The ideological transformation of popular Turkish cinema

Popular films reflect and transform the ideological structure of the societies in which they were born. Films that are shot for the popular film audience and then become popular offers important opportunities to understand, define and analyze the dominant ideological structures. Thus, it has been focused on popular Turkish cinema and its transformation in order to reveal the establishment, basic characteristics and structure of the dominant ideology in Turkey and the ideological breakthrough that has been experienced since. For this purpose, first of all, different definitions of the concept of ideology and the universe of meaning have been put forward. Afterwards, the origins of Turkey's dominant ideology and the historical background of today are examined.Films have been divided into two groups within the framework of the periodization of the Yeşilçam period and the post-1996 new Turkish cinema. The genres that dominated the domestic cinema during the Yeşilçam period, the ideological elements of the films that signify these genres, and the genre and ideological transformation of popular films released in the new period were examined. It is seen that popular domestic films in the Yeşilçam period were generally shot from a rigid ideological perspective and within more local and unique genre conventions. However, popular productions shot in the new period reflect the ideological transformation created by neoliberalism after 1980. In these films, it is seen that the dominant ideological discourse has been broken and a new ideological perspective has emerged in harmony with the market economy, globalization and individualization.