Representations of religion in the entertainment media: A comparison of the TV series Shtisel in Israel and Ömer in Türkiye

Öz

This research focuses on two cases from the Global South -the Israeli series Shtisel and its Turkish scripted format adaptation Ömer- to revisit the theoretical debates on the relations between entertainment media, politics, and society by employing Curran’s radical democratic approach. Both series illustrate a recently popular genre: Pious people’s bemusement with modern/secular everyday life. Analyzing TV format adaptations in Türkiye is further significant because the imported format adaptations remain relatively less studied. Four main narratives come into prominence via the narrative analysis: i) the use of technology, ii) the skepticism towards the outside world in Ömer, iii) gender narratives, and iv) politicization/depoliticization of representations of religion. Shtisel represents religion without reflecting current socio-political conflicts, Ömer reflects religion as a site of contestation and polarization of differing identities by reproducing political conflicts from everyday life into fiction. Curran’s framework explains Ömer sufficiently but is limited in helping understand Shtisel unless the Israeli case’s transnational political-economic context is considered. Finally, to comprehend multilayered, dynamic, and sui generis cultural dimensions for each case in the Global South -which is not a homogenous whole- further theoretical inquiry on local, cultural and intertextual characteristics of scripted format adaptations in individual cases is needed.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Scripted format adaptation
• James Curran
• Türkiye
• Israel
• narrative analysis

Teşekkür

I would like to thank the editors of the special issue Dr. Ece Algan, Dr. Yeşim Kaptan, and Dr. Ayşen Gül for their kind support and understanding, and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments for this article.

Eğlence medyasında din temsilleri: İsrail’deki Shtisel ve Türkiye’deki Ömer televizyon dizilerinin karşılaştırması

Öz

Bu araştırma, Küresel Güney’den iki örneğe -İsrail dizisi Shtisel ile onun Türkiye’deki format adaptasyonu olan Ömer- odaklanarak eğlence medyası, politika ve toplum arasındaki ilişkiler hakkındaki teorik tartışmaları, Curran’ın radikal demokrasi alternatif yaklaşımı ile ele almayı amaçlamaktadır. İncelenen iki dizi de her iki ülkede son zamanlarda popülerleşen bir türü temsil etmesi açısından önemlidir: Dindar insanların modern/seküler günlük yaşamdaki kafa karışıklığını veya dindar-seküler hayat tarzları karşılaştırmasını temsil eden diziler. Türkiye’deki format uyarlamalarını incelemek ayrıyeten önem teşkil etmektedir, çünkü ithal format uyarlamaları Türk dizileri hakkındaki literatürde görece daha az incelenmiştir. Çalışmadaki anlatı analizi sonucunda dört ana anlatı öne çıkmaktadır: i) teknoloji kullanımı, ii) Ömer’de dış dünyaya duyulan şüphe, iii) toplumsal cinsiyet anlatıları ve iv) her iki dizideki din temsillerinde, Ömer’de siyasallaşma ve Shtisel’de siyasallaşmadan arındırma (depolitizasyon) anlatıları. Radikal demokrasi çerçevesi Ömer’i yeterince açıklamakta iken, İsrail örneğindeki ulusaşırı siyasiekonomik bağlam dikkate alınmadıkça Shtisel’i anlamada sınırlı kalmaktadır. Son olarak, homojen bir bütün olmayan Küresel Güney’deki çok katmanlı, dinamik ve kendine has boyutları olabilen her bir vakayı anlayabilmek için her ülke örneğindeki format adaptasyonuna ait yerel, kültürel ve metinlerarası özellikler hakkında daha fazla teorik incelemeye ihtiyaç olduğu görülmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Format adaptasyonu
• James Curran
• Türkiye
• İsrail
• anlatı analizi

Kaynakça

1. Algan, E., and Kaptan, Y. (2023). Content is power: cultural engineering and political control over transnational television. The International Communication Gazette, 85(3-4), 325-344. google scholar
2. Behlil, M. (2021). Turkish remakes of Korean TV dramas. Creative Industries Journal, 16(2), 163-179. https://doi.org/10.1080/17510694.2021.1978690 google scholar
3. Berg, M. (2023). Turkish drama serials: the importance and influence of a globally popular TV phenomenon. University of Exeter Press. google scholar
4. Bobrowicz, R. & Gustafsson Lundberg, J. (2021). Radical plurality on universal grounds. Dialog, 60, 177-184. google scholar
5. Britannica. (n.d.). Ultra-Orthodox Judaism. In Britannica.com dictionary. Retrieved November 30, 2024, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/ultra-Orthodox-Judaism google scholar
6. Britannica. (n.d.). Yeshiva. In Britannica.com dictionary. Retrieved November 30, 2024, from https://www. britannica.com/topic/yeshiva google scholar
7. Chalaby, J. K. (2016). The format age: television’s entertainment revolution. Cambridge, UK: Polity. google scholar
8. Curran, J. (2005). Rethinking the media as a public sphere. P. Dahlgreen & C. Sparks (eds.), Communication and citizenship: journalism and the public sphere (pp. 27-56). Routledge. google scholar

9. Curran, J. (2010). Democratic value of entertainment: a reappraisal. Media and Journalism, no:17, 9(2), 69-85. google scholar
10. Curran, J. (2011). Media and democracy. London and New York: Routledge. google scholar
11. Dardashti, G. (2015). Televised agendas: how global funders make Israeli TV more “Jewish.” Jewish Film & New Media, 3(1), 77-103. https://doi.Org/10.13110/jewifilmnewmedi.3.1.0077 google scholar
12. Gül, A. (2021). How Turkey’s creative professionals see their TV drama industry: in-depth interviews with actors, producers, directors, scenarists and distributors. Medijske Studije Media Studies, 12(23), 19-39. https://doi. org/10.20901/ms.12.23.2 google scholar
13. Kaptan, Y., & Algan, E. (eds.). (2020). Television in Turkey: local production, transnational expansion and political aspirations. Palgrave MacMillan. google scholar
14. Kesirli Unur, A. (2021). ‘Aesthetic proximity’ and transnational TV Series: adapting Forbrydelsen in the Turkish Context. VIEW Journal of European Television History & Culture, 10(19), 1-13. google scholar
15. Kesirli Unur, A. (2020). The role of intertextual associations in localization processes: the case of Suskunlar. YEDİ, 23, 1-9. doi: 10.17484/yedi.643985 google scholar
16. Kesirli Unur, A. (2015). Discussing transnational format adaptation in Turkey: a study on Kuzey Güney. Series -International Journal of TV Serial Narratives, 1(2), 139-150. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2421-454X/5899 google scholar
17. Kohler Riessman, C. (1993). Narrative analysis. Newbury Park, London, New Delhi: Sage Publications. google scholar
18. Kraidy, M. M. (2019). Boycotting neo-Ottoman cool: geopolitics and media industries in the Egypt-Turkey row over television drama. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 12(2), 149-165. https://doi. org/10.1163/18739865-01202010 google scholar
19. Kraidy, M. M., & Al-Ghazzi, O. (2013). Neo-Ottoman cool: Turkish popular culture in the Arab public sphere. Popular Communication, 11(1), 17-29. Doi: 10.1080/15405702.2013.747940 google scholar
20. Moran, A. (2009). TV formats worldwide: localizing global programs. United Kingdom: Intellect Books. google scholar
21. Oud, G.J., Weijers, A. & Wester, F. (1997). Narrative and culture the wow method: an approach to textual analysis of television drama. Culture and Communication. Nijmegen: Instituut voor Massacommunicatie, Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen. google scholar
22. Güvenatam, O. (2023). Ömer [TV series], OGM Pictures. google scholar
23. Oren, T., & Shahaf, S. (2012). Global television formats: understanding television across borders. New York, NY: Routledge. google scholar
24. Öztürkmen, A. (2022). The delight of Turkish dizi: memory, genre, and politics of television in Turkey. London, New York, Calcutta: Seagull Books. google scholar
25. Öztürkmen, A. (2018). “Turkish Content”: the historical rise of the dizi genre. TV/Series [Online], 13, 1-13. doi:10.4000/tvseries.2406. google scholar
26. Parla, J. (2003). Car narratives: a subgenre in Turkish novel writing. The South Atlantic Quarterly 102 (2), 535-550. google scholar
27. Peleg, Y. (Spring 2015). On Shtisel (or the Haredi as bourgeois). Jewish Film and New Media, 3(1), 113-117. google scholar
28. Peleg, Y. (2015b). Secularity and its discontents: Religiosity in contemporary Israeli culture. Jewish Film & New Media, 3(1), 3-24. google scholar
29. Porter, M. J., Larson, D. L., Harthcock, A., Nellis, K. B. (2002). Re(de)fining narrative events: Examining television narrative structure, Journal of Popular Film and Television, 30, 23-30. google scholar
30. Rocchi, M., & Pescatore, G. (2022). Modelling narrative features in TV series: coding and clustering analysis. Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 9 (333), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01352-9 google scholar
31. Rubin, S., Parker, C., & Soroka, L. (2024, 25 June). Israeli Supreme Court rules ultra-Orthodox must serve in the military. Washington Post. Retrieved June 25, 2024, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/ world/2024/06/25/israel-haredi-ultra-orthodox/ google scholar
32. Elon, O., & Indursky, Y. (2013). Shtisel [TV series]. Abot Hameiri Barkai, Yes, Netflix. google scholar
33. Steinberg, J. (2024, June 6). Yes Studio’s new series includes ‘Shtisel’ spinoff and October 7 stories. Times of Israel. Retrieved July 30, 2024, from https://www.timesofisrael.com/yes-studios-new-series-includes-shtisel-spinoff-and-october-7-stories/ google scholar
34. Talmon, M. (2013). A touch away from cultural others: Negotiating Israeli Jewish identity on television. Shofar, 31(2), 55-72. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5703/shofar.31.2.55 google scholar
35. Uğur Tanrıöver, H. (Winter 2022). Towards a social history of Turkey through television series. Series - International Journal of TV Serial Narratives, 3(2), 9-26. google scholar
36. Vitrinel, E., Kaptan, Y. & Algan, E. (Winter 2022). Introduction: Capturing the new dynamics of Turkish television series. Disjunctions and continuities. Series - International Journal of TV Serial Narratives, 3(2): pp. 05-08. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2421-454X/16308 google scholar
37. Vivarelli, N. (2023, October 17). “Onur Güvenatam, head of Turkish TV powerhouse OGM pictures, on working with U.S. streamers: ‘Even if it’s a hit, all you get is a 15-Minute call.’” Variety. Retrieved July 11, 2024, from https://variety.com/2023/tv/global/onur-guvenatam-turkish-tv-ogm-pictures-us-streamers-1235758697/ google scholar
38. Wagner, M. C., & Kraidy, M. M. (August 2023). Watching Turkish television dramas in Argentina: entangled proximities and resigned agency in global media flows. Journal of Communication, 73(4), 304-315. https:// doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad001 google scholar
39. Weinbaum, B. (2020). Elon, Ori and Yehonatan Indursky, creators. Shtisel. Abot Hameiri Barkai and Yes Network, 2013: How strong Jewish orthodox women won their show to soon grow in Brooklyn: Women propelling Shtisel’s success. Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary E-Journal, 15(2), 1-6. Retrieved June 6, 2024, from https://wjudaism.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/wjudaism/article/view/33660 google scholar