Borrowed soundtracks: adopting the global history approach to the study of connectedness in film history

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, my goal is to reveal the importance and potential of global history, an approach that is generally neglected in media and film history literature. The main characteristics of global history are de-centralizing history, taking a wide spatial and temporal perspective, avoiding Eurocentric and nationalist optics, and explaining patterns of causalities behind connections. I begin by explaining global history before presenting the differences between global history and similar approaches used in film and media studies literature. Then, I focus on a potential case study, the phenomenon of foreign music used as soundtracks in Turkish domestic films between the 1950s and the 1980s. I demonstrate how the ‘borrowed soundtracks’ creates a hitherto unstudied connectedness between disconnected audiences from different countries or societies. I consider the soundscapes of the films as a space of aural encounter, and I argue that global history would enable us to understand the emotional, cultural, and economic layers of this indirect connectedness.