1
GENDER IN TURKISH MELODRAMAS
Turkish melodramas present a number intriguing gender relations and representation for
contemporary cinematic critique. There is the obvious gender representation of the
patriarchal male and prostitute/saint female, but there is also a certain level of resistance
and of androgyny that breaks away from the traditionally assigned gender roles of
Turkish society. In this paper I am interested in both the hegemonic and the negotiated
elements of male and female roles in Turkish melodramatic films from 1965-1975.
Melodrama is defined as “an extravagantly sentimental or emotionally exaggerated
drama or play; formerly, a romantic play interspersed with music”.
1
Historically
melodrama is associated with the class struggle. According to Christine Gledhile the
bourgeoisie used melodrama in their struggle against aristocracy during the 18
th
century.
2
Dickens and writers like him perfected the aesthetics of class tragedy in the 18
th
century.
In Hollywood this melodrama was altered since there was no class struggle of the
bourgeoisie versus the aristocracy. Instead the melodrama told the tale of rural/urban and
rich/poor oppositions. Although Michael Booth states that, “melodrama itself is
essentially entertainment for the industrial working class… its basic energy was
proletarian”
3
, and in Hollywood, starting with Rudolph Valetiono’s films in 1920, they
came to be known as ‘woman’s film’. Such categorizations of melodramas by
1
Quoted in, R epresentation of Nuclear Family in Yesilcam Films, Osman Sezgi, Bilkent University,
Turkish Cinema Newsletter, 2001
2
Christine Gledhill, The Melodramatic Field: An Investigation, Home is Where the Heart Is, London, 1987
3
Ibid 1
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