Magnificent Century Research Articles

From screen to soft power: the rising appeal of Turkish TV series in Bangladesh

Abstract Purpose This study examines the popularity of Turkish TV series in Bangladesh and their effectiveness as a soft power tool for Turkey. It also aims to understand why these series have been successful in shaping the attitudes and beliefs of Bangladeshi audiences towards Turkey and its leadership. Method This qualitative study employs the narrative analysis approach to examine the phenomenon. Social media posts and comments related to the Bengali dubbed version of the Turkish TV series The Magnificent Century on Facebook and YouTube from November 2015 to March 2022 were collected and analyzed using an inductive approach. Findings The study finds that the success of Turkish TV series in Bangladesh can be attributed to a combination of factors, including the absence of quality local content, the strong connection of Bangladeshi audiences with their Muslim identity, and the portrayal of Islamic historical context and similar Muslim culture. The positive image of Turkey and its history portrayed in these series has created a sense of cultural proximity between Turkey and Bangladesh, contributing to the popularity of Turkish TV series in the country. Implications The study suggests that Turkish TV series serve as a soft power tool for Turkey to increase its influence in Bangladesh. By promoting a positive image of Turkey and its history, these series have successfully shaped the attitudes and beliefs of Bangladeshi audiences towards Turkey and its leadership. Value This study highlights the effectiveness of Turkish TV series as a soft power tool. It provides insights into the factors contributing to the popularity of these series in Bangladesh and their potential to increase Turkey’s influence in the Muslim world.

The glamour of the Muhteşem Yuzyil: The fashionable Ottoman court in the twenty-first century

The Magnificent Century series, which was aired in more than 70 countries after its screening in Turkey, narrates the events of the most powerful period of the Ottoman empire (sixteenth century). The series, which was popular from the first episode, has received various criticism from many angles. In particular, the historical reliability of the series has been questioned the most on a local scale. The article aims to interpret the movement called Hürrem Sultan fashion that emerged through the hybridization of time and space in the female characters’ costume, hair and make-up design as a significant component of global audience attraction in the wider context of the historiographical performance of fictional narratives.

Powerful women, postfeminism, and fantasies of patriarchal recuperation in Magnificent Century

ABSTRACT This article examines the complex and contradictory gendered desires and anxieties that reveal themselves in the representation of powerful women in contemporary global television. Focusing on the internationally most popular TV series of the Turkish TV industry, Magnificent Century, screened in over 75 countries and seen by more than 500 million people, the central objective of this article is to assess the cultural implications of the series’ portrayal of influential and dominant women. Set in the 16th-century, Magnificent Century projects into the past a postfeminist interpretation of history, celebrating competitiveness, self-interestedness, and ambition, especially for its central character Hurrem Sultan, who rises from her slave origins to become a powerful empress. The series promotes women’s individualistic empowerment in a patriarchal world, while recurrently re-asserting male hegemony. Magnificent Century relies on gendered power reversals between femininity and masculinity as its main narrative and affective structure in which postfeminist empowerment and misogyny co-exist. Close textual analysis of the series coupled with examination of online viewer responses demonstrate that popular feminism and popular misogyny have concurrent audience appeal and that the powerful woman is a figure of cultural disquiet in the contemporary global mediascape.

The Effects of Historical Textiles on Turkish Series: An Example of "The Magnificent Century"

The Effects of Historical Textiles on Turkish Series: An Example of "The Magnificent Century"

ResurReaction: Competing Visions of Turkey’s (proto) Ottoman Past in Magnificent Century and Resurrection Ertuğrul

The Turkish TV dramas Magnificent Century and Resurrection Ertuğrul share a number of traits: Both reprise the country’s Ottoman (or proto-Ottoman) past by focusing their story on a heroic figure; both raised the ire of critics for their lack of historicity; and both have been highly successful, ruling ratings on the same competitive Wednesday night prime time slot, with Resurrection coming in to take Century’s place after that show left the air. Despite these similarities, the projects represent quite different takes on the Ottoman past and the issue of history’s role in the Turkish present. While Century arguably partakes in what Svetlana Boym calls reflective nostalgia, Resurrection is a highly restorative project. In this article, I detail the differences between these projects and explain their success in light of the shifting political environment in Turkey. I begin with a characterization of Century and the ‘problem’ it posed for a conservative government that was deeply invested in an idealized Ottoman past. I next turn to Resurrection, which I see as a government reaction to Century, and explain that it succeeds where other imitators failed due to the careful choice of a hero with a relatively blank historical slate. Finally, I argue that Resurrection practices a different attitude toward history than does Century, heralding for a government that not only seeks to glorify and idolize the past, but also to claim ownership of it.

„Pozdrawiam Fanki i Sułtanki”. Internetowe praktyki polskiego fandomu serialu "Wspaniałe stulecie"

The article discusses fan practices of Polish viewers of the Turkish TV series Magnificent Century (Muhteşem Yüzyıl, Wspaniałe stulecie). Using this example, the author analyzes the issue of cultural incorporation, recontextualization and reinterpretation of foreign narrative conventions. The article also describes how people digitally excluded join the fandom and get `infected` by the need for `drilling` down into their favorite text. As a result, they acquire new technological skills and build online knowledge communities described by Henry Jenkins.

The politics of pleasure in global drama: A case study of the TV series, The Magnificent Century (Muhteşem Yüzyıl)

This article is concerned with the ways in which local/national drama becomes a global success, which strategies are developed to appeal to viewers within different cultural settings and how far this shift is important when re/thinking audience reception studies. The study answers this question by exploring the television (TV) drama series, The Magnificent Century (2011–2014) by conducting in-depth interviews in the Greek capital Athens and the Moroccan capital Rabat with viewers and the production and distribution team of the series. The findings show that potentials for pleasure in the consumption of drama are designed from the very beginning when thinking globally, to reduce cultural differences to a minimum, to finally fuse audiences’ interpretative practices beyond cultural polarization to common understandings.

Popular Culture and National Identity: A Study on University Students in Bosnia and Herzegovina Who Are “The Magnificent Century” Viewers

This paper analyses the Bosnian university students’ reactions to the Turkish TV series, Muhtesem Yuzyil, in line with their ethnic and religious affiliations. The questions were directed to 43 university students who were the series’ audiences in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including mainly Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, to determine their thoughts about the series. Descriptive analysis method was used in this study. As a result of the study, Croat and Serb audiences point out that they like the scenario and they expect Turkish producers to make similar series, but at the same time they emphasize on “oppressive politics” of the Ottoman Empire. A significant part of the Bosniaks says they knew the similarities between their own and Turkish in advance and their opinions regarding Turks did not change after the series. The Serbs and Croats although not using explicit praise words about Turks like the Bosniaks, they used concepts such as family relationships, lifestyle and culture while they were talking about intercultural similarities.

Transnational Viewers of Turkish Television Drama Series

Since the mid-2000s, Turkish television drama series have been exported to many countries and attracted an unprecedented transnational audience. However, despite popularity, there is paucity of research focusing on the transnational understanding(s) of Turkish television drama audiences in different geographies. Through a reception analysis of three mostly cited television series among participants Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnificent Century), Aşk-ı Memnu (Forbidden Love), Kuzey Güney (North South), this study aimed at offering an understanding beyond overly stated cultural/religious proximity explanations to ascertain traces and elements of empowerment that citizens feel coming through their act of consuming Turkish dramas. For that purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted with Iranian viewers of Turkish television series living in the Austrian capital Vienna. Interpretation of that collected qualitative material suggests re-thinking of the transnational audience’s consumption practices that expand tourism and trade flows and other related businesses between the two countries.

Between neo-Ottomanism and Ottomania: navigating state-led and popular cultural representations of the past

AbstractIn contemporary Turkey, a growing interest in Ottoman history represents a change in both the official state discourse and popular culture. This nostalgia appropriates, reinterprets, decontextualizes, and juxtaposes formerly distinct symbols, ideas, objects, and histories in unprecedented ways. In this paper, we distinguish between state-led neo-Ottomanism and popular cultural Ottomania, focusing on the ways in which people in Turkey are interpellated by these two different yet interrelated discourses, depending on their social positions. As the boundary between highbrow and popular culture erodes, popular cultural representations come to reinterpret and rehabilitate the Ottoman past while also inventing new insecurities centering on historical “truth.” Utilizing in-depth interviews, we show that individuals juxtapose the popular television seriesMuhteşem Yüzyıl(The Magnificent Century) with what they deem “proper” history, in the process rendering popular culture a “false” version. We also identify four particular interpretive clusters among the consumers of Ottomania: for some, the Ottoman Empire was the epitome of tolerance, where different groups lived peacefully; for others, the imperial past represents Turkish and/or Islamic identities; and finally, critics see the empire as a burden on contemporary Turkey.

Re-creating history and recreating publics: the success and failure of recent Ottoman costume dramas in Turkish media.

The popular Ottoman costume drama Magnificent Century [Muhtesem Yuzyil] was controversial from the outset, with domestic (Turkish) detractors suggesting that it falsified history and mocked Ottoman heritage. Noting the different fates of many Ottoman-era shows that followed Century, this paper examines the success or failure of such projects through a three-part discussion. First, it turns to literature focusing on the renewed interest in Ottoman heritage in Turkey, touching on how this trend arose and how it relates to politics. Next, it employs Svetlana Boym’s distinction between reflective and restorative nostalgia to highlight two markedly different approaches to the past that exist in the Turkish milieu. Finally, it discusses how these approaches relate to media representations of the Ottomans, suggesting that reflective nostalgia has a better chance of engaging a public in the TV setting, and that, ultimately, the two nostalgic approaches may engage two very different publics.

Reflections of neo-Ottomanist discourse in Turkish news media: The case of The Magnificent Century

Abstract Starting from the 2000s, when the neo-liberal conservative AKP (Justice and Development Party) came to power in Turkey, the neo-Ottomanist idea and identity became more visible as a political discourse in the public sphere. Increased use of neo-Ottomanist references, especially within the past ten years, has also appeared through popular cultural products such as books, feature films, TV commercials and TV series. Redefining the concept of Turkish nationalism and Turkish–Islamic synthesis within the neo-Ottomanist context, these products transferred these Ottomanist references into the popular arena. These attempts are not always welcomed by the AKP due to disagreements about the definition of Turkish conservatism and have sparked criticism. In this study, press coverage of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan’s neo-Ottomanist reaction and criticism towards the very content of a TV series, titled Muhteem Yüzyl/The Magnificent Century (Tims Productions, Star TV, 2011–14), has been analysed. The research sample consisted of three national dailies, Cumhuriyet, Radikal and Yeni afak, and the newspapers were examined using the method of content analysis. As a result, it can be argued that the sample newspapers have supported different ideological backgrounds around the discussions and speculations regarding the The Magnificent Century.

The magnificent century of cardiothoracic surgery part 8: Reviving the dead

The magnificent century of cardiothoracic surgery part 8: Reviving the dead