Reconfiguring institutional authority through Mood: a cross-cultural systemic functional analysis of Egyptian and American medical drama

This study compares power dynamics in two culturally and generically distinct medical television series: the Egyptian comedy Balto (2023) and the American drama The Resident (2018). Drawing on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), particularly the Mood system, six scenes (three from each series) are analysed to show how declarative, interrogative, and imperative clauses construct hierarchy, authority, and resistance. The analysis reveals that in Balto , power is framed through humour and exaggeration, with interns positioned by softened or ironic speech, while senior doctors assert dominance in playful yet critical ways. In The Resident , authority is enforced through direct commands and evaluative questions that blur mentorship with intimidation. These contrasts demonstrate how genre and cultural context shape linguistic realizations of institutional power, highlighting Mood as a key resource for negotiating authority across divergent settings.