Realism as a Tool to Develop Authenticity: Orientalism in Mustang

Bu çalışmada Deniz Gamze Ergüven'in 2015 yapımı Mustang filmi, filmin anlatı yapısı, kamera hareketleri ve kurgusuyla şarkiyatçı imgeyi yeniden yapılandırma biçimleri açısından incelenmektedir. Mustang’in, batı ana akım medyasındaki alımlanması oldukça olumludur. Türkiye'de yaşayan kadınların baskı altındaki hayatlarına dikkat çektiği ve kadın bakış açısıyla üretilmiş feminist bir film olduğu yönünde görüşler nedeniyle övgü toplamıştır. Mustang’in alımlanması Türkiye'de oldukça farklı olmuştur. Bu çalışma, filmin Batılı medyada alımlanmasını ve Ergüven'in filmin toplumsal gerçekçilik yönüne ilişkin söylemlerini inceleyip, Ergüven'in kompozisyonları ile 19. yüzyıl Oryantalist resimlerdeki odalık imgesinin arasındaki benzerlikleri ortaya koymaktadır. Çalışmanın metodolojisi metin ve söylem analizidir. Şarkiyatçılığıla ilişkin teorik çerçeve, Edward Said’in Oryantalizm adlı kitabına ve Linda Nochlin'in The Imaginary Orient isimli makale çalışmasına dayanmaktadır.

Realism as a Tool to Develop Authenticity: Orientalism in Mustang

This study analyzes Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s 2015 film Mustang in terms of the ways in which the film reconstructs orientalist imagery with its narrative, camerawork and editing. Mustang was well received in the western mainstream media. It was praised for being a feminist film with a female point of view that draws attention to the oppression of women in Turkey. Yet, it’s reception was quite different in Turkey. This study explores film’s reception in the western media, the rhetoric of Ergüven on the realism aspect of the film and demonstrates the similarities between Ergüven’s compositions and 19th century Orientalist paintings that depict the image of the odalisque. Its methodology is textual and discourse analysis. The theoretical framework regarding Orientalism is based on Edward Said’s canonic work, Orientalism and Linda Nochlin’s influential essay, The Imaginary Orient.

___

Ahuja, N. (2009). Postcolonial critique in a multispecies world. PMLA, 124 (2), 556-563.

Affleck, B., Clooney, G., Heslov, G. (Producer), & Affleck, B. (Director). (2002). Argo [Motion picture]. United States: Warner Bros Pictures.

Anadolu, B. (2015, October 5). Mustang. [Available online at: https://filmloverss.com/mustang/] Retrieved on October 10, 2020.

Aydemir, Ş. (2015, October 23). Mustang: masal mı deney mi?. [Available online at: https://www.artfulliving.com.tr/kultur-ve-yasam/mustang-masal-mi-deney-mi-i-4084] Retrieved on October 8, 2020.

Bunbury, S. (2016, June 22). In director Deniz Gamze Erguven's Mustang, five young sisters fight back, [Available online at: https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/in-director-deniz-gamze-erguvens-mustang-five-young-sisters-fight-back-20160609-gpfbo0.html] Retrieved on October 8, 2020.

Cerrahoğlu, Z. (2019). Sinemada temsil kurmak: Mustang (2015) filmi üzerine bir inceleme. SineFilozofi, 2019 Özel Sayısı. 518-535.

Cooke, R. (2016, May 15). Deniz Gamze Ergüven: ‘for women in turkey it’s like the middle ages. [Available online at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/15/deniz-gamze-erguven-mustang-turkey-interview-rachel-cooke] Retrieved on October 10, 2020.

Cowart, J, Fourcade. D. (1986). Henri Matisse: the early years in Nice,1916-1930. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.: H. R. Abrams.

Coutier, L. A. (1989). The world beyond the veil. London, Paris, NY: Abbeville Press Publishers.

Di̇ker, C. (2016). Batı-dışı’nın yeniden üretimi: ‘Mustang’ filminin sosyopolitik bağlamda değerlendirilmesi. Üsküdar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 0 (3), 127-164.

Donadio, R. (2015, November 18). With ‘mustang,’ a director breaks free of cultural confines, [Available online at: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/movies/with-mustang-a-director-breaks-free-of-cultural-confines.html] Retrieved on October 10, 2020

Durakbaşa, A. (2000). Kemalism as identity politics in Turkey. In Zehra F. A. (Ed.), Deconstructing Images of “The Turkish Woman” (pp. 139-165). New York: Plagrave. 139-156.

Ercivan, A. (2015). Ne sahici ne samimi. [Available online at: http://www.beyazperde.com/filmler/film-228825/elestiriler-beyazperde/] Retrieved on October 08, 2020.

Fabbi, F. (1861-1946). Girls in the Harem (oil on linen). Private Collection.

Fanon, F. (2004). The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press.

Gérome, J. L. (1879). The Snake Charmer (oil on canvas). Massachusetts: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.

Gillibert, C. (Producer), & Ergüven, G. D. (Director). (2015). Mustang. [Motion picture]. Production Co: CG Cinéma, Vistamar.

Gillmor, A. (2016). Once upon a time in Turkey…modernity, tradition clash in poignant tale of sisterhood, Winnipeg Free Press, D6, Abstract retrieved May 5, 2020, from Newspaper Source Plus.

Giraud, E. P. F. (1806-1881). Interior of a Harem (oil on canvas). Private Collection.

Giuliani, A. (2015, May 4). Mustang and girlhood as an act of resistance, [Available online at: https://www.dispatchfmi.com/single-post/2018/04/05/Mustang-2015-and-Girlhood-as-an-act-of-Resistance] Retrieved on October 10, 2020.

Goyette, J. (2016, January 27). Virginity tests and an Oscar nomination: the rise of Mustang, [Available online at: https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-01-27/director-oscar-nominated-mustang-why-gender-politics-key-understanding-turkey] Retrieved on October 10, 2020.

Handyside, F. (2019). The politics of hair: girls, secularism, and (not) the veil in Mustang and other recent French films, Paragraph, 42 (3), 351-369.

Hoffman, J. (2015, May 19). Mustang review: the virgin suicide in Anatolian is a sweet, sad Turkish delight, [Available online at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/19/mustang-review-the-virgin-suicides-in-istanbul-is-a-turkish-delight] Retrieved on October 10, 2020.

Ingres, J. A. D. (1814). Grande Odalisque (oil on canvas). Paris: Louvre Museum.

Israel, D. (1859-1901). Harem Beauties. Oil on panel. Private Collection.

Kahraman, K. and Keyman, B. F. (1998). Kemalizm, oryantalizm ve modernite, DoğuBatı Düşünce Dergisi, 1 (2), 75-88.

Karaduman, A. (2014). The Ottoman Seraglio: an institution of power and education, Hacette Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırm aları Ensitüsü: Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, 2, 109-120.

Kroenert. T. (2016, June 19). Feminist parable’s message for Eddie McGuire and co, Eureka Street. 26 (12). 47-69.

Lewis, R. (1993). Only women should go to Turkey: Henriette Browne and women's orientalism, Third Text, 7 (22), 53-64.

Marshall, F. (Producer), & Spielberg, S. (Director). (1981). Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc. [Motion picture]. United States: Lucas Films

McCallum, R. (Producer), & Lucas, G. (Director). (1999). Star Wars: Phantom Menace –Episode I [Motion picture]. United States: Lucas Films.

Medved, M. (2016). Mustang, Herizons, Summer issue, 47.

Mejia, P. (2016, April 3). Two questions with Deniz Gamze Ergüven: the Franco-Turkish director on the terrors of being a teenager. Newsweek. 59.

Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema, Screen, 16 (3), 6-18.

N'est pas Couché. (2015, June 13). Deniz Gamze Ergüven. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0EnAFDekqc

Nochlin, L. (2018). The politics of vision: essays on nineteenth-century art and society. New York: Routledge.

Özakın, Ü. (2015 December, 3). Mustang filmine dair bir feminist okuma denemesi: feminist filme sızan erkek bakışı, [Available online at: http://www.amargidergi.com/yeni/?p=1700] Retrieved on October 08, 2020.

Philips, M. (2016, December 2). Mustang: powerful, memorable film, Record, Abstract retrieved May 5, 2020, from Newspaper Source Plus.

Pick, L. K. (1999). Edward Said, Orientalism and the Middle Ages, Medieval encounters, 5(3), 265-271.

Rudin, S., Zanuck, R. D. (Producer), & Friedkin, W. (Director). (2000). Rules of Engagement. [Motion picture]. Production Co: Seven Arts Pictures, Paramount, Munich Film Partners and Company.

Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. NY: Routledge.

Said, E. (2011). Introduction to Orientalism. In S. Appelrouth & L. Desfor Edles (Eds.), Sociological Theory in the Contemporary Era: Text and Readings (pp. 631-641). Los Angeles, London: Sage.

Saygılı, K. (2016, February 24). Mustang (2015): sömürgeleştirilmiş bakış’ın şaşırtmayan oscar yolculuğu. [Available online at: https://www.cinerituel.com/mustang-2015-somurgelestirilmis-bakisin-sasirtmayan-oscar-yolculugu/] Retrieved on October 07, 2020.

Sümertaş, F. M. (2008). Women and power: female patrons of architecture in 16th and 17th century Istanbul, Edinburgh Architecture Research, 31, 83-89.

Talu, Y. (2015). Short takes: mustang, Filmcomment, 73.

Tekdemir, H. (2017). Critical Approaches to Edward Said’s Orientalism, Uludağ University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Journal of Social Sciences, 18 (32), 141-158.

Tekeli, Ş. (1995). Women in Turkey in the 1980s. In Şirin T. (Ed.), Women in Modern Turkish Society: A Reader (pp. 1-22). London, New Jersey: Zed Books.

The Take. (2015). How is “Mustang” influenced by fairy tales? [Available online at: https://the-take.com/watch/how-is-mustang-influenced-by-fairy-tales] Retrieved on October 10, 2020.

Tsipoura, T. (2012). The sultan’s harem in Ottoman Empire: the power within the walls. 1-19. Retrieved from: https://www.academia.edu/23167356/THE_SULTAN_S_HAREM_IN_THE_OTTOMAN_EMPIRE_The_Power_within_the_Walls.

Ulaby, N. (2015). Mustang takes on women's rights in fairy tale form, NPR, Abstract retrieved May 5, 2020, from Newspaper Source Plus.

Weeks, E.M. (2008). Cultures crossed: John Frederick Lewis and the art of Orientalist painting, In Nicholas, T, Barış, K, Gökçe, G. (Eds.), The Lure of the East: British Orientalist Painting (pp.4 44-70). Istanbul: Pera Museum Publishing.

Weston, H. (2015, December 29). Deniz Gamze Ergüven on her feminist fable Mustang, [Available online at: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3852-deniz-gamze-erg-ven-on-her-feminist-fable-mustang] Retrieved on October 10, 2020.

Zaentz, S. (Producer), & Minghella, A. (Director). (1996). The English Patient[Motion picture]. United States: Miramax

Zoladz, L. (2016, February 22). Mustang filmmaker Deniz Gamze Ergüven on women in film and her Oscar-nominated feminist escape movie, [Available online at: https://www.vulture.com/2016/02/conversation-mustang-director-denize-gamze-erguven.html] Retrieved on October 10, 2020