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ABSTRACT
In this article, my goal is to reveal the importance and potential of global history, an approach that is generally neglected in media and film history literature. The main characteristics of global history are de-centralizing history, taking a wide spatial and temporal perspective, avoiding Eurocentric and nationalist optics, and explaining patterns of causalities behind connections. I begin by explaining global history before presenting the differences between global history and similar approaches used in film and media studies literature. Then, I focus on a potential case study, the phenomenon of foreign music used as soundtracks in Turkish domestic films between the 1950s and the 1980s. I demonstrate how the ‘borrowed soundtracks’ creates a hitherto unstudied connectedness between disconnected audiences from different countries or societies. I consider the soundscapes of the films as a space of aural encounter, and I argue that global history would enable us to understand the emotional, cultural, and economic layers of this indirect connectedness.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Ahmet Gürata and Kaya Özkaracalar for their suggestions on borrowed soundtracks in Filmfarsi and Hong Kong cinema.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. ‘Borrowing’ is a widely used concept in soundtrack literature. A conference held at Stanford University 20 years ago was entirely based on this concept: ‘Reviewing the Canon: Borrowed Music in Films,’ in Palo Alto, California, 1–4 May 2003.
2. For various examples of the relevant literature since 2006 see the Journal of Global History (Cambridge University Press).
3. Film industries, particularly the national ones are composed of film and audience clusters as well as distribution and theatre networks. With the word ‘unconnected,’ I refer to audiences from different industries who do not have direct connections originating from being associated with the same clusters and networks.
4. For an introductory collection of essays on different aspects of transnational film studies see Ezra and Rowden (Citation2006). Also see Transnational Cinemas journal (currently named as Transnational Screens) as the locus of related studies since 2010.
5. For Shaw and Armida De La Garza’s earlier list of 15 categories see Shaw et al. (Citation2010, 4); for a revised version of the same list see Shaw (Citation2013, 52).
6. For an overview of Yeşilçam cinema and its history see Arslan (Citation2011); Erdoğan and Göktürk (Citation2001); Kırel (Citation2005).
7. For an overview of adaptations and remakes in Turkish cinema see Gürata (Citation2006).
8. https://www.youtube.com/@geridonzaman5444/featured, accessed September 2, 2023.
9. For a review of Yeşilçam films shared on YouTube see Şavk (Citation2023).
10. For two extensive playlists of this nature see Yeşilçam Yabancı Film Müzikleri [Yeşilçam Foreign Film Musics], https://spotify.link/Rkf1kvIyXDb, accessed October 17, 2023; Yeşilçam Fon Müzikleri [Yeşilçam Background Musics], https://spotify.link/FjE6tcVyXDb, accessed October 17, 2023.
11. For a collection of essays on the usage of popular music in films see Wojcik and Knight (Citation2001). At the Reviewing the Canon: Borrowed Music in Films Conference organized by Stanford University Music Department, scholars focused on the uses of ‘nonoriginal’ or ‘pre-existent music in film, ranging from Gregorian chant, symphony and opera music to Avant-garde, pop, jazz, and music borrowed from other films’ (‘Upcoming Conferences and Symposia’ Citation2003, 15–16).
12. Due to language barriers, it’s beyond my capacity to make a comprehensive analysis of how Filmfarsi borrowed foreign soundtracks. However, for demonstrating the presence of this strategy in Filmfarsi, I list a few films that are caught by YouTube’s algorithm: Soundtracks of What did You do in the War Daddy? (Blake Edwards, 1968) composed by Henry Mancini and Barbarella (Roger Vadim, 1968) composed by The Bob Crewe Generation Orchestra used in Out of the Blue (Ajal-e moallagh, Nosratolah Vahdat, 1970), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LwcoZekdsM, accessed December 7, 2023; soundtrack of What do You Say to a Naked Lady? (Allen Funt, 1970) composed by Steve Karmen used in Naghs-e fanni (Nosratolah Vahdat, 1976), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AvdB_WeSiM, accessed December 7, 2023; soundtrack of Z (Costa Gavras, 1969) composed by Mikis Theodorakis used in Yaghoot-e se cheshm (Armaees Aghamaliyam, 1970), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04QeK1_zKEE, accessed December 7, 2023; soundtrack of Enter the Dragon (Robert Clouse, 1973) composed by Lalo Schifrin used in Samad dar rah-e ezhdeha (Parviz Sayyad, 1977), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JduXAguGRyw, accessed December 7, 2023.