Discourse on Power and Sexual Violence in the Film "Bida'ah ":

A Case Study of Representation and Audience Response in the Digital Space

Abstract

The film Bida'ah raises the sensitive issue of power relations and sexual violence in religious education settings, a context often obscured from public criticism. This study aims to analyze how discourses of power and sexual violence are represented in the film's text and how these meanings are interpreted and negotiated by audiences in the digital space. This study uses a qualitative approach with Fairclough's three-dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model combined with a netnographic analysis of audience comments on YouTube. The results show that the film Bida'ah represents religious authority through religious language, spiritual symbols, and practices of obedience that position religious leaders as figures with moral and spiritual legitimacy that are difficult to question. This representation shows how religious power can be used to normalize obedience, silence criticism, and open up space for symbolic and sexual violence. Analysis of audience comments shows that viewers not only consume the film for entertainment but also interpret the film's narrative by referring to personal experiences, social realities, and concerns about manipulative religious practices.