Traces of the New Right Politics, Economy and Society in Turkish Cinema: An Assessment with a Focus of Political Comedy Films
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MARMARA UNIV, FAC COMMUNICATION
Abstract
The solution to the crisis that broke out in the world economy in the mid-1970s was found through the transition to a liberal market economy under the leadership of the US and England, and the reorganization of state-society-market relations by means of the New Right policies. The New Right politics, which is a combination of liberalism's understanding that underlines conservatism with the principles of market economy and minimal state, was first implemented in the US and England, and started to show its effect in Turkey through the initiatives of Turgut Ozal after the January 24 Decisions. It was inevitable that this understanding of politics, the economic order it brought with it, and the social changes created by this order were reflected in the cinema. This study aims to analyze the reflections of the New Right politics in Turkey and the changes and negativities that can be evaluated in the economic, social, cultural and moral contexts brought by this understanding of politics, on political comedy films in Turkish cinema. In this direction, through the purposeful sampling technique, a number of political comedy films shot between 1980 and 1990 were examined, which can be considered as the most active period of New Right politics in Turkey, starring actors who mastered comedy films such as Kemal Sunal, Sener Sen and Ilyas Salman. The films were investigated qualitatively through sociological criticism and thematic content analysis. Finally, this study concludes that the films examined successfully conveyed the critical reflections of the economy, society and morality that New Right politics introduced in the historical process in Turkey.
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CLASSICAL LIBERALISM, OZAL DECADE