element1.

Mash Hassan visits the stable daily, washes the cow, feeds it, and even confides in it. These behaviors, more than mere affection or responsibility, indicate a deep psychological identification. For him, the cow is the "ideal self," something in which he sees his own reflection. When the cow dies, this bond is broken. The ISTJ psychological structure, heavily reliant on order, responsibility, and adherence to tradition, cannot withstand this crisis. Thus, Mash Hassan experiences an identity rupture and replaces his lost identity with what was previously the object of his attachment—the cow.

This transformation is also analyzable through semiotics. Roland Barthes discusses "empty signifiers": signs that have lost their traditional signified and are now replaced with new meanings. In "The Cow" the cow is initially a symbol of ownership and power, but after its death, it becomes a symbol of emptiness and crisis. Mash Hassan, who was once the bearer of this sign, now sees himself in its place. The signifier and signified merge, and personal identity collapses. In semiotic analysis, the stable, the well, the rope, the night, and the silence each carry meanings beyond their narrative roles. The stable represents the individual and collective unconscious—a dark, confined space where the boundary between human and animal dissolves. The ropes that bind Mash Hassan symbolize social constraints and mechanisms of collective control. The well, where the cow is buried, signifies the repression of truth and the collective unconscious. In this setting, the village community is depicted with the psychological structure of guardian (SJ) types: a dutiful, conservative, tradition-bound society concerned with public order. In such a structure, any deviant element or threatening truth is either ignored or suppressed.

Other characters also contribute to the psychological and sociological understanding of the film. Mash Eslam, the wise elder and crisis mediator of the village, resembles the ISFJ type: introverted, sensing, feeling, and judging. He tries to calm Mash Hassan with prayers, traditional remedies, and religious advice. He is supportive but within a conservative, traditional framework. His solutions look to the past rather than the future. Mash Eslam embodies the archetypal wise father who attempts to restore balance with old tools, but the crisis is too deep for such methods to resolve. Other characters also occupy unique positions in this semiotic and psychological system. The mad youth of the village, though a marginal figure, is key. He knows the truth but is ostracized and imprisoned in a decrepit mill for expressing it. The INFP type—intuitive, feeling, introverted, and independent—fits this character well. He is like an exiled prophet: someone who has grasped the truth but is rejected by the conservative society. The old mill where he is confined symbolizes the cycle of truth’s suppression. The mad youth is the bearer of repressed truth; he knows the truth but is imprisoned in the old mill, symbolizing the exiled prophet or the repressed unconscious that society cannot accept.

Mash Hassan’s wife is a passive and subordinate character. From a personality perspective, she may be an ESFJ or ISFJ: a traditional, caring, loyal woman lacking independent agency. Within the patriarchal structure of the village, she is limited to fulfilling familial duties and has no effective response to her husband’s collapse. She symbolizes the traditional Iranian woman, who, in times of crisis, is more an observer than an agent.

The role of the "Boluris" (residents of the neighboring village) is also significant. They are ambiguous and threatening figures symbolizing external forces, change, or modernity—forces that the traditional society fears but does not discuss. Their hidden yet influential presence acts like repressed anxiety, intensifying the crisis.

Spatial signs in the film also guide us to deeper layers. The stable, where Mash Hassan transforms into the cow, is a dark, damp, confined space governed by animal order. From a psychoanalytic perspective, this space can represent the unconscious, which Freud saw as the source of repressed desires. Mash Hassan, in a sense, regresses to a stage where the boundary between human and animal is not yet defined. The ropes binding him symbolize social constraints—tools society uses to control the individual, even in psychosis. The well where the cow is buried represents the burial of truth, a psychological repression. Night, darkness, and silence further highlight the identity crisis.

The village society in "The Cow" is constructed on the psychological structure of guardian (SJ) types: a dutiful, conservative, tradition-bound community concerned with public order. Any deviant element is either ignored or rejected. On a deeper level, the film presents a society grappling with a crisis of meaning and identity—a society that suppresses truth and sacrifices individuality to maintain order and stability. The concealment of the cow’s death, the imprisonment of the mad youth, and the attempts to heal Mash Hassan with prayers and traditional remedies are all defensive mechanisms of traditional society in the face of crisis. These behaviors do not resolve the crisis but instead deepen and prolong it.

Within this context, the concept of "alienation" becomes fundamental. As discussed in the attached text, alienation in the philosophies of Hegel, Feuerbach, and Marx refers to the separation of humans from their authentic selves and the acceptance of a foreign image of oneself. In psychology, this concept describes a state in which an individual’s self-image does not correspond to their existential reality. In "The Cow" after the cow’s death, Mash Hassan loses his human identity and assumes an animal identity—a process that, according to Shariati, is akin to "possession" or the infusion of another being into oneself. This transformation is not only psychological but also cultural and social, as the society, by suppressing truth and prioritizing superficial order, deepens the crisis.

Ultimately, "The Cow" is not only a landmark in Iranian cinema but also a visual document of a society on the brink of transformation—a society attempting to control crisis by clinging to order, tradition, and secrecy, but in doing so, becomes a source of crisis itself. Analyzing this film through semiotic theory and personality typology helps us understand how individuals construct meaning within social structures and how they collapse in a crisis of meaning. With its simple narrative and confined settings, "The Cow" addresses one of the most complex crises of traditional humanity: the crisis of identity and alienation. Mash Hassan’s psychological collapse is not merely the story of one individual’s illness, but a portrait of a society that, when faced with change, responds with suppression and denial. From an existentialist perspective, this collapse signifies alienation: the separation of humans from themselves, from work, from nature, and from society. Mash Hassan, once the owner of the cow, becomes the cow—not out of mere delusion, but due to the collapse of the systems of meaning upon which he had built his life. This transformation is not only psychological but also cultural and social. Through semiotic and personality typology theories, we can understand how individuals construct meaning within social structures and how they collapse in a crisis of meaning. "The Cow" stands as a visual document of a society on the verge of transformation—a society that, by clinging to order, tradition, and secrecy, attempts to control crisis but instead becomes the source of crisis itself. Every sign and action in this film carries meaning beyond the narrative surface, reaching into the hidden layers of the Iranian psyche and society.

In conclusion, it should be noted  that "The Cow" is a work that, by blending a simple narrative with deep philosophical and psychological layers, depicts the crisis of identity, alienation, and psychological collapse not only at the individual level but also at the collective and social level. By employing signs and personality types, it has become one of the most enduring works of Iranian cinema․

https://mubi.com/en/films/the-cow/trailer