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ABSTRACT
This study explores the Arabesk films of Orhan Gencebay and their representation of masculinities. It compares their approach with that of other Yeşilçam melodramas within the productive years of the Turkish popular cinema between the late 1960s and 1980, focusing on the treatment of fallen women and men’s corporeal performances in need of female approval. Gencebay’s filmography presents an opportunity to decipher an indecisive, modernized and quasi-authentic masculinity constructed upon the moral dilemmas engendered by the absence of traditional village relations in an urban setting. Although Arabesk masculinities have a generally positive attitude toward fallen women and present a milder approach to tradition, they often fall back on patriarchal modes of thought by putting the emancipation of women down to men, thus finding common ground with other masculinities prone to violence in Turkish cinema of the period.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Bilgin, “Analysis of Turkish Modernity”; Koçer, “Masculinities in Yılmaz Güney”; Birer, “Sinemada Erkeklik Krizi”; Inal, “(Re)Production of a Rape”; Gürkan, “The Representation of Masculinity”
2 Directed by Şerif Gören (1979)
3 Directed by Osman Seden (1975)
4 Directed by Orhan Aksoy (1982)
5 Directed by Şerif Gören (1981)
6 Directed by Temel Gürsu (1988)
7 Directed by Lütfi Akad (1968)
8 Directed by Natuk Baytan (1973)
9 Scognamillo, Türk Sinema Tarihi.
10 Directed by Yılmaz Güney (1970)
11 Scognamillo, "Türk Sinema Tarihi."
12 Göle, "Quest for Islamic Self"; White, “State Feminism”; Zürcher, "Turkey: A Modern History"; Aydın, “Peculiarities of Turkish Revolutionary”; Gülalp, “Enlightenment by Fiat”; Keleş, “Modernization as State-Led Social”; Fuat Keyman and Öniş, “Globalization and Social Democracy”; Çınar, “The Justice and Development Party”; Ciddi, "Kemalism in Turkish Politics"
13 Studies that acclaimed the Kemalist reforms as a successful attempt to Westernization were also the foundational texts of modernization literature in Turkey. Lewis, "Emergence of Modern Turkey." and Lerner, “Passing of Traditional Society” are of the seminal studies in this genre.
14 Heper, “Kemalism/Atatürkism.”
15 Sabiha Gökçen is the adopted daughter of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the first female military aviator in Turkey.
16 Arat, “The Project of Modernity”
17 Kandiyoti, "Emancipated but Unliberated" Arat, "From Emancipation To Liberation"
18 Atakav, "Women and Turkish Cinema"
19 D. Colin, "Women, Islam and Cinema"; Özlem, “Silent Representations of Women”; Çakırlar and Güçlü, “Gender, Family and Home(Land)”; Atakav, "Women and Turkish Cinema"; Inal, “The (Re)Production of a Rape”; Tanrıöver, “Women as Film Directors”; Gürkan, “The Status of Women”
20 Kılıçbay, “Queer as Turk”; Akser, “Changing LGBT Narratives”; Parlayandemir and Çöteli, “Construction Of Queer Characters”; Erdem, “İbne, Gey, Lubunya”
21 Burns, “Towards a Cinema”; Burns, “Politics of Cultural Representation”; Rings, “Blurring or Shifting Boundaries”; Suner, “Silenced Memories”; Suner, "Hayalet Ev: Yeni Türk"; Çoban, “Various Representations of Jews”; Yılmazok, “Persistent Othering”; Hake and Mennel, "Turkish German Cinema."
22 Arslan, "Bu Kâbuslar Neden Cemil?"
23 Koçer, “Masculinities in Yılmaz Güney”
24 Avcı, “Class Injuries”
25 Akyüz and Dabak, “Erkekliğin Yol Hali”
26 Heper and Göksel, "Türkiye’nin Siyasal Hayatı."
27 Unregulated city slums where rural-to-urban migrants settled. The word gecekondu means ‘set up overnight.’
28 Tekeli, "Konut Sorununu Konut Sunum"
29 Yılmaz Öztuna was one of the writers that makes criticism of Arabesk music from a national point of view, associating arabesk music in Turkey with Arab music. Öztuna, “Türk Musikisi”
30 Stokes, “The Arabesk Debate”
31 Gürata, “Tears of Love”
32 Ferdi Tayfur, İbrahim Tatlıses, Müslüm Gürses, Bergen, Kibariye, Emrah, Cengiz Kurtoğlu are of the notable names who played the lead in Yeşilçam melodramas to showcase their new albums until the 1990s. And there are also singers like Adnan Şenses who came up with earlier films like Seni Bekleyeceğim (1966) but the music of Şenses had not been affiliated with Arabesk genre at that time.
33 Özbek, “Arabesk Culture.”
34 Kongar, 21. "Yüzyılda Türkiye," 579.
35 Şenyapılı, “Arabesk.”
36 TRT was founded in 1964 and remained the sole television and radio broadcast provider of Turkey, up until the introduction of commercial radio in 1990 and subsequent proliferation of commercial TV channels in 1992.
37 Yasa, “Gecekondu Ailesi”; Göle, "The Quest for the Islamic Self"; Erman, “The Politics of Squatter”; White, “State Feminism”; Zürcher, Turkey: "A Modern History"; Aydın, “Peculiarities of Turkish Revolutionary”; Gülalp, “Enlightenment by Fiat”; Keyman and Öniş, “Globalization and Social Democracy”; Keleş, “Modernization as State-Led Social”; Çınar, “Justice and Development Party”; Ciddi, "Kemalism in Turkish Politics."
38 See a detailed study on woman, Islam and cinema focuses on the journey of “women’s films” and the cinema of well-known director of this epoch, Atıf Yılmaz, in Turkey: Dönmez-Colin, “Women, Islam and Cinema”
39 Dönmez-Colin, “Women in Turkish Cinema.”
40 Ibid.
41 Özön, "Karagözden sinemaya."
42 Atakav, "Women and Turkish Cinema"
43 Dönmez-Colin, “Women in Turkish Cinema.”
44 Çiçekoğlu, "Vesikalı Şehir."
45 Arslan, "Cinema in Turkey," 184.
46 Ryan and Kellner, "Camera Politica"
47 Arslan, "Bu Kâbuslar Neden Cemil," 61.
48 Particular studies that address the turbulent political environment of Turkey in the 1970s focusing on different aspects in order to make sense of the era and its repercussions in Turkish polity (Gunter, "Political Instability in Turkey"; Ergil, " Indentity Crises and Political"; Öniş, "Crises and Transformations"; Sayari, "Political Violence and Terrorism"; Hale, " Turkish Politics"; White, "Turkey in the 1970s”) Lütfi Ö. Akad, in his autobiographical work, mentions that he was kindly requested to direct a film in which Orhan Gencebay was supposed to play the lead. Akad, apparently, could not resist the proposal of his friend Kadir Kesemen, and directed Gencebay’s first film even if he clearly states that he did not like the Arabesk music of Orhan. Akad, Işıkla Karanlık Arasında.
49 Özbek, "Popüler Kültür ve Orhan."