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ABSTRACT
Arabesk is a trademark of popular culture in Turkey. At its foundation lie injuries of class, emotional wounds that society inflicts on people’s sense of dignity and freedom. Literature on arabesk has long underemphasized this salient fact. A syntagmatic and paradigmatic analysis of the narrative structure in thirty melodramas shows that the agony around which arabesk stories unfolds is rooted in class conflict. This study also reveals remarkable parallels between depictions of love in arabesk films from decades ago and the lower classes’ imagination of love today. Thereby, it provides confirmation of the importance of assessing the works of popular culture accurately if we are to better understand the psyche of their target audience in Turkey (and elsewhere in the capitalist world), which is primarily the subaltern segment of society.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Koptekin, “Experiencing Class,” iv.
2 Ibid., 119.
3 Stallybrass and White, The Politics, 3, and 5–6.
4 The term arabesk refers primarily to a kind of music which
emerged in Turkey at the end of 1960s [and] captured the passions of rural migrants living in gecekondus, or urban squatter settlements … [This term] later came to describe the entire migrant culture formed at the peripheries of Turkish cities. Özbek, “Arabesk Culture,” 211
It is a hybrid musical genre which contains both Western and traditional elements. That is why
[i]n arabesk, traditionalists saw too much experimentation and too many foreign elements. In contrast, modernists saw too much tradition and too little rationality. In this strange ‘object’ both sides saw not only the betrayal of their own ideals but also a kind of resistance of their basic means of categorization. Karakayalı, “An Introduction,” 130
5 Brooks, The Melodramtic, 5.
6 Ok, Anadolu’nun, 54.
7 Karakayalı, “An Introduction,” 130.
8 Özbek, “Arabesk Culture,” 211.
9 Ibid., 211.
10 Kongar, “Arabesk Üzerine,” 6.
11 Evren, “Arabesk Olayı,” 9–10.
12 Yavuz, “Söyleşi,” 25.
13 Stokes, The Arabesk Debate, 98.
14 Kahraman, “Yitirilmemiş,” 621.
15 Karakayalı, “An Introduction,” 129.
16 À la Sennett and Cobb, The Hidden. ‘Class injuries’ emanate from class distinctions in capitalist societies, but rather than a conscious and open sense of conflict with or outright struggle against the hegemonic classes, this experience refers to ‘an existential problem of freedom and dignity.’ Sennett and Cobb aver that ‘[c]lass society takes away from all the people within it the feeling of secure dignity in the eyes of others and of themselves.’ Especially vulnerable are the subaltern who ‘society is powerful enough to wound … at a very deep emotional level – which is where the wounds inflicted on dignity are.’ The Hidden, 152, 170, and 192.
17 Özgür, “Arabesk Music,” 176.
18 Yarar, “Politics of,” 68–9.
19 Dadak, “A Maudlin,” 132.
20 Aytaç, “Popüleri,” 93.
21 Selden and Widdowson, A Reader’s, 37.
22 Kaliber, “Türk,” 107.
23 Mardin, Religion, 181, italics original.
24 Erdoğan, “Garibanların,” 34.
25 Türkeş, “Romanın,” 143.
26 Ibid., 136.
27 Ibid., 137–8. See also Mardin, “Superwesternization,” 434–5.
28 Ercan, “Çelişkili,” 59–60.
29 Akkaya, “Türkiye’de,” 145.
30 Ercan, “Çelişkili,” 64.
31 Keyder, State, 164, 190.
32 Özbek, “Arabesk Culture,” 215.
33 Özgüç, “Arabesk Filmler,” 14.
34 The chronological list of the films (with directors in parentheses): Bir Teselli Ver/Give Me A Consolation (Lütfi Akad), 1971; Ben Doğarken Ölmüşüm/I Was Born Dead (Yücel Çakmaklı), 1973; Dertler Benim Olsun/Shall All Troubles Be Mine (Safa Önal), 1974; Batsın Bu Dünya/Shall This World Sink (Osman Seden), 1975; Benim Gibi Sevenler/All The Lovers Like Me (Temel Gürsu), 1977; Derbeder/Wretched (Temel Gürsu), 1977; Hatasız Kul Olmaz/No Soul Is Impeccable (Osman Seden), 1977; Batan Güneş/Setting Sun (Temel Gürsu), 1978; Sabuha (Oksal Pekmezoğlu), 1978; Seven Unutmaz/The One Who Loves Does Not Forget (Çetin İnanç), 1978; Son Sabah/The Last Morning (Natuk Baytan), 1978; İsyankâr/Rebellious (Temel Gürsu), 1979; Kara Yazma/Black Scarf (Remzi Jöntürk), 1979; Yuvasız Kuşlar/Nestless Birds (Natuk Baytan), 1979; Çile/Suffering (Remzi Jöntürk), 1980; Durdurun Dünyayı/Stop The World (Osman Seden), 1980; Huzurum Kalmadı/No Peace For Me (Natuk Baytan), 1980; Dil Yarası/Word Wounds (Yaşar Seriner), 1984; Utanıyorum/I Am Ashamed (Melih Gülgen), 1984; Haram Oldu/God Forbade It (Ferdi Tayfur), 1985; Kul Kuldan Beter/One Soul Is Worse Than The Other (Yılmaz Atadeniz), 1985; Mavi Mavi/Blue-eyed (İbrahim Tatlıses), 1985; Öksüzler/Orphans (Temel Gürsu), 1987; Ayrılamam/I Can’t Leave (Temel Gürsu), 1987; Gülüm Benim/Oh My Dear Rose (İbrahim Tatlıses), 1987; Vurmayın/Please Don’t Hit (Ümit Efekan), 1987; Acı/Pain (Kaya Ererez), 1988; Aşıksın/You Are In Love (İbrahim Tatlıses), 1988; Allahım Sen Bilirsin/Oh God Hear Me (Faruk Turgut), 1989; Sensiz Yaşıyorum/I Live Without You (Ümit Efekan), 1989. (Translations mine)
35 The total number of such movies made in this period is around five hundred. Özgüç, “Arabesk Filmler,” 14.
36 Ibid., 14.
37 Kress and van Leeuwen, Reading, 7.
38 See Metz, Language, 163; Fiske, Introduction, 57; and Berger, Media, 44.
39 Propp, Morphology.
40 Rimmon-Kenan, Narrative, 20.
41 Durgnat (drawing on Elizabeth Bowen), “Ways,” 147.
42 Drawing on Gérard Genette, Rimmon-Kenan divides a narrative into three levels: story, text, and narration. Story refers to the events or actions narrated in their logical or chronological order. That the same story can be retold in different ways is the aspect of a narrative called text, which is the form directly available to audience. It does not necessarily follow the logical or chronological sequence of events, in which ‘all the items of the narrative content are filtered through some prism or perspective.’ The third level, narration, refers to the act or process of producing a text through the incorporation of some elements from outside into the chain of events. Narrative, 3–7.
43 Chandler, Semiotics, 108. See also Cuddon, The Penguin, 82; Fiske, Introduction, 56; and Berger, Film, 10.
44 Fiske, Introduction, 56.
45 Elsaesser, “Tales,” 69.
46 Ang, “Dallas,” 481.
47 Berger, Narratives, 154–5.
48 Elsaesser, “Tales,” 69, 74.
49 Rimmon-Kenan, Narrative, 41.
50 In arabesk movies, ‘the actors do not “act”, but play themselves. In most films, arabesk stars use their real names.’ Stokes, The Arabesk Debate, 138. Hence, in fans’ eyes, how they knew the real actor as a public figure (‘voice of the people,’ ‘one of us,’ ‘brother,’ ‘father’ etc.) must have compensated for what they did not know about the protagonist’s past in the story. The arabesk persona was a fusion between reality and fiction, facilitating the desired identification of the audience with the hero, and the fact that almost all arabesk stars had a humble background most likely eased this process.
51 For a discussion on how an Us-Them attitude permeates the working-class culture in general see Hoggart, The Uses, 62 and Hill, Sex, 143.
52 Bir Teselli Ver, Dertler Benim Olsun, Batsın Bu Dünya, Seven Unutmaz, Çile, and Mavi Mavi.
53 Derbeder, Sabuha, Yuvasız Kuşlar, Kara Yazma, Dil Yarası, Vurmayın, Ayrılamam, and Acı.
54 Utanıyorum is the only film that belies the arabesk myth of rich so bad, poor so good. This film, like the others, sets the major conflict as a class opposition, only in the opposite direction. The villain, a mechanic, is in love with the rich hero’s wife. In the scene where the villain threatens the heroine with a knife intending to rape her, he whispers:
Look at me, look carefully! I was a mechanic. You used to come over to have your car repaired. I wouldn’t let anybody else touch it but myself. I’d caress your seat all night long. Do you remember me?
55 Except for three films by Emrah, a teen star of the 1980s.
56 Stokes, The Arabesk Debate, 156.
57 Cawelti, “The Evolution,” 47.
58 Erdoğan, “Narratives,” 265.
59 Love in Orhan Gencebay’s songs as well has a similar ‘metaphorical quality,’ in which ‘to love’ means ‘to live’ and ‘to be happy,’ and it is something to be protected against devastating consequences of the social order. Özbek, Popüler, 186.
60 Erdoğan, “Narratives,” 265.
61 Bir Teselli Ver, Dertler Benim Olsun, Benim Gibi Sevenler, Derbeder, Son Sabah, Seven Unutmaz, Yuvasız Kuşlar, Kara Yazma, Dil Yarası, Haram Oldu, Mavi Mavi, Gülüm Benim, and Allahım Sen Bilirsin.
62 Yalçınkaya, “Turkish Arabesk.”
63 Raymond Williams defines this concept as ‘affective elements of consciousness and relationships: not feeling against thought, but thought as felt and feelings as thought: practical consciousness of a present kind, in a living and interrelating continuity.’ Marxism and Literature, 132.
64 Özbek, Popüler, 201.
65 Ibid., 105.
66 Stokes, The Arabesk Debate, 142.
67 Kristeva, “Word,” 37.
68 Cuddon, The Penguin, 424.
69 ‘Poverty, displacement, deprivation, and the harsh daily round of urban life are not explicitly described in arabesk lyrics, but they are expressed abstractly and through a feeling of disquiet and yearning that permeates the music.’ Özbek, “Arabesk Culture,” 216.
70 Stokes, The Arabesk Debate, 154.
71 Aside from the songs, the word ‘fate’ comes up in less than half of the films.
72 Cuddon, The Penguin, 215.
73 Gürbilek, Türk, 24.
74 An observation from the early 2000s tells that these movies, drawing their impetus from a lingering wound (of class conflict), exert a powerful impact on how the poor-subaltern in Turkey perceive the social reality. Erdoğan, “Garibanların,” 37.
75 Erdoğan, “Kültürel Alanın.”
76 Özbek, “Arabesk Culture,” 224.
77 Akdere and Karadeniz, Türkiye, 293. (Translations mine)
78 Özbek, Popüler, 136.
79 Hall, “Notes,” 232.
80 Gürbilek, Türk, 24.
81 Özbek, “Arabesk Culture,” 227.
82 Erdoğan, “Yok-Sanma,” 61.
83 Hall, “Notes,” 239.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Özgür Avcı
Özgür Avcı is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, and in the Media and Cultural Studies Program at Middle East Technical University. He holds his degrees from the University of Wisconsin (Ph.D.) and Middle East Technical University (M.S. and Bachelor). His areas of specialization include popular culture, political behavior, and political psychology.