2000’ler Türkiye Sinemasında Parçalanan İstanbul İmgesi: Mekânın Ürettiği İlişkiler ve Kimlikler

Abstract

This thesis is based on theories which argue that spaces are ideological value-laden social products and power apparatuses due to the interactive relation between space, society and modes of production. In this context, the thesis examines how the social contradictions inherent in the spaces in Istanbul are represented in the films. It is claimed that Istanbul is fragmented by the logic of rent-seeking ghettoization to be transformed into a global city within the scope of post-industrial capitalist production modes restructured with neoliberal policies. It is defended that society are spatially segregated and social inequalities and injustices are further deepened by asymmetrical distribution of resources and opportunities in favor of high-income groups in this process. For the sake of transforming the regions with high urban rent in Istanbul according to the demands of the markets and the tastes and preferences of high-income ‘normative’ groups, marginalized social groups are aggrieved and/or forced to live without many urban opportunities such as decent work, education and health care. The human cost and social state of mind created by this process is also represented in cinema. The reason why the cinematic representations examined in this context were chosen among the films produced after 2010 is that socio-spatial segragations and spatial contradictions have become more obvious in this period. In the thesis, films are analyzed with an interdisciplinary approach by establishing a relation among various fields such as gender, bio-politics, memory, poverty, new racism, discrimination and space studies. In addition, by referring to other local or foreign fictional films as well as literary texts and non-fictional texts related to the historical and social context under discussion, the selected films are analyzed with an intertextual model. Thus a contribution to the literature is made by presenting a sociological perspective through the lens of cinema on the spatiality.