The new article by Department Head of Radio, Television and Cinema, Asst. Prof. Emre Doğan, titled “Kerem and Aslı as An Eastern Narrative and Melodramatic Turkish Cinema” has been published in the new issue of Folklore/Literature Journal, indexed in Scopus and Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI).
In his study examining the reflection of the Eastern narrative tradition and the melodrama genre in Turkish cinema, Asst. Prof. Emre Doğan has revealed how the Eastern cultural circle and mentality have shaped this narrative tradition. Doğan stated that the Eastern narrative tradition is full of verbal, open-form, interactive and superficial contrasts, and that such works are considered technically flawed but creative in content. He emphasized that these features are also evident in Turkish cinema, especially in the melodrama genre.
In the study, Doğan stated that the melodrama genre is one of the most performed genres in Turkish cinema, that it gives moral messages, repeats various patterns, appeals to emotions and has a narrative structure where rational cause-effect relationships are weak. The author also added that this genre tries to impress the audience by including elements of coincidence and surprise.
In the center of the study, the author analyzes the relationship between the Eastern narrative tradition and the melodrama genre, and makes an analysis especially on the story of Kerem and Aslı and the film Kerem and Aslı, which was adapted from this story and was produced in 1971. The result obtained is that the formal and content elements of the Eastern narrative tradition have commonalities with the melodrama genre and its use in Turkish cinema. The author stated that this similarity is because he thinks that both traditions are nourished by the same cultural and mental source.
As a result, the author stated that these similarities provide opportunities in terms of creative and cultural diversity and used the descriptive method and genre film criticism approach in the study.
We congratulate Asst. Prof. Emre Doğan and wish him continued success.
