KEBABBLE Vegetables and sexism in Turkish cinema
By Fazile Zahir
FETHIYE, Turkey - Poking a finger at sexism in Turkish cinema, the nation's
first-ever "worst movie" awards were held in Istanbul last month. Aptly, they
were named after the okra, a green, pointed vegetable often known as lady's
fingers.
In Turkey the word for okra, bamya, is a derogatory reference to a male
body part, and in particular for men who over-compensate in terms of bluster
and aggression if they have a smaller bamya. Turkey's version of the
Oscars are called the Golden Orange Awards.
The Golden Okra awards formed part of the 7th International Travelling Filmmor
Women's Film Festival and were given to films
from last year thought to have discriminated against women. A jury of 61 chose
from a list of nominees, with last year's hit comedy Recep Ivedik having
the dubious honor of winning Worst Male Character and receiving a special
distinction for Most Homophobic.
Unsurprisingly, no one from the winning films, which also included Issiz Adam (Alone)
and Uc Maymun (Three Monkeys) arrived at the award ceremony to pick up
their gilded, oversized okra-shaped trophies. But each movie had worn its
misogynist colors openly, with Recep Ivedik infamous for its vulgarity.
The movie treated women with the bare minimum of respect and the catchphrase of
the lead character, Recep, was "Shut up you".
The movie Alone documented the love of an innocent young woman for a
serial adulterer who at the end of their relationship finds happiness the only
way women can - as a wife and mother. In Three Monkeys, a mother is the
main character. She first has a pointless affair and is then brutally beaten by
her son when he finds out.
All three were highly popular in their own way. Recep Ivedik was a box
office smash, breaking all records for weekend viewing figures (1.2 million
viewers in the first three days). The movie Alone was screened across
Europe and watched by 3 million Turks while Three Monkeys bagged the
best director's prize at Cannes and was the Turkish nomination for the Oscar's
Best Foreign Film award.
Each film had a male director and in the opinion of the Filmmor women's
cooperative was guilty of exploiting cliches. "The Golden Okra is an award that
has emerged as a result of our desire to speak out in resistance and criticism
against the overwhelming predominance of the patriarchal perspective and male
gaze, the continuing constriction of space for women," said the organizers in a
statement.
Along with being a platform for women's and other causes, the Golden Okra is
also testament to the rebirth of the Turkish film industry. So few films were
produced before 1945 that it would be fair to say that there was no film
industry. Things rapidly changed and by the 1960s Turkey was the fifth-biggest
film producer worldwide, and by the 1970s annual film production had reached
300 movies.
Then, in the 1980s the popularity of television and video decimated the film
and cinema industries. Some 90 million tickets were sold in 1966, but only 11
million in 1990. The number of cinemas over the same period fell from around
2,000 to just under 300.
Ironically, things did not improve until the 2001 production of comedian Yilmaz
Erdogan's Vizontele, which documents the story of the arrival of
television in a small village and its effects on the local cinema. Watched by
2.5 million viewers, it provided the impetus the stagnant film industry needed.
The 21st century has seen the film industry branching out into science fiction
with Cem Yilmaz's G.O.R.A, big-budget war movies like Valley of the
Wolves:Iraq, and costume dramas like Hacivat.
There has also been expansion in art-house cinema, including Turev in
2005 which had no pre-written script. And films dealing with previously-banned
topics such as the plight of the Kurds, including Fotograf by Kazim Oz
in 2001 and Handan Ipekci's Buyuk Adam, Kucuk Ask (Big Man, Small
Passions).
By 2007, production had soared to 40 films annually and the top four box office
hits in 2006 and 2007 were domestically made.
Some of the renaissance is down to a new and active interest on behalf of the
government. In 2005, the Ministry of Culture begun providing substantial
funding for the movie business. The ministry has invested around 17 million
lira (or US$10.3 million) annually since then. While mere pocket money in
international terms, the funding is significant in Turkey where film budgets
are often less than 1 million lira.
Other signs of vitality are the Antalya Golden Orange film festival, which
grows in prestige and attendance each year, and the choice of Antalya,
southwestern Turkey, again to host the International Eurasia Film Festival.
This global event underlines Antalya's role as a bridging point between Eastern
and Western film production and there is normally a significant turnout from
China and Hong Kong as well as Greece and Hungary and a strong Russian
presence.
This success has not impressed Mediz, a lobbying group that monitors sexism in
the media and is closely affiliated with Filmmor. The group has found that in
Turkey, 85% of media managers are men, 88% of columnists are men, 82% of news
sources are men, 100% of newspaper editors are men and 100% of newspaper
pin-ups are women.
The choice of an okra for the worst film award may is not coincidental, as a
"lady's finger", it is like a very unladylike flipping of the bird at the male
film industry in general.
Fazile Zahir is of Turkish descent, born and brought up in London. She
moved to live in Turkey in 2005 and has been writing full time since then.
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