The Representations of Old Age in Turkish Cinema After 1990s

Abstract

Taken as a natural biological process, the phenomenon of old age as a sub-branch of medical science has gradually gained a sociological dimension due to the significance it gained with the increase in old age population in the world; and in a short time it has been positioned as an interdisciplinary field called gerontology (aging and the science of aging). The sociological dimension of the phenomenon of old age involves the position of the old aged in the given system and other factors such as socioeconomic and sociocultural conditions that determine this position; and these factors constitute the reflection of the current policies. From this point of view, an evaluation concerning the phenomenon of old age or the current position of the old aged in Turkey, where lives a society with traditional roots cannot be considered independent from the modernisation process and the distinctive sociocultural and socioeconomic conditions of this process. The position concerning the old aged is thought to be shifting to a new 'other' in contemporary societies, especially in the western countries. In this respect, it is possible to predict that this 'othering' process will eventually start in traditional societies as well. The reflection of this process in cinema seems interesting in terms of representations of the phenomenon of old age in cinema. In this study, the representations of the phenomenon of old age will be examined in terms of socio-political and sociocultural reflections of the modernisation process. In this regard, several variables will be questioned, such as how the phenomenon of old age is represented in the Turkish cinema after 1990; whether this representation contributes to building a new 'other'; whether an alternative representation is presented instead of reproducing the prevailing perception of old age. The study will be based on the qualitative content analysis of the selected films that will be analysed in terms of above mentioned questions and will be interpreted with a critical point of view through a sociological perspective.