In today’s world, the media—through their symbolic codes—shape social behaviors and guide collective values. These media codes, functioning as tools for awareness, socialization, and the transmission of dominant norms, play a crucial role in the construction of identity within a society. This study, adopting an interdisciplinary approach and aiming to explore the representation of women in post-revolution Iranian cinema, examines the archetypal pattern of the heroine’s journey in four films: The Lady (Banoo), Mom’s Guest (Mihman-e Maman), Track 143 (Shiyar 143), and Bashu, the Little Stranger. The theoretical framework is based on Christopher Vogler’s twelve-stage model of the “Hero’s Journey,” which illustrates the protagonist’s transformation from passivity to awareness. In addition, Laura Mulvey’s feminist theory of women’s representation and her concept of the “male gaze” are employed to explain how the heroines move from objectification toward agency and self-awareness. The research method is qualitative and relies on interpretive content analysis. The findings indicate that the heroines in these films move along a path from dependence to self-realization, ultimately achieving agency and independence. Culturally, this process reflects Iranian cinema’s gradual shift from portraying women as subordinate to depicting them as conscious.