Gender – specific representation of female and male characters in Turkish TV series: The example of "Kızılcık Şerbeti" and "Ömer" series

Research shows that television, one of the mass media, has an intense impact on individuals and naturally on society. In this context, it has been revealed by theorists that the media both affects society and its structure and is affected by the structure of society. Gender-specific representations of men and women presented on television shape the audience's expectations from a woman and a man in their future lives and can affect their perceptions. When we look at the local TV series broadcast on television in the last few years, the lives of "conservative" families and "secular" families are presented to the audience, and within this framework, the roles and expectations attributed to women and men stand out. When we look at the gender-specific representation studies conducted to date, it has been seen that the majority of them focus only on women. The point where this study differs is that it focuses not only on the ways women are represented, but also on the way men are represented. Within the scope of this thesis study, it aims to determine what the gender-specific representations of the male and female characters reflected in the TV series "Kızılcık Serbeti" and "Omer" contribute to the society within the framework of cultural indicators and cultivation theory, and to what extent they overlap with the attitudes and beliefs of the society through semi-structured interviews. It provides foresight into how or whether the programs in the mainstream media affect society's perceptions of entrenched-values.