A different perspective on Turkish cinema: Analyzing traumatized heroes in comedy narratives

In modern society, the traumas experienced by individuals have become more known and have begun to be represented more in narratives. Cinema is one of the narratives in which traumas are represented. It is possible to understand the structure of a society through narratives such as cinema.In this context, movies that are preferred and watched by the majority of the society are significant for understanding the relationship between cinema and society. In order to analyze the traumatic experiences of Turkish society, the aim of this study is to determine the traumatic transformations of the characters in comedy films, which are the most watched genre in Turkish cinema, and to interpret the findings obtained. In this study, the qualitative research method was adopted since the film characters were analyzed and the descriptive survey model was used among qualitative research methods. The characters analyzed using the descriptive survey model were evaluated within their own conditions. The analyzed films were selected using the criterion sampling method, one of the purposeful sampling methods, and the five most watched comedy films released between 2009 and 2020 were determined within the scope of the study. The explanation of the findings is based on psychoanalytic film criticism and interpretive approach. As a result of the study, how the main character's traumatic transformations are shaped within the narrative in popular comedy films in Turkish cinema is made sense of, how the traumas of the characters are represented in the films and what the audience laughs at.