The disappearance of the working class hero in the New Independent Turkish Cinema: globalization and the politics of festivalism

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the mid-1990s, a new cinema began to flourish in Turkey led by an intellectual, cosmopolitan and individualistic generation. Although the problems of income distribution were still very persistent in the society, these new filmmakers were no longer interested in the demands of the working class and the social problems arising from the economic structure, albeit between 1960 and 1980, a firm tradition of social realism had flourished in Turkey with the films of the social realists and Yılmaz Güney. This study aims at assessing why the working class hero and his socio-economic problems could not find a place in the New Independent Turkish Cinema that emerged in the 1990s. The oppressive policies and political bans of the coup period softened towards the 1990s. Despite the revival of trade unions and the easing of political bans since the 1990s, the intellectual directors of the period such as Derviş Zaim, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Yeşim Ustaoğlu and Zeki Demirkubuz focused only on existential, micro-political or identity-centered issues. In that context, besides the emphasis on individualism in line with the neoliberal policies implemented since the 1980 Coup period, the phenomenon of “festivalism” associated with “globalization” and “cultural capital” should also be examined. The festivals focused on urban consumers who were somewhat intellectual but not too radical to pose a threat to the socio-political structure. The festivals also created new channels of dependencies for the so-called “independent” directors eager to finance their films and bound to give multiple concessions.