Different views on the 100th year of our cinema

On the 100th anniversary of Turkish cinema, books have been published; symposiums have been held. I have read articles reflecting diverse views in some magazines. Thus, I preferred to compile several views about the history of the 100th year and its phases.

The name of the file in the Varlık magazine was “The 100th Year of our Cinema – Homosexual and Trans Individuals in the Yeşilçam Cinema.”

You can read articles by Enis Rıza, Mustafa Altıoklar, Hüseyin Alemdar, küçük İskender and Aslıhan İlhan in this file.

İlhan does not only evaluate these two characters, she also lists the habit of censoring certain topics and characters in our cinema.

As mentioned in Giovanni Scognamillo’s quote, the ‘60s have contributed diverse themes to cinema that had not been touched prior to that time.

According to İlhan, because of the Council of Censorship, the Yeşilçam Cinema has never been courageous. For those topics that may be considered courageous, they were explained to the viewer by implications. Certain topics have especially been regarded as taboo.

In her analysis, she named films involving female and male homosexuality and trans- individuals, also summarizing the script.

She is criticizing the films of directors on this axis.

küçük İskender, in his article named “Our Cinema’s test with LGBTTIQ” is criticizing the prejudices on this topic. He also names successful examples. Director Altıoklar, answering küçük İskender’s questions, said, “There is no main artery in our cinema. There has never been. Actually, there are no veins either. There are only nerves. If you look for the marrow; that has never existed…”

İmren Tüzün’s interview with Rıza has one sentence summarizing Rıza’s thought: “Actually, cinema, at first, started as nothing…”

In the magazine Sabitfikir, the title of Hasan Cömert’s piece is “The Existence of Literature on the Silver Screen in 100 Years.” 

His first paragraph is as follows: “A placard is hung on an art center that is to be demolished. The placard says ‘100th Year of the Turkish Cinema,’ like a joke; but it is not a joke. Not even the irony stands out in these circumstances.”

The literature and cinema relationship is one of the most spoken and most debated topics of the sector. Not only our cinema, but world cinema, constantly discuss this theme.

The reason is that literature and cinema are two separate genres; they both have different rules. Many films have found their audience by adapting literature pieces. Also, most of the classics have been adapted to cinema, some of them more than once.

The author gives a list of literature pieces adapted into cinema among those in Turkish literature that are well-known, read and liked. Cömert summarizes this relationship in various eras.

It is an article that explains selected examples. It also reminds you of those films if you have watched them already. When you read it you will see the successful adaptations.

I made such a list for myself.

Looking from another angle, if you have watched a movie that was a literary piece you have read before, then you can make a comparison between the two genres.

It contains significant information on the 100th year. On the box where the “not adapted yet” ones are listed, maybe you will make your own additions.

It is enlightening to read books and studies on Turkish cinema in its 100th year.