Gendering Turkish Action Films in the Post-2010 Period: “Hey boy, protect me and don’t cry!”

ABSTRACT

This study investigates how the post-2010 Turkish action films portray men. Popular cinema positions all other sexual identities as secondary and often Other than (hegemonic) masculinity. In this context, this study examines masculinity in the centre of the narrative in the Turkish action films. The sample of the study consists of three action films with high production and box office hit in Turkey from 2010 to the present day, Kaos: Örümcek Ağı (Chaos: Spider Web, 2012), Çakal (The Jackal, 2010) and Panzehir (Antidote, 2014). Thus, the relationship between masculinity representations in Turkish mainstream action films and reality is discussed. In this study, the male characters can be categorized either fearless to sacrifice themselves for their family and nationality or negative subject men who never have characteristics that are not approved by the society. While there are almost no women in the narratives of these films, it can be classified that Turkish action films, as films that completely reflect the men’s world and become womanless.

KEYWORDS:

• Masculinity
• turkish action films
• rational and strong
• competitive and protective

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Kemalism is the foundation of Turkish nationalism and secularism based on the ideology of the Republic of Turkey.

2. Turkey’s last ten years. This is not only the history of the films included in the study, but also the transformation of the male role in the films is depicted.

3. In the study, the original Turkish names of the films will be used in order to avoid confusion.

4. The audience numbers of other Turkish-origin action genre films range generally from 3,000 to 15,000. For details, see: www.boxoffice.com.tr

5. https://boxofficeturkiye.com/film/kaos-orumcek-agi-2,011,196, Accessed Date: 17.03.2020

6. https://boxofficeturkiye.com/film/cakal-2,010,857, Accessed Date: 17.03.2020

7. https://boxofficeturkiye.com/film/panzehir-2012135, Accessed Date: 17.03.2020

8. In Turkey with the 2000s, male characters in the narrative in films and television series are tough, nationalist, conservative, and wearing suits all the time.

9. https://sozluk.gov.tr/?kelime=rekabet, Accessed Date: 21 March 2020

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hasan Gürkan

Hasan Gürkan works at Istinye University in Istanbul, Turkey. He holds his Ph.D. from Istanbul University Department of Radio, Television and Cinema. He did his post-doc research in the department of Journalism and Communication Sciences Institute at the University of Vienna about migration and Austrian-Turkish immigrant directors’ films. He has also written the books Counter Cinema (2015) and Journalism Practices (2016). He focuses on counter cinema, Hollywood cinema, cinema and representations, cinema and migration, and gender studies.

Övünç Ege

Övünç Ege is a graduate student in Media and Cultural Sciences at Istanbul Arel University in Turkey. She received her first bachelor’s degree in the Faculty of Letters, Department of Archaeology at Hacettepe University. Her second bachelor’s degree in the Faculty of Communication, Media and Communication Systems at Istanbul Arel University. She has presented her works, entitled “Immortal Masters of Darkness: Psychoanalytic Analysis of Vampire Representations” and “Imaginary Universes: The Heroine’s Fantastic Journey”. She is a student assistant in the Istanbul Arel University.