Women and Tradition in Turkish Television Culture the Modern Day Representations of Rape and Pre-Marital Sexuality
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Women and Tradition in Turkish Television Culture The Modern day representations of Rape and Pre-marital sexuality Master’s Thesis submitted to the department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University, May 2013, for obtaining the Master’s Degree of Social Sciences in the field of Media and Communication Studies. Candidate: Melek Merve Mutlu Supervisor: Christian Christensen Acknowledgements I would firstly like to acknowledge my family if they hadn’t supported me through my struggles while writing this thesis I would not be able to make it through the writing process. Secondly I would like to thank, my dear classmates and friends in Uppsala who have been very supportive during my two years here in Sweden.Thank you Stéphanie Ratti, Charlemkwan Jiramonai and Milda Lokaityte. I would also like to thank my neighbours, friends, Melisa Elif Akgüder and Can Anıl for being so helpful and Kind and my housemates and family Maud and Mehmet Akgüder for opening their home to me. I would like to especially thank my professors at Uppsala University for making my master’s studies a great experience. I would also like to thank the authors that have made a contribution in writing this thesis. ii Abstract In this thesis, Women and Tradition in Turkish Television culture-The modern day representation of rape and pre-marital sexuality looks into how rape and pre-marital sexuality is represented under traditional gender roles. This is a cultural study that tries to understand the sexual identity of women trying to be represented on television series in Turkey. Two television serials “Fatmagülün Suçu Ne?” and “Hayat Devam Ediyor” are selected as case studies. The two main characters “Fatmagül” and “Hayat” are analyzed in both television serials. The main research question presented in the thesis, “With a particular focus on gender representation, how are the issues of rape and extra-marital sex addressed in the Turkish television serials “Hayat Devam diyor” and “Fatmagül’ün suçu ne?” The particular of representation of gender sexuality is in the traditional and social sphere. The theoretical framework is mainly based on theories based on “Feminism” with a focus on “Radical Feminism” and “Patriarchy”. The main methodological framework used is “critical discourse analysis”. The findings in the thesis through the analysis of episodes dealing with rape and pre-marital sexuality the representations of the main female characters are more negatively in their social spheres. They are excluded from society and represented as the second-class citizen. With this study my aim is to look into the relationship of representations of gender, which will bring more attention to the sensitive topics of oppression of gender sexuality and the representation through gendered realities in the television serials. iii Table of Contents 1-Introduction…………………………………………………………………….....…1 1.1-Research Question……………………………………………………………........3 1.2-The structure of the Thesis………………………………………………….......….3 1.3-The Significance of the Study………………………………………………......…4 2-Background…………………………………………………………………….........5 2.1-Broadcasting in National Television.....……………………………………….......5 2.2-Broadcasting in Turkish Television…………………………………………..........5 2.3-Development of Turkish Television serials…………………………………..........8 2.3.1-The Emergence of Television serials in Turkey…………………………........…8 2.3.2-Attributes of Television Serials Today……………………………………........13 2.4 -The Images of Women in Turkish Television Serials…………………….....…..16 2.4.1-An Outline on Female Characters of Today’s Prominent Turkish Television Serials…………………………………………………………………………….......23 2.4.1.1-Plot Summeries for “Fatamugülün Suçu Ne?”…………………………….....24 2.4.1.2-Plot Summeries for“Hayat Devam Ediyor”……………….............................25 3- Theory…………………………………………………………………………......27 3.1-Description of the Main Assumptions and Relevant Theories………………......27 3.1.1-Gender Roles……………………………………………………………....…..29 3.1.2-Understanding the basis of Feminism…………………………………….....…30 3.1.2.1-Defining Feminism as a term…………………………………………….......30 3.2- Definition of Radical Feminism…………………………………………............34 3.2.1-The Public and Private Divide…………………….…………………………...37 3.2.2- The Theory of Patriarchy ………..……………………………………....…....38 3.2.3 -Gender System Theory………..........................................................................39 3.2.3.1-The Pattern of Segregation …………………………………………….....….40 3.2.4-Theories regarding Equality/Difference....…………………………………….41 3.3- Gender Representation in the Media…………………………………………….44 3.3.1-Gender and Sexuality in the Media…………………………………………….46 3.4-Patriarchy in Feminism…………………………………………………………..47 3.4.1-Radical Feminism in Patriarchy ……………………………………………….48 3.5-Muted Group Theory………………………………………………………….....49 3.6-Conclusion…………………………………………………………………....….52 4-Methodology………………………………………………………………...…….55 iv 4.1-The Focus of the study..........................................................................................55 4.2- Content Analysis…………………………………………………………….....56 4.2.1-Critical Discourse Analysis………………………………………………..….57 4.3-The Description of the Data Collection Process……………………………..…58 4.3.1-The analytical methodology: Content Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis………………………………………………………………………………59 4.3.1.1 -First level of Analysis……………………………………………………….60 4.3.1.2 -Second Step Analysis…………………………………………………….....60 4.3.1.3-Third level of Analysis(In-Depth Analysis)…………………………………61 4.3.2 -The Presentation of the Data………………………………………………….62 4.4 -The Limitations of the methodology…………………………………………....62 4.5-The justification of Research Methodology……………………………………..63 5 -Analysis and Results……………………………………………………………...65 5.1-General Information about the Television Serials……………………………....65 5.1.1-The List of Characters in the television serials………………………………..66 5.1.2-General Attributes of the two main female characters: Fatmagül and Hayat………………………………………………………………………………. .69 5.2-Presentation of Critical Discourse Analysis…………………………………….71 5.2.1-Analysis of Fatmagülün Suçu Ne? ...................................................................71 5.2.2-Analysis of Hayat Devam Ediyor ………………………………………….…93 5.3- In-depth Analysis………………………………………………………………97 5.3.1-The Representation of Rape…………………………………………………. 97 5.3.2-Representation of Sexual Promiscuity…………………………………….….106 5.3.3-Issues brought up in “Hayat Devam Ediyor”……………………….……......108 5.4-Results of the Analysis………………………………………………………....109 5.4.1-Results for “Fatmagül’ün Suçu Ne?”…………………………………….…..110 5.4.2-Results for “Hayat Devam Ediyor”……………………………………….….111 6-Conclusion……………….…………………………………………………….…112 7-Discussion…………...……………………………………………………….…...121 List of References…………………………………………………………………..122 List of Tables 5.1-General Information about the Television Serials (Table 1)………………….... 65 5.1.1-The List of Characters in the television serials: -Fatmagülün Suçu Ne (Table 2)………………………………………………......….67 v -Hayat Devam Ediyor (Table 3)……………………………………………….....…..68 5.1.2-General Attributes of the two main female characters: Fatmagül and Hayat (Table 4)……………………………………………………………………….......…70 Appendix: Appendix 1.1-Full dialogues from the television serial “Fatlmagülün Suçu Ne?” (What is Fatmagül’s Crime?).........................................................................126 Appendix 1.2: Full dialogues of the television serial “Hayat Devam Ediyor” (Life Goes On)........................................................................................................188 List of figures: Figure 1.1.........................................................................................................99 Figure 1.2.........................................................................................................102 Figure 1.3.........................................................................................................102 Figure 1.4.........................................................................................................103 Figure 1.5.........................................................................................................103 Figure 1.6.........................................................................................................104 Figure 1.7.........................................................................................................105 Figure 1.8.........................................................................................................107 Figure 1.9.........................................................................................................118 vi “In this society many youg girls and women go through tough situations. The things that she is going through are hurting her, battering her. In this painful story, the death of the old man that you are married too, may give you hope about marrying the young man that you love. Just when you say that you are happy, what you have been through is really strenuous” –Hayat Bakırcı’s opening scene quote from the 33rd Episode, the first episode of the second season of “Hayat Devam Ediyor” vii 1. Introduction The main focus of media research in Turkey is based on the assumptions that are formed through tools of mass media in relation to the portrayal of women (Pişkin, 2007). Researchers like Hülya Uğur Tanrıöver (2008) have focused on the format of women’s representation in mass media in Turkey. In this research Tanriöver along with Özlem Danacı Yüce, Barış Kara, Ceren Sözeri, Ece Vitrinel and Melda Soner have pointed out that in most Turkish