Representations of the disabled in post-2000 Turkish cinema: Otherness and 'abject'

This study analyzes sample films from post-2000 feature-length fictional Turkish cinema with disabled protagonists within the context of otherness and abjection. Disabled representations in the films were examined through the identified sub-themes of otherness and abjection. The literature review of this thesis addresses disability, disabled models, and approaches to disability. At the same time, the conceptual background of disability has been examined with its institutional history. Within the main theme of otherness, disabled characters have been analyzed with the sub-themes of stigmatization, discrimination, and microaggression, and erasure/blindness. In the context of abject, representations of disability have been investigated with the sub-themes of unnervingness, bodily waste of the abject, and spaces of the abject. The method used to analyze the films in this study is thematic analysis within qualitative research. The method used for sample selection is purposive sampling. This study is the first to examine disability in cinema through the lens of otherness and the abject. Within this scope, the feature-length fictional films Tamam Mıyız? (2013), Özür Dilerim (2013) and Mucize (2015), released after 2000 in Turkish cinema and featuring disabled main characters, were analyzed in the context of otherness and the abject. Keywords: Disability, Representation, Turkish Cinema, Abject, Otherness.