Representations of Masculinity in the Post-1990S Popular Turkish Cinema
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THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY BAHÇEŞEHİR UNIVERSITY REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY IN THE POST-1990S POPULAR TURKISH CINEMA Master’s Thesis NİLÜFER EYİİŞLEYEN İSTANBUL, 2010 THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY BAHÇEŞEHİR UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES FILM AND TELEVISION PROGRAM REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY IN THE POST-1990S POPULAR TURKISH CINEMA Master’s Thesis NİLÜFER EYİİŞLEYEN Thesis Supervisor: ASSOC. PROF. SAVAŞ ARSLAN İSTANBUL, 2010 THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY BAHÇEŞEHİR UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES FILM AND TELEVISION PROGRAM Name of the thesis: Representations of Masculinity in the Post-1990s Popular Turkish Cinema Name/Last Name of the Student: Nilüfer Eyiişleyen Date of Thesis Defense: 5 Februrary, 2010 This thesis has been approved by the Institute of Social Sciences. Prof. Dr. Selime SEZGİN Institute Director ---------------------- I certify that this thesis meets all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Social Sciences. Prof. Dr. Z. Tül Akbal SÜALP Program Coordinator ---------------------- This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that we find it fully adequate in scope, quality and content, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Social Sciences. Examining Committee Members Signature Title, Name, Surname Thesis Supervisor: Doç. Dr. Savaş Arslan ------------------------ Member: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Neşe Kaplan ------------------------ Member: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Nilay Ulusoy ------------------------ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am thankful to my supervisor Savaş Arslan for his counseling, encouragement, and his relieves throughout my graduate thesis. I would like to express my gratitude to Nilay Ulusoy and Neşe Kaplan for their contribution in my thesis jury and sharing their important ideas. I am grateful to my mother, my father and my friends all who have helped me through tough times during this study. And my special thanks go to my Merih who put an excellent and hard work with me and never let me alone. İSTANBUL, 2010 Nilüfer EYİİŞLEYEN iii ABSTRACT REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY IN THE POST-1990S POPULAR TURKISH CINEMA Eyiişleyen, Nilüfer Film and Television Program Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Savaş Arslan February, 2010, 155 In each epoch of the history of Turkish cinema, the variable structure of social gender roles brought about diverse representations of masculinity. This diversity and variability have also made it possible to observe a hierarchical structure which influences the story and character traits of the masculinity representations in the post-1990s popular Turkish cinema. This research, which studies the different aspects and sensitivities of masculinity through the hierarchical structure of its representations, also considered the socio-political and socio-cultural changes which the Turkish society witnessed and went through in recent decades. In this thesis, the representations of masculinity in the post-1990s Turkish cinema are analyzed within the framework of the masculinity and social gender studies which appeared and developed in the West, as well as with a consideration of differing perceptions and experiences of the values of the post-1990s Turkish society. By considering the divisions in the perception and shaping of the notion of hegemonic masculinity, it is also argued that the “ideal” conception of masculinity, through modernization and globalization, is not presented within a single body, and thus the notion of masculinity lost its integrity through divisions and presented different sensitivities at different situations. In the formation of such sensitivities and in the shaping and reshaping of representations, it is also argued that the notion of supra-hegemonic masculinity which is atop the hierarchical structure and which is a part of the male world is effective. Keywords: Masculinity, gender, hegemonic masculinity, cinema, Turkey. iv ÖZET 1990 SONRASI POPÜLER TÜRK SİNEMASINDA ERKEKLİK TEMSİLLERİ Eyiişleyen, Nilüfer Sinema-Televizyon Yüksek Lisans Programı Tez Danışmanı: Doç. Dr. Savaş Arslan Şubat, 2010, 155 Toplumsal cinsiyet rollerinin değişken yapısı, Türk Sineması’nın her döneminde çeşitli erkeklik temsillerinin ortaya çıkmasına neden olmuştur. Bu çeşitlilik ve değişkenlik, 1990 sonrası Popüler Türk Sineması’nda erkeklik temsilleri arasındaki, hikayeleri ve karakterlerin özelliklerini etkileyen, bir hiyerarşik yapının gözlemlenebilmesine olanak sağlamıştır. Erkeklik temsilleri arasındaki hiyerarşik yapıyı göz önünde bulundurarak erkekliğin farklı yüzlerini ve hassasiyetini inceleyen bu çalışma, Türkiye’deki toplumun şahit ve dahil olduğu sosyopolitik ve sosyokültürel değişimleri de göz önünde bulundurmuştur. Bu tez, Batı’da ortaya çıkan ve gelişen erkeklik ve toplumsal cinsiyet çalışmaları çerçevesinde, Türkiye’de 1990 sonrası toplumunda oluşan değerlerin algılanış ve yaşanışındaki farklılıkları da dikkate alarak, 1990 sonrası Popüler Türk Sineması’ndaki erkeklik temsillerini incelemektedir. Bu inceleme sırasında ise hegemonik erkeklik kavramının algılanış ve şekillenişindeki bölünmeler göz önünde bulundurulmuş, “ideal” olarak sunulan erkeklik kavramının, modernleşme ve globalleşmeye paralel olarak, tek bir bedende sunulmadığı, dolayısıyla erkeklik kavramının bölünerek bütünlüğünü kaybettiği, çeşitli durumlarda çeşitli hassasiyetler sergilediği öne sürülmüştür. Bu hassasiyetlerin oluşmasında, erkeklik temsillerinin şekillenişinde ve yeniden şekillenişinde, erkek dünyasının bir parçası olan, hiyerarşik yapıya göre en tepede yer alan üst (supra)-hegemonik erkeklik konseptinin etkili olduğu kabul edilmiştir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Erkeklik, toplumsal cinsiyet, hegemonik erkeklik, sinema, Türkiye v TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................1 2. THEORETICAL ACCOUNTS ON GENDER AND MASCULINITY ..................7 2.1 SEX / GENDER ..............................................................................................8 2.1.1 Psychoanalytical treatments of gender................................................... 10 2.1.2 Criticisms of psychoanalysis................................................................... 16 2.1.3 Sociological approaches .......................................................................... 18 2.2 KEY CONCEPTS ON MASCULINITY STUDIES..................................... 23 2.3 HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY................................................................... 30 2.3.1 Homosocial structure.............................................................................. 37 2.3.2 Homophobia............................................................................................ 39 2.4 MASCULINITY STUDIES IN CINEMA..................................................... 41 3. GENDER ROLES AND MASCULINITY IN TURKEY....................................... 49 3.1 GENDER ROLES IN TURKISH FAMILY STRUCTURE ........................ 49 3.2 MASCULINITY IN TURKEY...................................................................... 57 3.3 REPRESENTATIONS OF MEN BETWEEN 1960 AND 1990 IN TURKISH CINEMA ........................................................................................... 62 3.3.1 Men in Yeşilçam melodramas: 1960s and 1970s.................................... 63 3.3.2 Men in “women films”: the 1980s........................................................... 68 4. REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY IN THE POST-1990S POPULAR TURKISH CINEMA ............................................................................... 76 4.1 SOCIO-CULTURAL FACETS OF THE POST-1990s TURKEY .............. 77 4.2 TURKISH CINEMA IN THE POST-1990s.................................................. 78 4.3 REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY IN THE POST-1990s POPULAR TURKISH CINEMA........................................................................ 80 4.3.1 Sub-hegemonic masculinity and its heroes............................................. 84 4.3.1.1 Drama............................................................................................... 84 4.3.1.2 Comedy............................................................................................. 89 4.3.1.3 Action-Adventure............................................................................. 91 4.3.2 Supra-hegemonic masculinity films and their victims ........................... 95 4.3.2.1 Drama............................................................................................... 96 4.3.2.2 Comedy-Drama ................................................................................ 98 4.3.3 Non-hegemonic masculinity films and the others ................................ 101 4.3.3.1 Drama............................................................................................. 102 4.3.3.2 Comedy-Drama .............................................................................. 105 4.3.3.3 Comedy........................................................................................... 109 5. CONCLUSION...................................................................................................... 116 REFERENCES.......................................................................................................... 123 APPENDICES........................................................................................................... 130 APPENDIX 1 – Box Office Chart of the Films ........................................................ 131 APPENDIX 2 – Abstracts of the Films..................................................................... 133 vi 1. INTRODUCTION Gender is a social