Research Article

Truth, Power, and the Body: A Sociological Analysis of Heretic (2024)

Volume: 8 Number: 2 December 31, 2025
TR EN

Truth, Power, and the Body: A Sociological Analysis of Heretic (2024)

Abstract

This article offers a sociological analysis of Heretic (2024) by examining how the film reproduces relations of truth, belief, and power in the post-truth era. Drawing on Foucault’s concepts of governmentality and truth regimes, Butler’s idea of performativity, and Baudrillard’s notion of hyperreality, the study analyzes the film’s representational strategies. Using qualitative discourse analysis and scene-based thematic coding, the findings are organized around four axes: (1) religious discourses are constructed as technologies of power; (2) truth is suspended through simulation and layers of representation; (3) the female body is governed through disciplinary and control practices; and (4) ethical resistance emerges through collective subjectivity and orientation toward the Other. The study argues that Heretic is not merely a thriller but a cultural text that exposes the fragility of truth, the politics of the body, and the possibilities of ethical subjectivation in a post-truth context. The significance of the study lies in its theoretical and analytical contribution to the fields of cinema and media sociology. Methodologically, the study employs a critical-interpretive design that combines qualitative discourse analysis, thematic coding, and scene-by-scene transcription. Codes were operationalized with clear inclusion and exclusion criteria, and analytic transparency was maintained in line with JARS-Qual standards. This approach ensures not only theoretical depth but also replicability for future research in media sociology. The findings reveal four central dynamics: (1) religious discourse operates as a technology of power that governs the subject; (2) truth is suspended through simulation and hyperreality, producing aestheticized effects of belief; (3) the female body emerges as a contested site of discipline and resistance; and (4) ethical alternatives are forged through solidarity and orientation toward the Other. Collectively, these insights demonstrate that Heretic functions as more than a thriller: it is a cultural text that exposes the fragility of truth, the politics of embodiment, and the possibilities of ethical subjectivation in the contemporary post-truth landscape.

Keywords

References

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  2. Althusser, L. (1971). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses. In Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays (pp. 85-126). Monthly Review Press.
  3. Arın, E. K. (2020). İdeoloji ve ideolojik eleştiri paradoksunda sinema. Ege Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Medya ve İletişim Araştırmaları Hakemli E-Dergisi, 6, 70-90.
  4. Aytekin, M. (2018). Sinemada söylem ve ideoloji: Samira Makhmalbaf filmleri üzerine bir inceleme. Akdeniz Kadın Çalışmaları ve Toplumsal Cinsiyet Dergisi, 1(1), 59-76.
  5. Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies. Hill and Wang.
  6. Bartky, S. L. (2015). Femininity and domination: Studies in the phenomenology of oppression. Routledge.
  7. Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and simulation. University of Michigan Press.
  8. Beck, S., & Woods, B. (Direktörler). (2024). Heretic [Video recording]. A24.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Radio-Television, Sociology of Religion, Communication Sociology

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

December 31, 2025

Submission Date

September 23, 2025

Acceptance Date

November 28, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Volume: 8 Number: 2

APA
Çelik, N. (2025). Truth, Power, and the Body: A Sociological Analysis of Heretic (2024). Journal of Media and Religion Studies, 8(2), 499-521. https://doi.org/10.47951/mediad.1789894
AMA
1.Çelik N. Truth, Power, and the Body: A Sociological Analysis of Heretic (2024). Journal of Media and Religion Studies. 2025;8(2):499-521. doi:10.47951/mediad.1789894
Chicago
Çelik, Nuriye. 2025. “Truth, Power, and the Body: A Sociological Analysis of Heretic (2024)”. Journal of Media and Religion Studies 8 (2): 499-521. https://doi.org/10.47951/mediad.1789894.
EndNote
Çelik N (December 1, 2025) Truth, Power, and the Body: A Sociological Analysis of Heretic (2024). Journal of Media and Religion Studies 8 2 499–521.
IEEE
[1]N. Çelik, “Truth, Power, and the Body: A Sociological Analysis of Heretic (2024)”, Journal of Media and Religion Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 499–521, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.47951/mediad.1789894.
ISNAD
Çelik, Nuriye. “Truth, Power, and the Body: A Sociological Analysis of Heretic (2024)”. Journal of Media and Religion Studies 8/2 (December 1, 2025): 499-521. https://doi.org/10.47951/mediad.1789894.
JAMA
1.Çelik N. Truth, Power, and the Body: A Sociological Analysis of Heretic (2024). Journal of Media and Religion Studies. 2025;8:499–521.
MLA
Çelik, Nuriye. “Truth, Power, and the Body: A Sociological Analysis of Heretic (2024)”. Journal of Media and Religion Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, Dec. 2025, pp. 499-21, doi:10.47951/mediad.1789894.
Vancouver
1.Nuriye Çelik. Truth, Power, and the Body: A Sociological Analysis of Heretic (2024). Journal of Media and Religion Studies. 2025 Dec. 1;8(2):499-521. doi:10.47951/mediad.1789894

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