Representation of urban transformations in Turkish cinema after 1980: The case of Beyoğlu

In this study, within the framework of the concepts of urban space and other, it is examined how urban transformations are represented in the cinema through the Beyoğlu sample. For Turkish Cinema, Istanbul has always been in an important position both as a natural backdrop and as an indicator of social changes. The representation of the city in the cinema, which is the art that reflects the social transformations in the most effective way, varies according to the political, cultural and economic structure of the society. The socio-economic changes experienced in the social process as a result of political policies also transform urban spaces. Beyoğlu, which is one of the oldest residential areas of Istanbul, is the place that experiences the reflections of social transformation the most, with its different 'other' identities in every period. For this reason, three films dealing with different periods of Beyoğlu were selected and examined for the research. Non-Muslims who are marginalized with the movie Güz Sancısı, arabesque culture that emerged with immigration and despised by the elite with the movie Muhsin Bey, and transvestites, homosexuals, prostitutes who do not comply with social norms with the movie Gece, Melek ve Bizim Çocuk, and identities called the other by the society. In the thesis, descriptive analysis method, which is one of the qualitative data analysis types, was used. The films selected with purposeful sampling were examined and the data obtained were summarized and interpreted according to predetermined themes. Lefebvre and Harvey's views on the city constitute the theoretical framework of the research, and before the analysis part, the concepts of space and other are explained and the data is interpreted in accordance with the themes within the framework of these concepts. As a result, the scope of the research is how political policies affect social organization and urban spaces, which are residential areas.