The shadowed face of male role in Kemal Sunal movies: Gender perception in interpersonal communication

Gender roles appear as an element that maintains social order, and are manifest in each period of history. This order-providing element, which occurs in every aspect of individuals' lives, can have positive and negative outcomes. Besides the difficulties experienced by females, males may also encounter some difficulties at the social level. These difficulties manifest themselves depending on whether or not they have the characteristics attributed by society. In addition, these difficulties can also affect interpersonal communication. The purpose of this study is to reveal the difficulties experienced by males at the social level while fulfilling their gender roles, and the effects of these difficulties on their interpersonal communication, demonstrating how gender perception takes place in interpersonal communication. Through purposeful sampling and maximum diversity sampling, male characters representing different business groups and social status were examined in a selection of films, Kılıbık, Atla Gel Şaban, Öğretmen, Talih Kuşu, Şendul Şaban, Korkusuz Korkak, Postacı and Orta Direk Şaban in which Kemal Sunal played the lead role. The themes and sub-themes that emerged through in-depth film analysis, the main theme of "the interpersonal communication of the male role" with the sub-themes of "emotional relationship", "family relationship", "work life" and "social environment" were examined through discourse/critical discourse and content analysis of the relevant scenes. The main and sub-themes were derived from the codes identified within each film; "economic expectation", "accepted behavior patterns" and "psychological problems". This thesis is expected to bring a different perspective to the study of film language and the creation of meaning in film. In particular, the study of gender in the context of interpersonal communication through discourse analysis and/or critical discourse and content analysis is envisaged to provide a different perspective in communication studies.