Abstract
The concept of social gender is an interdisciplinary matter of debate and is still questioned today. Making sense of this concept is understood by the ongoing codes in the social order. However, the fact that men are still positioned as dominating women in the contrast of the public sphere/private sphere prevents the making sense of the concept of gender. This study questions the concept of social gender through the female characters and male characters presented in the film Tersine Dünya (1993) within the framework of Judith Butler's thoughts regarding the notion of the subject. The thoughts of feminist film theorists also bring the strategies of representation of female characters up for discussion. Butler's thoughts and the discourses of feminist film theorists will enable both making sense of social gender and a more concrete understanding of the concept of the subject. The possibility of deconstruction of patriarchal codes by using classical narrative cinema conventions is also brought up for discussion in the examined film.
TopIntroduction
Everything presented in the cinema has the power to change the world of spectators. The worldwide spectator prefers to watch mainstream movies. The number of spectators of art films is less than the number of spectators of mainstream films because art films put their audience in an intense process of thinking and do not approve the existing codes. Although the film Tersine Dünya is a mainstream film in Turkish Cinema, it raises many questions that the spectator will query because the film is important in terms of discussing the concept of social gender in Turkish Cinema. For centuries, feminist theorists have discussed the position of women and men in the differentiation of the public sphere and private sphere, and they offer strategies for the change of the male-dominated order. The public space without equality of opportunity also causes inequality of social order. In the public sphere where the discourse of men is considered more important, women are secondary. That is why they are the subordinate ones. These realities are presented to spectators through films. However, the presentation of realities reinforces the continuation of existing rules. It is also necessary to present a world where female characters and male characters are equal in terms of representation strategies in the films and understanding of gender codes in the social order. The spectators are trying to understand life through the films they watch continuously. However, if the films that provide the unknown facts about social gender are produced and if the possibility of a world, where there is equality of opportunity between women and men, is shown then the points of view of individuals on the codes in life will change.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Female Characters: They are the ones who perform the representation of women’s roles in film narratives.
Subjectivity: It indicates that judgments can vary from person to person.
Subject: The state in which an individual can feel himself/herself with his/her own existence.
Social Gender: Social gender is a form of gender that is created within the frame of the social order discourses.
Classical Narrative Cinema: The narrative structure that presents film narratives within the male-dominated view.
Representation: Presenting an event, person or situation to the spectators with certain narrative strategies.
Sexuality: Identification of individuals in relation to their biological sex.