Language, religion and place in Romanian adaptations of Turkish tv series

Over time, Romanian television has undergone turbulence that has led to a series of constant changes in the audiovisual market. Socio-political, economic patterns and daily life habits have influenced the flow of television to which audiences have been exposed. The television adaptation industry has gradually evolved from literary adaptations to various internationally recognized and broadcast foreign series adaptations. Over the years television adaptations have conformed to international trends, but the political economy of the market has contributed to fluctuations in the adaptation process. In the 2000s, Romania has seen an exponential increase in Latin American adaptations, and in the last five years local production of TV adaptations has focused on the famous Turkish series. In this regard, this dissertation aims to study the cultural adaptations of Turkish television series in Romanian environment as a way to exemplify how global television series are getting national and culturally localized. Through a critical perspective, this research emphasizes how Romanian cultural identity has been preserved throughout the television history, following the line of socio-political events and investigates how television series adaptations contribute to the cultural identity of Romanians highlighting on elements of language, religion, and place. Using a combination of qualitative methods, such as Focus group, analysis of data collection that implies online comments, news articles and blog posts, this research presents a complex analytical framework based on the analysis of four television adaptations of Turkish series in Romania (Aşk-I Memnu/Fructul Oprit; Ezel/Vlad; O Hayat Benim/Adela; İçere/Clanul) and their original version. Research findings show how television adaptations are reinterpreted and reconfigured in the local context, pointing to symbols, myths, practices, and representations of everyday life. As such, the broadcasting television market is open to the assimilation of new values and cultural traditions without changing its basic identity structure. The constant exposure to series from the international market familiarized the audience with new cultural patterns. Thus, even if Romania and Turkey are spatially close, the adaptation of the Turkish series in the Romanian space addressed global issues from different perspectives. The cultural negotiation and local character were provided by the distinctive elements that gave uniqueness to the new television productions and ensured the transfer to the international market flow of television series.