Framing the 1980 Coup Films as a Cultural and Cinematographic Discourse

Abstract

At the time it had taken place, the coup of 1980 was welcomed domestically and internationally due to the political and economic turmoil of the 1970s. The dissonance between historical reality and cultural perception during the 2000s can be explained by normative changes constructed in part by coup films. Tracing the main currents of Turkish history between the 1950s and the 2000s, this chapter highlights the increase of political authoritarianism as a response to the rise of mass culture (e.g. mass migration, mass education, and mass communication). Salient themes include human rights violations, and the unsettling socio-economic transformations which favored market competition and consumerism. The changes encountered by the film industry, the emerging landscape of private broadcasting, and the intersections between cinema and television are discussed in this chapter.