Semiotics and Discourse Analysis in A German Woman in the State of Terror: Extremism, Family, and Digital Space

The present study examines the audiovisual text of the documentary A German Woman in the State of Terror, exploring its utilisation of language, image and discourse to re-represent extremism. The film's technique is predicated on the assumption that the narrative of a German teenage girl who joins ISIS is not merely presented as a matter of security, but as a complex crisis involving familial, identity-related, and digital dimensions, as well as a complex discourse. The present study employs a descriptive-analytical approach, drawing upon the concepts of linguistic semiotics, visual semiotics and discourse analysis. The analysis focuses on specific key shots that function as dense signifying units. Evidence from a single site indicates that the film organises its meaning through its use of significant binaries, such as family/organization, home/war, digital presence/bodily absence, and alleged state/actual devastation. Concurrently, the present study demonstrates that the image assumes a pivotal function in the deconstruction of ISIS discourse, whilst digital space operates as both a pivotal platform for recruitment and a locale of incomplete presence, thereby engendering the daughter as a digital trace and as a physically absent body. Moreover, the emphasis on the father bestows upon the narrative a profound ethical and human dimension.