Transformation of Political Discourse in Turkish Cinema from the 1960s to the 1990s

Abstract

Socialist realist and political films which expressed oppositional views to the economic and political environment were produced in Turkey during the 1960s and 1970s. The political turmoil and the transformation in the political economy as a result of the 1980 military coup have deepened the crisis of Turkish cinema that began in the 1970s. As with the country, that entered a new period in the 1990s, Turkish cinema has also found itself in a new political discourse. The same years have coincided with a time when film theory was undergoing fundamental transformations. This study aims to discuss the change in the political discourse of Turkish cinema from the 1960s to the 1990s within the framework of socio-political, socio-economical transformation and film theory. In the 1990s, while social theory moved from class politics to identity politics, the political discourse of Turkish cinema has also transformed into themes such as ethnicity, sexual freedom, the individual, miscommunication, and multiculturalism.