TW: This article discusses sensitive issues such as violence against women, femicide and rape.
Recently, the extent to which movies or television influence people’s behaviour has been a controversial issue throughout the world. I totally agree that movies and television do have an influence on people’s behaviour in many aspects, however I believe that the influence of television is greater than the influence of movies. In this piece, I aim to show the relationship between the Turkish drama series and a high amount of femicide, violence to women and gender discrimination in Turkey. I will also touch on how television series transform societies and creates observable changes in societal aspect. Moreover, I will critically analyse the activities of the broadcasting regulator organisation of Turkey (RTÜK).
First of all, television as a mass communication device has had a key role in today’s world. These devices are the result of the 21st century’s communication technologies. These technologies have had incontrovertible effects on the creation of new social norms compared to the 20th century. Daily usage of communication devices has expanded the influence of messages spread by media producers. Hence, the content producers of TV shows have become one of the determinants of manipulative and normative ideas.
“The Turkish series were found to be detrimental in different aspects.”
The report called ‘Series’ Violence Report 2’ showed adverse outcomes of Turkish TV dramas. The report demonstrates how gender discrimination, violence against women, femicide and related issues in Turkish TV series have encouraged viewers to do the same. In the report, the Turkish TV series which were broadcasted in 2019 were examined. The series were analysed in the research were found to be detrimental in different aspects. The scenes of violence to women in one of the Turkish series called “Sen Anlat Karadeniz” (episode 56) can be described as the following: ‘The man was pulling the woman by her arm’; ‘the man grabs his wife by the head and pushes her to the ground’; ‘the man slaps the woman’; ‘the man drags the woman to the bedroom’; ‘the man grabs the woman by her arm and throws her to the house’; ‘the man pulls the woman by her hair out of the car at gunpoint, and takes her hostage’; ‘the man throws the woman into the car at gunpoint’; ‘the man drags the woman by her hair and then slaps her’; ‘the man forcibly injects the woman with drags’.
“In the first seven months of 2020, 182 women have been killed by men in Turkey.”
The high representation of violent behaviours in TV series normalises violent actions while making them attractive to the audiences (Türkoğlu, 2014). According to “Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız (We Will Stop Femicide)” platform’s 2020 report, 182 women have been killed by men in the first seven months of 2020 in Turkey. According to the platform’s data, firearms were frequently used as a weapon. On the other hand, the death reason for 100 women remains suspicious. The same platform reported 474 women killed by men in 2019. Furthermore, ‘Series’ Violence Report 2’ analysed the gun view and gun discourse in 8 series as well. The result shows that viewers also were encouraged to use guns and counterparts. As indicated in the report, guns, pistols, bombs, rifles, grenades, knives, pump-rifles and long-barrelled weapons were shown and mentioned in 300 scenes in a total of 8 different episodes from 8 different series. Consequently, the relationship between the representation of guns in TV shows and guns as murder weapons is very clear.
According to RTÜK’s “Television Watching Tendencies Research (2018)” report, the Turkish audiences, on average, watched 3 hours 34 minutes of television per day in 2018. The same report illustrated that local TV series were the most-watched programmes after news in Turkey. In other words, Turkish audiences mostly view entertaining programs after the news. The presence of TV dramas has had a critical place in Turkish households. Moreover, it has become worrisome that most of the viewers of the Turkish TV series are undereducated people. Therefore, the critical analysis of the entertaining programs and understanding how they reconstitute Turkish society plays a crucial role in the psychology of community health.
“Lots of women in Turkey reported that they were raped in the same way that the woman character raped in one of the Turkish series.”
The reason why the existence of violence in Turkish dramas concerning is that the TV scripts are being practiced. As BBC Turkish published on one of their online news platforms, Canan Güllü, who is the president of the Federation of Women’s Associations of Turkey, stated that a lot of Turkish women called the federation in 2011 to report that they were raped in the same way that the woman character raped in one of the Turkish series. Besides the importance of which subject had been chosen to be discussed in a TV series, how the subject is discussed is pivotal. As shown in the example above, audiences are inclined to internalise the behaviour of characters on TV.
Every developed country has a broadcast regulator. OFCOM takes on the responsibility of regulating the broadcast in the UK, and supposedly, RTÜK takes on that responsibility in Turkey. The regulations shouldn’t aim to restrict the freedom of media; instead, regulations should aim to look out for public health. However, RTÜK implements opposite procedures in today’s Turkish TV industry. As an example, again, the ‘Series’ Violence Report 2’ takes the lead with its outstanding research. The category of the “Frosted and Sound-Interrupted Scenes” shows that alcohol, bleeding, swearing, slang, blood and bloodstain were classified as inconvenient in 8 TV series by RTÜK. However, RTÜK did not apply any sanction to the series because of their violence-based scenarios, demonstrating incongruity between the agency’s regulations.
“No one can damage the community’s health if the rules and regulations are sensible and clear.”
The above indicators give enough reasons to understand why the current Turkish drama industry and broadcasting regulations should be evolved. Education is a key component to creating a developed country, and TV industries play a crucial role in generating developed generations and societies. Especially in undeveloped and developing countries, like Turkey, most of the media tools should be used to educate the people rather than feeding them with negativity and violence. Therefore, ensuring the appropriateness of broadcasting regulations is crucial, because no one can damage the community’s health if the rules and regulations are sensible and clear.
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