Representation of district governor and mayor in Turkish cinema

The birth of cinema in Turkey coincides with the first years of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. Therefore, the history of the Republic of Turkey and the history of Turkish cinema parallel each other chronologically. In this thesis titled "Representation of District Governor and Mayor in Turkish Cinema", it is examined which cultural values and political processes are represented by district governors and mayors. In the films studied, how the district governor and mayor represented or criticized the social and cultural structure, legitimized or rejected the ideological, political, and cultural structure during the periods when the films were made or are depicting is discussed. In this thesis, it is aimed to find out how the ideological, political, and cultural system reproduces itself through movie audiences. One of the aims of this study is to determine how the nation-state founding ideology, that is, Kemalism, which incorporates principles such as westernization, enlightenment, and secularism, is processed in films and whether cinema continues this tradition, and to research the characteristics of the period in which approval and rupture are experienced. The films with the district governor or the mayor in the leading role shape the universe of this thesis. These films are divided into periodical categories according to their attitudes towards political, cultural, spatial, economic, and democratic conflicts in the country. The research was done in accordance to the 'representation theory' method. The films were evaluated as texts, and cinemas process of constructing identity, culture, and meaning was analysed according to Stuart Hall's constructionist approach. As a result of the analyses made according to content analysis, which is one of the qualitative research techniques, it has been concluded that films depicting district governors and mayors are the representation of cultural and social facts rather than an individual product. Films are seen not as a representation of events, but as a 'main process' and a construction as important as the economic or material 'fundamental' in shaping social issues and historical events. With the films depicting district governors and mayors studied in this thesis, the transformation of the metaphorical narratives shaped by conflicts that existed in social life after the establishment of the Republic of Turkey and still continue to exist today has been observed in the process. During the study, 24 movies with the leading or predominant roles of the district governor and the mayor were watched, and the common aspects of the films were determined. These movies, most of which are in the comedy genre, cover subjects of common contradictions such as religious exploitation, enlightenment, distance of the central government to the public, development, poverty, corruption, and the fight against feudalism. Mayors and district governors are positioned in the face of these problems, and this positioning corresponds to the real political and cultural life of the country.