Research Article

Representations of Cinematic Istanbul: Expressions, Clichés and Transformations

Volume: 19 Number: 37 June 23, 2021
TR EN

Representations of Cinematic Istanbul: Expressions, Clichés and Transformations

Abstract

Although Istanbul is a rich city in terms of cinema representation, it is difficult to find competent films that shed light on the modern city. Rather, a large part of these films depicts the city utilising the most popular and stereotypical discourses and images. During the Hollywood and Yeşilçam eras, Istanbul has been cinematised and visualised predominantly through three colours: pink to exoticise, black to detract, and white to sacralise. Hollywood has focused mostly on the Bosphorus Strait and the Historic Peninsula, while Yeşilçam gained insight into the gecekondus (squatters) and internal immigrants’ lives. But, with time, each colourisation and depiction by Hollywood and Yeşilçam turned into a rigid cliché—so much so, in fact, that each social and spatial relationship was shown as being either a mysterious beauty or as a fatal ugliness, as if everything in the city were purely without antithesis. This study paves the way for updating traditional expressions by summarizing the visual and textual corpus of cinematic Istanbul. As a matter of fact, the sociological perspective towards Istanbul is largely built on these cinematic narratives.

Keywords

Thanks

I would like to thank my supervisors Prof. Bülent Diken and Prof. Graeme Gilloch at Lancaster University for their guidance in improving this paper, which is written as a chapter of my PhD thesis.

References

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

-

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

June 23, 2021

Submission Date

February 22, 2021

Acceptance Date

May 5, 2021

Published in Issue

Year 2021 Volume: 19 Number: 37

APA
Demir, S. T. (2021). Representations of Cinematic Istanbul: Expressions, Clichés and Transformations. Türkiye Araştırmaları Literatür Dergisi, 19(37), 125-146. https://izlik.org/JA77SE82AH
AMA
1.Demir ST. Representations of Cinematic Istanbul: Expressions, Clichés and Transformations. TALID. 2021;19(37):125-146. https://izlik.org/JA77SE82AH
Chicago
Demir, Sertaç T. 2021. “Representations of Cinematic Istanbul: Expressions, Clichés and Transformations”. Türkiye Araştırmaları Literatür Dergisi 19 (37): 125-46. https://izlik.org/JA77SE82AH.
EndNote
Demir ST (June 1, 2021) Representations of Cinematic Istanbul: Expressions, Clichés and Transformations. Türkiye Araştırmaları Literatür Dergisi 19 37 125–146.
IEEE
[1]S. T. Demir, “Representations of Cinematic Istanbul: Expressions, Clichés and Transformations”, TALID, vol. 19, no. 37, pp. 125–146, June 2021, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA77SE82AH
ISNAD
Demir, Sertaç T. “Representations of Cinematic Istanbul: Expressions, Clichés and Transformations”. Türkiye Araştırmaları Literatür Dergisi 19/37 (June 1, 2021): 125-146. https://izlik.org/JA77SE82AH.
JAMA
1.Demir ST. Representations of Cinematic Istanbul: Expressions, Clichés and Transformations. TALID. 2021;19:125–146.
MLA
Demir, Sertaç T. “Representations of Cinematic Istanbul: Expressions, Clichés and Transformations”. Türkiye Araştırmaları Literatür Dergisi, vol. 19, no. 37, June 2021, pp. 125-46, https://izlik.org/JA77SE82AH.
Vancouver
1.Sertaç T. Demir. Representations of Cinematic Istanbul: Expressions, Clichés and Transformations. TALID [Internet]. 2021 Jun. 1;19(37):125-46. Available from: https://izlik.org/JA77SE82AH