Turkish Dramas Mid-Term

The three main state mechanisms that shape Turkish TV drama (Algan & Kaptan, 2022) are:

Ministry of Culture, TRT, TRT Turk

Kraidy & Al-Ghazzi (2013) argued that Turkish TV series enticed Arab audiences with a(n)

accessible modernity

The propaganda model of media highlights the intimate connections between media and

governments

flak

Media outlets that publish content critical of powerful states may face backlash, including accusations of bias or other forms of pressure. This is known as ____ in the propaganda model of media.

negative consequences to media contents that challenge power structures.

What is “flak” in the context of media criticism, and how does it function as a control mechanism?

smart power + example

the US combination of the popularity of cultural products and military campaigns in the Middle East can be construed as ______

using the right mix of coercion and attraction to achieve foreign policy goals.

Types of smart power

1. Combating terrorism: using military force to target terrorist groups, which is hard power while also engaging in cultural diplomacy and development aid to win hearts and minds, which is soft power

2. Diplomatic engagement: building alliances and partnership while maintaining a strong military presence

hard power

______ using military and economic means to influence the behavior or interests of other political bodies. It is often aggressive and coercive. ______ is about compelling others to act in ways they would not have otherwise through force or economic pressure.

types of hard power

1. military force: invasions, military, interventions, and shows of Strength

2. Economic function: trade, embargoes, financial restrictions, and economic aid conditionality

soft power

______ coined by Joseph Nye as "intangible attraction that persuades us to go along with others' purposes," and "the ability to shape what others want"

The use of intangible attraction to make others want what you want

This depend on the attractiveness of a given culture and values. Soft power is about making others want what you want through attraction and persuasion.

Example:The global popularity of Magnificent Century enhances interest in Ottoman heritage.

Three types of soft power

Cultural influence: Hollywood movies, music, and fashion that spread American culture globally

Political values: promoting democracy, and human rights

Foreign policies: humanitarian aid, and diplomatic efforts

hegemony? how is it maintained?

refers to the dominance of one group over others, not just through direct political or economic control, but through cultural and ideological means.

maintained by shaping the beliefs, values and perception of society so that their rule is seen as natural and inevitable. [common sense].

What does hegemony use? 2

1. Cultural institutes: the ruling class uses cultural institute (e.g., media, education, religion) to propagate its worldview.

2. Consent and coercion: it combines both consent and coercion. It primarily relies on gaining the consent of the governed through ideological means. This consent is manufactured by making the ruling class's idea seem like common sense (e.g., capitalism, democracy).

Role of media and education in hegemony

Media and ideology – perpetuating the dominant ideology by framing news information and ways that support interest of the ruling class

Education – the role of education system, and teaching values and norms that align with the interest of the dominant ideologies

commodification? example?

_____ is transforming things valued for their use into marketable products

For example, the process of turning a story into a film or novel to be sold in the marketplace

Or selling the audience attention to advertisers.

Audience labor over the internet: process building websites, playing online games, participating in online communities, etc.

political economy

_____ studies social relations, especially power relations, involved in the production, distribution, and consumption of resources.

Characterized by an interest in examining the social whole, or the totality of social relations that make up the economic, political, social, and cultural areas of life.

Analyzing these within the overall context of social and economic power relations, based on national and transnational class interests. (e.g. commodification of communication hardware and software & inequalities of access to media technologies)

encoding/decoding theory

This theory highlights how cultural and social contexts influence both the creation and interpretation of media messages. It emphasizes that audiences are not passive recipients of media; they actively interpret and make sense of the content.

Encoding: when media producers create content, they include it with specific meanings and messages. This process is influenced by the producers own cultural background, ideologies and intentions.

Decoding: when the audience consumes this media content, they decode the message based on their own cultural background experiences, and beliefs.

Three types of decoding readings

1. Dominant or preferred reading: audience interpret the message exactly as the producer intended.

2. Negotiated reading: audience partly agrees with the message, but also interpret it based on own experience.

3. Oppositional reading: audience understand the intended message, but interpret it in a completely different way often opposing intended meaning.

media panic

_____ is the intense, often exaggerated public and media reaction to new forms of media or technology, as well as new types of media content

Examples: worries that exposure to violent content in video games will lead to aggressive behavior

Media panic, key characteristics

1. The media itself, often initiates and amplify the panic news outlets, and other media sources highlights the potential dangers

2. Emotional and moral polarization. Often seen is either entirely good or entirely bad.

3. Focuses on youth.

4. Certain groups, such as religious leaders,politicians or social activist often play a significant role in driving the panic.

hypodermic needle theory (aka magic bullet theory)

_____ is a communication model that suggests media messages have a direct, immediate, and powerful effect on the audience

A passive audience.

The theory gained prominence during the 1930s and 1940s particularly with the use of propaganda during World War I and World War II. Governments use media to influence, public opinion and behavior.

Criticism: underestimate the audience ability to think critically and interpret messages in different ways

Key characteristics of hypodermic, needle theory

1. Direct influence: media messages are received and accepted by the audience without any questioning or resistance – passive and homogeneous

2. Powerful effects: media is believed to have a strong and immediate impact on peoples thoughts, attitudes and behavior.

3. Behaviorism roots: rooted in behaviorism, which focuses on observable behaviors and idea that behavior can be influenced by external stimuli

Uses and gratification theory

Emphasizes that audiences are active participants who selectively choose and interpret media based on their own needs and experiences

critical geopolitics

______ is a critical understanding of world politics, recognizing that geographical divisions and foreign policies are based on socially constructed ideas and assumptions.

A critical sense in approaching world politics; awareness of divisions of geographical space and foreign policy, that rely on assumptions and schemes that are socially constructed in no way reflective of a natural geopolitical order.

The reconceptualization of geopolitics as a political discourse, differentiating between two:

Practical – politicians, military commanders, etc..

Formal – strategic thinkers, public intellectuals, etc. Formal geopolitical reasoning , calling for the deconstruction of elite discourses and traditional geopolitics that pose as neutral and carry national interests

geopolitical tradition

_______ is a white-supremacist theoretical language about international affairs that sought to further their states' interests and expanding territories, also inspiring Nazis.

Argue that expansion of state territory is a sign of strength.

Popular geopolitics

Insisting that in order to construct geopolitical narratives, elite draw on the discourses that are in circulation through culture and reproduce through the media.

Geopolitical narratives aren’t made only by governments. Elites use ideas already circulating in culture—movies, TV, news, social media—and then spread and reinforce those ideas through the media to shape how people see the world.

texts that are not direct product of statecraft are read with less suspicion and thus the political encoding of such text is more subtle and that’s more easily reproduced

Example: the enemy of american films are Russians. seems as natural not as obvious

Popular culture in international relations

Arguing that popular culture and world politics are entangled and cannot be divorced from each other

international relations

________ came into being as a field of study at the end of World War I in 1919, with a founding myth of preventing a similar catastrophe and grounded in Eurocentric thoughts in American social reality and interest.

Traditionally, international relations is based on problem-solving IR theories that uphold the dominant social and political order in the discipline politics

Propaganda model of media

________ mainstream/mass/legacy media serve as a propaganda system that supports the interests of dominant, elite groups (the centers of power).

legacy media - traditional media

1 to the many - mass media

Five filters:

1. ownership: media outlets are owned by a large corporation with vested interest, which depend on maintaining favorable relations with powerful states and power centers. Often the interest of the media outlets and states are aligned further influencing media content and framing

2. Advertising: media rely on advertising revenue that may have political or economic influence with power centers, influencing content.

3. Sourcing: government and corporate sources feed the media.

4. Flak: negative consequences to media content that challenge power structures.

5. The common enemy: a unifying belief system that frames media narratives (e.ge.terrorist, communist, immigrants.

counter-Hegemony

______ Antonio Gramsci believed that to challenge the ruling class, a counter-hegemony must be developed. This involves creating a new cultural and ideological framework that can unite and mobilize the oppressed classes.

effort to challenge and resist dominant social, cultural and political ideas that uphold a prevailing power structure

Atuturk

First president - father of modern turkey - removed islam as the state religion

Erdogan

ambitions to push the state back towards its glorious Ottoman past.

First private channel in turkey

star tv 1990

Latinbesk series

cheap and in demand. combined two disdained genres: telenovela and arabesk

Singer’s dramas

Singers’ dramas had started as a melodramatic movie genre during the late 1970s and 80s, to lure audiences with the stars of the rising Arabesk music that had been banned from public radio and television.

Arabesk

Music genre that blend Turkish folk music with Arabic elements.

• Cultural and ideological tensions after Atuturk reforms to Westernize turkey

  • Genre’s association with Arab world undermine turkey’s pro-Western orientation

• Popular with rural populations that migrated to big cities, but for Turkish elites, it’s cultural degradation

  • Class and cultural hierarchies: the Turkish cultural establishment viewed arabesk as unsophisticated

• Political concerns: unstable political situation – melancholic lyrics, create social unrest, by presenting sense of hopelessness

music of first wave of rural migrants to big cities

not considered modern

Yesilcam Cinema

• raditional, rural, and melodramatic stories.

• Deemed local culture – produced quickly and low budget.

• Political threats – films depicted, social issues that could be controversial.

• Had elements that may be inappropriate to censors such as sexuality and violence

• Urban vs rural divide: was popular among rural population and urban working class so catering to a ‘less desirable’ audience. (TRT target audience: urban middle and upper class)

Delocalization

Minimization of cultural specifics in a cultural product to lower the possibility of a cultural disconnect by the foreign audience

Cultural proximity theory

Audiences prefer media contents that reflect their own cultural background. The closer, the cultural elements of media are to the audience, the higher, the likelihood of preference and consumption.

Focuses on language, ethnicity, religion, values, and norms – contents that mirrors audience cultural Identity

Limitations: does not fully account for a modern globalized test where hybridized and transcultural content also becomes popular. Assumes audiences are static in their cultural preferences.

Example: the popularity of Bollywood films among South Asians

Multiple proximities theory

Incorporates not only culture proximity, but also social (similar lifestyle.), geographical (neighboring countries), political, and economic (accessibility or shared economic status) proximities to explain audience preferences.

Accounts for hybridised media preferences, and globalisation.

Explains audience preferences in multicultural or complex settings

example, Korean dramas popularity – cultural, social (relatable, family dynamics), and economic (affordable access via streaming platforms).

Entangled proximities

Multiple proximities, considering how they overlap and interact in sometimes contradictory ways.

It highlights the interplay of various factors, such as age, gender, class, ideology, and linguistics, which together shape audience preferences and more dynamic and intertwined manner

Class 2 (Reading: Bhutto, introduction & chapter 7)

The main findings/arguments

Dizi portrays only the most modern of turkey - no women in headscarves

Dizi are often adapted from turkish literary classics

every 20 min of content is broken by 7 min of commercials

Dizi storylines are loyal to:

• You can't put a gun in your hero's hand.*

• The center of any drama is the family.

• An outsider will always journey into a socioeconomic setting that is the polar opposite of their own—i.e., moving from a village to the city.

• The heartthrob has had his heart broken and is tragically closed to love.

• Nothing beats a love triangle.

Dubbing for an international audience

Dizi’s cultural appeal - appeal that America is losing (loss of family values)

Turkey is capitalistic, but Dizi are not capitalistic enough. An aspect of globalisation - need to tell advertisement-friendly stories

Concepts in the readings

The research methods

a blend of journalism, cultural analysis, and fan-based observation.

Global Media

Media content that transcends national boundaries and circulates across multiple cultures and regions. It includes television, film, music, and digital platforms that are consumed by international audiences.

Example:Turkish dramas airing in Latin America, South Asia, and the Middle East.

Dizi(plural: diziler)

The Turkish term for television series. Diziler are known for long episodes (90–150 minutes), high production quality, and emotionally rich storytelling.

Multiple Modernities

hybrid modernity

challenges the idea of a single, Western model of modernity.

It suggests that societies modernize in diverse ways shaped by their own histories, cultures, and values.

Turkish dramas often reflect a hybrid modernity — blending secularism and Islam, tradition and cosmopolitanism — offering an alternative to Western portrayals of modern life.

Transnational Fandoms

Communities of fans across different countries who engage with media beyond its country of origin. These fans contribute to subtitling, online discussions, and social media promotion.

Example:Arabic-speaking fans creating fan pages and subtitled clips of Turkish series.

Neo Ottoman cool

Refers to the growing culture and political influence of Turkey, especially through TV dramas. The shows created a trendy image of Turkey as modern and powerful and combines Islamic and secular, capitalist and democratic elements.

Class 3 (Reading: Ozturkmen, 2022, ch. 2)

The main findings/arguments

TRT had an impact on dizi industry:

1. the first generation of dizi producers and directors of private tv in turkey were former TRT employees

2. The dizi genre was affected by the content imported from abroad in the early days of TRT

TRT aspired to keep up with Western standards - looked at BBC for inspiration for content

All political parties used TRT to promote their ideology

Education through television

Considered foreign content safer than local to control controversial content produced from inside

Nationalist content

Concepts in the readings

The research methods

combines multiple approaches to analyze the unique Turkish television genre, including oral histories with production figures, ethnographic field research on sets and international markets, and archival research.

 TRT rules of modernisation

“Perfect” use of Turkish

Broadcasting Western modernity

Disapproved of genres like Arabesk or Belly dancing

Why were domestic films & Arabesque music banned & shunned from TRT?

As a state television, TRT gave very limited broadcast time to domestic films, and preferred foreign movies and television drama dubbed in Turkish.” (Ozturkmen, 2022, p. 79)

Class 4 (Reading: Ozturkmen, 2022, ch. 3)

The main findings/arguments

Pillars of Dizi Industry - Modernization Efforts

Concepts in the readings

The research methods

combines multiple approaches to analyze the unique Turkish television genre, including oral histories with production figures, ethnographic field research on sets and international markets, and archival research.

Pillars of dizi Industry 6

What historical, political, or cultural conditions contributed to the emergence of the dizi industry in Turkey?

1. Historical: Yesilcam gave us: 1. Influential directors 2. more cinematographers 3.cinema courses in different universities 4.establishment of union of Turkish film, producers and cinema/Television Institute.

2. Media infrastructure: Institutes, Departments, and Committees

• Institute for cinema and TV, & Department of cinema and TV & Research committee for TV — public-opinions poll increased.

3. Entrepreneurial skills of pioneering TV producers: buying Turkish films to sell abroad, invest in learning English, research in LA, establish money, direct contacts with global films, buy the rights of their future films (strong list of contents that they sold at a more reasonable price.]

4. Education and professionalization: opening of many vocational and academic schools.

5. Advertising sector nourished the dizi industry: trained a number of script writers to write creative and effective commercials that appeal to target audience; had bigger budget than the film industry, so better equipment and helped filmmakers’ technical and directing skills; by imposing rising numbers of commercial breaks, it shaped the length and storytelling technique and style of productions.

6. Performance: feature became central pool forecasting, as well as models casting

From Yeşilçam to Turkish TV Series. How did Yesilcam impact dizi? 5

From Yeşilçam to Turkish TV Series

1. Melodramatic narratives - Yeşilçam (1950s–1980s): Melodramatic films about love, family, and honor — laid the emotional and narrative foundation for Turkish TV dramas.

2. Industry Shift: Many Yeşilçam actors, writers, and directors moved to television.

3. Cinematic Influence: Film-style lighting, camera work, and sets improved TV production quality.

4. Home Viewing: As more people got access to television, there was a growing demand for entertainment that could be consumed at home and since melodramatic stories proved popular with mass audiences, producers created series that are simialr

The expansion of television networks in Turkey during the 1990s created a demand for new and original content. The success of Yeşilçam cinema had already demonstrated that there was a large audience for dramatic, emotionally driven stories. TV producers recognized this and began to create series that could capture the same audience, leading to the proliferation of TV dramas.

5. Rise of the “Dizi”: As the television industry matured, Turkish TV series began to develop their own unique identity, distinct from cinema. The serialized nature of TV allowed for more detailed and prolonged storytelling, which appealed to Turkish audiences. This led to the creation of the "dizi" format—long, emotionally intense, and often melodramatic TV series

Interviews vs. oral history

Oral history is a method of collecting firsthand accounts of the past through recorded interviews

Class 5 (Reading: Kayhan, 2023)

The main findings/arguments

TV series production and representation changes and is changed by the urban restructuring of globalizing Istanbul since the late 1980s.

Gentrification of historical neighborhoods

Use of abandoned post-industrial areas as shooting locations

Promotion of spaces associated with creative industries and luxury lifestyles

Concepts in the readings

Gentrification - the process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, often displacing current inhabitants in the process.

The research methods

Qualitative interdisciplinary analysis combining textual (representation) and spatial (production/location) case study methods to explore how Turkish TV series both depict and transform Istanbul’s urban landscape.

Interaction between the city and TV series production

Renovation process shaped by TV series:

1. Protecting historic multicultural Neighbourhoods. “Mahalle” neighborhood series genre (drama about Neighbourhood life, showing historic Istanbul).

2. Conversion of abandoned industrial zones into Studios.

3. Changing a cities’s landscape to give it a modern space through business towers, and luxury residence. Positive portrayal of creative characters:, industries, and lifestyles – in return TV series is promoted by those same creative industries.

• TV series portray construction as positive — a symbol of progress and creativity. They ignore negatives like pollution, high housing costs, and bad urban planning.

• In Istanbul’s urban renewal, construction + creative industries work together to build “signature” architecture that shapes the city’s image.

• A new urban elite (creative-class professionals) defines modern lifestyles, housing trends, and consumption patterns

All three led to increasing popularity among the upper class, increasing real estate values, and facilitating gentrification.

Class 6 (Reading: Bulut, 2022 - Dewesternizing Precarity in Turkish TV Drama Production through the Body and the Law)

The main findings/arguments

Precarity of drama workers bodies is state-sanctioned, and legally produced.

Ratings systems are not neutral—they reflect political and economic agendas.

Demographic reclassification can reshape media content and funding.

Labor conditions in media are deeply affected by structural changes.

Legal and bodily precarity are central to understanding media work in Turkey.

Concepts in the readings

Precarity: the state of being precarious or uncertain, which he categorizes the dizi industry as.

The research methods

Bulut (2023) employed a long-term ethnographic and qualitative research design, combining participant observation, in-depth interviews (snowball sampling), thematic analysis, and media document analysis to examine how bodily precarity, law, and labor intersect in Turkey’s television drama industry.

What is precarious work?

work that is uncertain, unstable, and insecure and in which employees bear the risks of work (as opposed to businesses or the government) and receive limited social benefits and protections

Precarity

Precarity of drama workers bodies is state-sanctioned, and legally produced.

• Companies employed workers flexibly with pay per episode system instead of on a weekly basis.

• Referred to as self-employed artist instead of workers to avoid paying them

• Handcuff contract – allows producers to terminate the contract any time without compensation

• There’s a normalization of the short-term contract in Euro-American industries

• A new rating system: 

  • The government changed the rating system to shift advertising money toward pro-government (conservative) channels.

  • The new system reduced the influence of educated, urban viewers and increased rural, conservative audiences’ impact on ratings.

  • As a result, mainstream channels struggle to secure stable ratings and cancel shows more often, even successful ones.

  • This instability leads to longer hours, job insecurity, and precarity for drama workers, as production depends more on unpredictable ratings.

• Ratings drive advertising revenue; demographic shift redirected billions to pro-government channels.

  • Channels became risk-averse: fewer shows, longer episodes (140–150 mins).

  • Workers faced intensified schedules, exhaustion, injuries, and unsafe conditions.

  • Unions responded with campaigns for legal recognition and workplace safety.

Burnout syndrome

What workers experiences from precarious work - long hours, little pay, unsafe conditions

Union work vs non-union work

Most companies are union or nonunion organizations, which determines how the company creates policies and working conditions. Unions are workplaces that decide on company policy together, while nonunions are workplaces where the company owner decides on business policy

Class 7 (Reading: Yesil, 2015)

The main findings/arguments

Transnationalization of Turkish dramas

Concepts in the readings

Transnationalization is the process of increasing interconnectedness and interaction that extends beyond national borders, involving the movement of people, ideas, money, and culture across nations.

The research methods

A political economic analysis: Yeşil (2015) employed a qualitative political-economic method, combining 28 unstructured interviews with industry professionals and documentary analysis of reports, news, and trade publications to examine how local and global market forces, rather than cultural proximity, fueled the transnationalization of Turkish television dramas.

Why the global appeal? 8

1. Impulse to globalize – universally, appealing themes and elements; avoid associating with Turkish national ethnic or cultural elements; emphasizes physical beauty, modern lifestyle, and consumption; “Delocalization”

2. Cultural proximity (not strong arguments because non-Middle Eastern markets).

3. Multiple proximities: shared cross-cultural, genres structures (melodramas) and narrative themes (family, romance, power, etc.

4. Boom of local productions – rise in migration of film and theater talent to TV due to financial setbacks; Entrance of TV and film graduates

5.increased advertising revenue equal productions with bigger budgets with higher quality.

6.Turkish market is competitive and ratings-driven driven thus equals high production quality (huge investments in sets and costume) appealing to global markets

7. Governmental support – gives financial assistance to attend international trade shows and organizes tours (TV series as soft power)

8. Conditions in importing countries – financial crisis in Arab Spring declined local productions and increased demand for foreign programs

Class 8 (Reading: Yesil, 2024)

The main findings/arguments

AKP (Justice and Development Party) started supporting the making of historical dramas - providing alternative perspectives on Islam. 

The side effect is applying a method of othering: series perpetuate civilizational dualities between Muslims and the West, with the West as oppressive, scheming and deceitful.

Historical dramas perpetuated civilization dualities between Muslims and the West. Othering them like they other us

Concepts in the readings

The research methods

what is cultural imperialism? how does it relate to turkish tv shows?

Cultural Imperialism

• Meaning: The idea that dominant countries (usually Western) spread their culture through media, overpowering local cultures and values.

• Relation to Turkish TV:
  Turkish dramas challenge cultural imperialism — instead of Western shows dominating Arab screens, a non-Western country (Turkey) exports its culture and values.
  → This shows a shift from Western dominance to regional cultural power.

Class 9 (Reading: Kraidy & Al-Ghazzi, 2013 )

Main Findings / Arguments

• Turkish dramas like Nour and Valley of the Wolves became hugely popular in the Arab world.

• They present a modernity that feels local and accessible — modern but not Western.

• Turkish media success shows “Neo-Ottoman Cool” — Turkey’s growing cultural and political influence in the Middle East through media, not military power.

• Turkish shows offer both romantic modern life (Nour) and political heroism (Valley of the Wolves), letting Arab viewers see Middle Eastern heroes instead of Western ones.

concepts

• Neo-Ottoman Cool- Refers to the growing culture and political influence of Turkey, especially through TV dramas. The shows created a trendy image of Turkey as modern and powerful and combines Islamic and secular, capitalist and democratic elements.

Research Method

• Textual and discourse analysis of more than 100 Arabic-language newspaper and media articles about Turkish dramas.

• Focused on how the Arab public sphere discusses Turkish pop culture — not on direct audience studies.

what is Cultural hybridity (Kraidy)? how does it relate to turkish tv shows?

Cultural Hybridity (Kraidy, 2005)

• Meaning: The mixing of global and local cultures, creating a new blended one, rather than one replacing the other.

• Relation to Turkish TV:
  Turkish dramas are hybrid — they combine Western-style production and storytelling with Islamic traditions, family values, and local culture.
  → This makes them appealing across the Arab world, because they feel both modern and culturally familiar.

Popularity of Turkish Dramas in the Arab World: 4

1. Style & aesthetics ---) Accessible Modernity (They present a modernity that feels local and accessible — modern but not Western.)

2. Gender & spousal relations

3. Social values

4. counter-hygemonic stories and middle eastern politics

Militainment

entertainment with military themes in which the Department of Defense is celebrated

state violence translated into an object of pleasurable consumption

Class 10 (Reading: Algan & Kaptan, 2023)

Main Findings / Arguments

• The Turkish government, particularly under President Erdoğan and the AKP, has increasingly controlled the television industry to promote a conservative, pro-Islamic, and neo-Ottoman national identity.

• Instead of supporting the industry’s global growth, the government restricted media freedoms through censorship, punitive regulations, and ideological content promotion.

• Three state institutions were instrumental in this control:

  • RTÜK (broadcast regulator) – used to censor content, issue fines, and control streaming platforms like Netflix.

  • TRT (state broadcaster) – produced large-budget historical and religious TV dramas to promote pro-government ideologies.

  • TRT World – promoted these productions internationally to shape Turkey’s cultural image and soft power.

• This led to a shift in Turkish TV content toward conservative gender roles, Islamic values, anti-Western rhetoric, and glorified Ottoman history — while suppressing liberal themes, minority representation, or controversial topics.
  

Key Concepts

Neo-Ottomanism - Ideological promotion of Turkey’s Ottoman heritage to build national pride and regional influence. Central to AKP’s media policies.

Censorship & Self-Censorship - RTÜK fines and regulations pressured producers to remove or avoid “risky” content, leading to industry-wide self-censorship.

Platformization - The rise of digital streaming services (Netflix, BluTV) that challenge traditional TV but are now brought under state regulation.

Research method

• Qualitative, document-based research.

• No interviews or surveys; mainly analysis of policies, media texts, official discourse, and industry statistics.

What is cultural engineering?

Cultural Engineering - Government’s attempt to reshape national identity, values, and society using media and culture.

Class 11 (10 in presentation) (Reading: Salamandra,. 2012)

The research methods

Content analysis of the TV series, Noor

Online discourse analysis (audience reactions, media coverage, critiques, etc.)

Interviews with producers

Multi-year fieldwork among media creators in Syria

HOLISTIC: the text, the producers, the culture, society, gender and kinship relations, language

Main Findings / Arguments

• The Turkish TV drama Noor (Gümüş) became a massive phenomenon in the Arab world, leading to “Noormania”and widespread media panic.

• The panic centered not only on the show's popularity, but particularly on women’s desire for the male protagonist, Muhannad (Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ).

• This desire challenged patriarchal norms, exposing fears about female agency, sexuality, and the female gaze—women looking at men as objects of desire.

• Conservative critics blamed the show for divorces, moral collapse, cultural invasion, and Westernization.

• The show created a public space for Arab women to express dissatisfaction, longing, and critique of gender relations, especially through the internet and satellite TV.

• Muhannad’s androgynous, soft masculinity (fair skin, blue eyes, gentle behavior) disrupted traditional Arab ideals of “hypermasculinity.”

• The controversy was less about the show’s storyline and more about women openly desiring a man on-screen—a reversal of the traditional male gaze.

Key Concepts in the Readings

Cultural Hybridity (East/West, Islam/Secular) – Noor became a site where binaries such as tradition vs. modernity, Islam vs. secular life, were contested and blended.

Soft Masculinity – Muhannad embodies a gentle, emotional masculinity, contrasting Arab cultural expectations of toughness.

Pan-Arab Satellite TV & Internet Convergence – New media technologies allowed women to publicly express desire anonymously.

HOLISTIC

characterized by the belief that the parts of something are interconnected and can be explained only by reference to the whole.

Slamandra had a holistic approach to her research

According to Salamandra (2012), “Gumus” Noor serves the _____

Female Gaze – Women as active viewers desiring men; a reversal of Laura Mulvey’s “male gaze” theory.

Dream husband Mehmet. “TheTatlıtuğ effect” divorces

The Arab Female Gaze • “the Noormania media panic is, I argue, a product of the Muhannad effect, the twin threat and allure of a screen idol’s sexual and racial ambiguity

The male gaze: “…Mulvey (1989) argues that classic Hollywood films depict male characters as subjects seeking mastery, and female characters as objects to be seen.”

“Muhannad/Tatlituğ marks the return of the eroticized male, of the beautiful youth, ostensibly for a female subject. this reversal is key to the series’ appeal, and its controversy.”

Class 12 (11 in presentation) (Reading: Berg,. 2022)

Main Findings / Arguments

• Young Qatari audiences find Turkish TV dramas more authentic and realistic than local or Western shows.

• Turkish dramas are perceived as more emotionally authentic—characters express emotion more realistically than in Arab or Western shows.

• Strong female characters who challenge social norms increase perceptions of realism and relatability, especially among Qatari women.

• Turkish series fill a gap left by Arab dramas, which are seen as overly conservative and disconnected from real social life.
  

Key Concepts

• Value & Thematic Proximity – Similarities in family values, moral issues, gender norms make Turkish content relatable.

Research Methods

• Qualitative focus groups – 20 group discussions conducted in 2016–2017.

• Participants:

  • University students aged 18–25.

  • Five male + five female groups each from two universities (Northwestern Qatar & Qatar University).

• Sampling method: Snowball sampling + personal recruitment.

• not representative sample: too few, all educated

Authenticity?

Subjective Judgment?

Authenticity: efers to the perception that something is genuine, true, or real. In the context of television dramas, it means that the characters, settings, and storylines feel true to life and believable to the audience.

Subjective Judgment: Authenticity is based on Subjective Judgment: the viewers’ personal experiences, cultural background, and social context.

• Authenticity is not about whether the shows represent the real Turkey, but about how believable and relatable they feel culturally, emotionally, and socially.

• Three key factors contribute to this perception of authenticity:

  • Dubbing into colloquial Syrian Arabic, which makes the characters feel culturally and linguistically familiar.

  • Cultural and religious proximity (Muslim-majority society, similar family structures, values, traditions).

  • Representation of relatable social issues like arranged marriage, family conflict, gender inequality, and romance.

Mediated Authenticity

Mediated Authenticity: This is the idea that even though the content is fictional, it feels real because it resonates with the viewers’ own experiences and emotions

Realism? Emotional Realism? Plausibility? Internal Coherence?

Realism: refers to the accurate representation of real life in media. It involves creating a believable world within the story that follows the rules of reality as understood by the audience.

Emotional Realism: This is when the emotions and reactions of characters feel genuine and relatable, even if the situations are fictional.

Plausibility: The events and actions in the story should be believable and consistent with how things happen in real life.

Internal Coherence: The story should be logically consistent within its own world, even if it includes fictional elements.

Class 13 (12 in presentation) (Reading: Anaz & Purcell (2010))

Main Findings / Arguments

• Valley of the Wolves—Iraq serves as a cinematic challenge to U.S. representations of the Iraq War and the Bush administration’s “War on Terror” narrative.

• The film plays a dual geopolitical role:

  • Anti-geopolitical: Rejecting Western dominance and media representations.

  • Alternative geopolitical: Promoting Turkey as a regional protector and power.

• The film reverses the dominant Western geopolitical narrative, presenting the war from a Turkish/Middle Eastern perspective.

• It also constructs and reinforces Turkish national identity and geopolitical imagination, portraying Turkey as a moral regional power with responsibility in the Middle East.

• The film reflects widespread Turkish anger at U.S. military actions, especially after the “Hooding Event” in 2003, where Turkish soldiers were humiliated by U.S. forces.

• While the movie resonated emotionally, the study found it did not significantly change most viewers’ political opinions, since many viewers already held strong anti-war or anti-U.S. sentiments before watching it.

• Despite criticism of being anti-American or propagandistic, the film acted as a “safe outlet” for nationalist frustration and collective anger.

Key Concepts

• Popular Geopolitics: How film and media shape people’s understanding of world politics and national identity.

• Selective Exposure: People choose to watch media that aligns with their existing beliefs rather than challenges them.

Methods

A survey of 309 participants in five districts of Istanbul (Kadıköy, Fatih, Eminönü, Üsküdar, Mecidiyeköy).

• Sample Characteristics:

  • Random street interviews, phone calls, and home/business visits.

  • Mixed gender, age, education, and political worldviews.

  • 68.5% had seen the film.

Anti-Geopolitics, Geopolitical Imagination & Audience Dispositions?

• Anti-Geopolitics: A resistance to dominant Western geopolitical narratives by providing alternative local perspectives.

• Geopolitical Imagination: How societies imagine their country’s role in global politics through media and culture. For example, Americans think they’re at the centre of the universe because of films.

• Audience Dispositions: The idea that audiences interpret media based on their existing beliefs, political views, and cultural backgrounds.

Class 14 (13 in presentation) (Reading: Rafi, 2020)

Main Findings / Arguments

• Turkish soap operas are both a product and a driver of cultural hybridization — they merge Western TV formats with Turkish-Islamic values and then influence foreign societies like Morocco through cultural adaptation.

• Their success in Morocco is explained by a dual dynamic: offering modernity, romance, and luxury like Western shows, while maintaining cultural and religious familiarity not found in Western media.

• Moroccan viewers perceive Turkey as a “cultural in-between” — modern like Europe, but Muslim like them — creating admiration and aspiration toward the “Turkish way of life.”

• Soap operas transform viewers’ perceptions of beauty, lifestyle, gender roles, and even consumer behavior (fashion, tourism, Turkish language learning).

• The spread of Turkish dramas has become a form of soft power used by the Turkish state to strengthen regional influence without appearing colonial or threatening.

• However, this influence has also triggered calls for Moroccan cultural sovereignty, with producers wanting to create local versions of high-quality dramas.

Key Concepts in the Readings

• Cultural Hybridization (Homi Bhabha): Cultures mix through media; Turkish dramas merge Western soap opera structures with Turkish-Islamic values.

• Glocalization (Ritzer): Global media formats adapted to local tastes—Turkish series are global in structure, local in values.

• Third Space (Bhabha): Turkish soap operas create an “in-between cultural zone” that is neither fully Western nor traditionally Eastern.

• Mediascapes & Ideoscapes (Appadurai): Turkish soap operas circulate global images and ideas, shaping political imagination, beauty standards, gender roles.

• Soap Talk (Barker): Conversations around TV dramas become social rituals influencing views on love, family, gender, and modernity.

Research Methods

• 10 semi-structured interviews with Moroccan women (ages 19–73) from diverse social backgrounds.

• Expert Interviews: Discussions with Jana Jabbour (political scientist) and Aghiad Ghanem (PhD researcher) on Turkish soft power and foreign policy.

• Secondary Data: TV audience statistics

• Media & Cultural Analysis: Analysis of newspapers, social media (#Samhini), memes, Facebook fan pages to show diffusion and discussion of Turkish dramas.

• Political Discourse Study: Examined state involvement (RTÜK censorship, state-funded dramas, foreign policy narratives).