The disappearance of the working class hero in the New Independent Turkish Cinema: globalization and the politics of festivalism

ABSTRACT

In the mid-1990s, a new cinema began to flourish in Turkey led by an intellectual, cosmopolitan and individualistic generation. Although the problems of income distribution were still very persistent in the society, these new filmmakers were no longer interested in the demands of the working class and the social problems arising from the economic structure, albeit between 1960 and 1980, a firm tradition of social realism had flourished in Turkey with the films of the social realists and Yılmaz Güney. This study aims at assessing why the working class hero and his socio-economic problems could not find a place in the New Independent Turkish Cinema that emerged in the 1990s. The oppressive policies and political bans of the coup period softened towards the 1990s. Despite the revival of trade unions and the easing of political bans since the 1990s, the intellectual directors of the period such as Derviş Zaim, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Yeşim Ustaoğlu and Zeki Demirkubuz focused only on existential, micro-political or identity-centered issues. In that context, besides the emphasis on individualism in line with the neoliberal policies implemented since the 1980 Coup period, the phenomenon of “festivalism” associated with “globalization” and “cultural capital” should also be examined. The festivals focused on urban consumers who were somewhat intellectual but not too radical to pose a threat to the socio-political structure. The festivals also created new channels of dependencies for the so-called “independent” directors eager to finance their films and bound to give multiple concessions.

KEYWORDS:

• Cinema and globalization
• film festivals
• New Independent Turkish Cinema
• cinema and politics in Turkey
• the 1980 coup and Turkish cinema
• the working class hero in the New Turkish Cinema

Notes

1 Between 1960 and 1965, following the neo-Kemalist 1960 Coup, an important film movement known as “Social Realism” (Toplumsal Gerçekçilik) arose within the newly established Turkish Film Industry. Like the French Nouvelle Vague and the Brazilian Cinema Novo, Turkish Social Realism was also related to the legacy of Italian neo-realism whose leftward oriented politics and realist-minimalist aesthetics fitted well with the socio-political concerns of a new generation of Turkish filmmakers eager to develop a “national” film language. Some of the major films are: Metin Erksan’s Yılanların Öcü (The Revenge of The Serpents, 1962), Susuz Yaz (Dry Summer, 1963) which won the best film award in Berlin Film Festival in 1963, Halit Refiğ’s Gurbet Kuşları (The Birds of Exile, 1964), Haremde Dört Kadın (Four Women in the Harem, 1965); Ertem Göreç and Vedat Türkali’s Otobüs Yolcuları (The Bus Passangers, 1961), Karanlıkta Uyananlar (Awakening in the Darkness, 1965); and Duygu Sağıroğlu’s Bitmeyen Yol (The Never Ending Road, 1965). For more information, see Daldal, Aslı. 2010. Art, Politics and Society: Social Realism in Italian and Turkish Cinemas. New-Jersey: Gorgias Press.

2 Yeşilçam (Greenpine) is a tiny street in the famous İstiklal Street in Beyoglu where many film producers had their offices. It mainly flourished in the 1950s and many producers came from rural backgrounds. Most of them were only interested in commercial success through this new medium. It has been part of the Turkish culture until the mid-1990s and mostly delivered entertainment to audiences. The producers were very pragmatic and as long as the films they made attracted the audience, they did not care too much about the ideological and artistic merits of the films. For more information, see Daldal, Aslı (2015).

3 It is a cultural foundation created by a leading pharmaceutical corporation in Turkey called “Eczacıbaşı Group.”

4 Diken analyzes Nietzsche’s nihilism in four main forms: Escapism, radical nihilism, passive nihilism and perfect nihilism. See Diken, Bülent (2008). Nihilism. London: Routledge.

5 The Sivas Massacre refers to the events of July 2, 1993 at the Hotel Madimak in Sivas Turkey, which resulted in the killing of 37 people, mostly leftist intellectuals, when a mob set fire to the hotel.

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Notes on contributors

Aslı Daldal

Aslı Daldal received her Ph.D from Bogaziçi University, Department of Political Science. She also visited Duke University, Department of Literature and Columbia University, Center for Comparative Literature and Society. She is the author of Art, Politics and Society: Social Realism in Italian and Turkish Cinemas (Istanbul: ISIS, 2003 and New-Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2010), 1960 Darbesi ve Türk Sineması’nda Toplumsal Gerçekçilik (Istanbul: Homer Kitabevi Yayınları, 2005), Umut, Distopya, Siyaset (h2o kitap, 2021). Until recently she was an affiliated film instructor at Bogazici University Film Certificate Program. She is currently an associate professor at Yildiz Technical University, Department of Political Science.