5 Haziran 2018 Salı

Turkey' s Patriarchal Society' s Internalized Effect Over Today' s Middle Class Women' s Sexuality Behaviour


Turkey has a woman issue since years and this issue has been examined by many feminists. Despite the fact that now we are in the 21th century, In Turkey and many other countries, because of the patriarchal - based society, women issues have been continue. Different missions were installed in two different sexes, over times 'gender' norm has been occured. 'Gender' describes masculine and feminine that refers to characteristics that a society describes as masculine or feminine. In Turkey, based on the norm of 'genders', virgin taboo has been installed to women. One of the most pressure the woman face with is virginity issue. Even educated middle class Turkish women are still face with this issue.

There are many middle class women against patriarchal society. However, they internalized the gender roles. The pressure of patriarchal society over Today' s women results in identity conflict. Women notice this over time, because, this pressure has been internalized. In thesis, It will be mentioned about the places of women in Turkish Society. After that, it will be mentioned about identitiy problem and internalization of identitiy problem in educated middle class women in Turkey. Than, it will be mentioned about the pressure of patriarchal society in terms of sexuality in Turkey.

Keywords: middle class women, patriarchal, virginity


1. INTRODUCTION

As it is mentioned in the book, named The Forbidden Modern written by Nilufer Gole (1993), In Tanzimat Period, we see that 'westernization' has begun to take shape as the 'civilization' project and this is the transformation of the traditional social organization and lifestyle. (Gole, 1993, p. 57) This project began at tanzimat period and has still continue as an serious issue; today, society has remained between traditional and modernity and this intermittency creates an incontrovertible problem among women. In Turkey, where is still not fully westernized, in the 21st Century, women' s privacy that comes from eastern Islam, has still been continue despite of the part of Turkey' s western civilization. I will try to analyze the the reasons of women' s privacy and women' s place in that two different community designs.

In my thesis, firstly, I will focus on middle class women' s places in turkish society. In spite of the fact that there is a patriarchal society and basically women feel this in different levels, this pressure level changes from educated woman to uneducated, modest, woman. Mostly, I' am going to talk about the place of middle class women in that patriarchal Turkish society and how much this society effects middle class women.

Secondly, I will mention about the identity problem that occurs in educated middle class women because of the patriarchal society. 'Turkey is said to be the only modern, democratic, Islamic country, which makes it somewhat an anomaly among the Islamic world, and the status of Turkish women visibly marks this difference.' (Muftuler, 1999, p.303)  I will focus on internalization of this problem and the reasons of the internalization.

Patriarchal society' s effect on middle class women, living in Turkey, will be discussed in terms of daily life and sexuality towards the end of the thesis.

 2.  21TH CENTURY, THE PLACE OF WOMEN IN TURKISH SOCIETY

As mentioned in the Forbidden Modern, History of Turkish thought is the mirror of the discussion between Islamists and Westerners and their two different community designs. (Gole, 1991, p.46) When the modest women are generally in the rural, east side of turkey, upper and middle class women are generally live in urban, west side of Turkey. 'The West of Turkey consumes most of the private and public sector resources and is also highly urbanised, while most of the population in the East lives in rural areas.' (Ilkkaracan, 1998, pp. 66-75) Proportionally, there are more educated people at the urban side of Turkey. 'When Islamic women are usually from rural area and lower middle-class women, women, realizing feminist movements, are from urban area and equipped with middle-high class bourgeois culture.' (Kacmazoglu, 1995, pp.78-79) Generally, if we look at to Turkish society, we encounter with patriarchal society. Even if the women' s attitude change according to their social status, it can' t be said that educated middle class women have totally overcome from the pressure of patriarchal society. Because of the Turkish feminist movements, women' s role in Turkish society has improved. However, it can' t be said that mentality in Turkish society has totally changed.

After declaration of Republic, the concept of Westernization began to become widespread like in all Islamic Countries. This issue is mentioned in the book named The Museum of innocence written by Orhan Pamuk (2013); In the sentence, started with ''The western-oriented wealthy families' s elite European looking daughters began to break the taboo of "virginity" for the first time in those years, and began to sleep with their lovers before marriage''. (Pamuk, 2013, 18). In Turkey, general social ethics have formed with the combination of two different community designs (Islamists and Westerners). Both of community designs are under the effect of patriarchal society. Social ethics have formed depend on the patriarchal society. Covering or Islamism, as it can be seen in The Forbidden Modern 'shows women as the sign of chastity and morality.' (Gole, 1991, p.11) Westernized middle class women are not covering but have still pressure about costume. So, it can be concluded that pressure of patriarchal society over woman effect all women from different areas.

'Thirty-one interviews were conducted with women involved in women' s movements in İstanbul and Ankara (Turkey) in 2010. The data analysis suggests that the sexual morality that aims at hiding the female sexual body through dress contrains the mobility and freedom of women in public spaces in Turkey.' (Ozcetin, 2005, p.iv.)

This year, In the 'GQ Men of the Year 2017 Turkey Night', Turkish contemporary actress, Berrak Tuzunatac, caused repercussions because of the NTV' s news. In twitter, the words ' Berrak Tüzünataç' ın davetkar stili' were used for making the news about Berrak Tuzunatac' s dress. In Turkish society, 'Davetkar stili' refers to 'provocative'. This statement is judgmental as if something was wrong. In addition, such expressions, while manipulating the perception of the community, have a great impact on the shaping of social cultures. (https://www.haberler.com/berrak-tuzunatac-kendisinden-ozur-dileyen-ntv-10581099-haberi/)

Men have always been more dominant than women. In spite of the fact that many feminist movements have been done in order to provide the equality between men and women, equality has never been happened. 'Women As Other' written by Beauvoir (1949) mentions about patriarchal society in detailed. She analyzes the word of 'history' and this word is a kind of proof of the patriarchal society that the word comes from the combination of 'his' and 'story'.


 2.1. 21TH CENTURY, IDENTITY PROBLEM AND INTERNALIZATION OF IDENTITY PROBLEM IN EDUCATED MIDDLE CLASS WOMEN IN  TURKEY

Today, feminist theoreticians have started to examine the concept of 'gender' instead of the concept of 'sex'. When 'sex' describes male and female that refers to biological differences, 'gender' describes masculine and feminine that refers to characteristics that a society describes as masculine or feminine. 'Basically, the word ‘sex’ means the biological distinctions between females and males whereas ‘gender’ denotes the distinctions between women and men as social constructions.' (Korumaz, 2015, p.430) Serpil Sancal wrote about this in her book named Masculinity: Impossible Power. As Serpil Sancar mentioned in her book, Judith Butler, the pioneer name of examining the concept of 'gender', says that ''gender' occurs in such a rituals, reflexes, habitus universe that a number of compulsory / compulsive inverted practices are memorized and repeated, since birth. According to Judith Butler, 'gender' is the whole of social practices that are shaped by not individual' s aims, dreams, things that individuals feel have to do, is shaped directly by what individuals do.' (Sancar, 2008, pp. 182-183) According to her, there are gender roles that have been given by society.'Initially gender roles were classifed in accordance with masculine and feminine traits. “Masculine” traits indicate that whether they were evaluated to be more suitable for men than women; “feminine” traits were those that were evaluated to be more suitable for women than men in the society.' (Imamoglu, 2015, p.83) 'Masculinity, which refers to traits which are stereotypically attributed to men, is typified by the image of a strong, technically competent, ambitious, self-sufficient and authoritative leader who can maintain control of his emotions (Connell 1987; Hoftede, 2001). Conversely, femininity, comprisingtraits which are stereotypically attributed to women, is associated with empathy, sensitivity, loyalty, and a caring disposition (Kolb, 1999; Heilman, 2012).' (Drydakis, Sidiropoulou, Patnaik, Selmanovic, Bozani, 2017, pp. 2, 3)

In Turkey, the image of the woman is being obedient to a man. This image has settled to Turkey' s customs and traditions. 'In Turkish culture, marriage, childbearing and large family size strengthens an individual’s ties to family, especially increasing women’s dependence on men and others. Culturally both men and women generally expect husbands to be dominant, especially with respect to matters involving household interactions with the public; wives are expected to be obedient. ' (Imamoglu, 2015, p.84)
As Nilay Ulusoy mentioned before; Hulya Avsar who is cheated by her husband, showed her sadness and explained this situation as 'I' ve tried to satisfied my husband everytime, however, I couldn' t be enough.' So, Hulya Avsar supported the idea of 'whatever you do, you should please your husband' that is presented by media. (Ulusoy, 2013, p. 292) Hulya Avsar earns her own money and she is an independent woman. However, she tried to satisfy her husband. 'The utmost duty for Turkish women is to be good wives and mothers, basically because “the woman” is viewed as the mechanism for protecting the cultural boundaries that set the community apart from other societies.' (Bouhdiba, 1985; Moghadam, 1994). These all are the remnants of past years' patriarchal roles, the gender roles that were given by society.


Today, even if educated middle class women aren't as much obedient to men as previous years, they are still under the effect of the Turkey' s customs and traditions. 'Gutmann (1994) theorized that during the labor-intensive childrearing years, most women strongly adhere to traditional gender roles. But once intense pressures of childrearing lessen, women can discover elements of their personalities previously repressed or simply unknown because of prior socialization demands.' (Imamoglu, 2015, p.82) This creates a dilemma about finding social gender roles for women and creates an identity problem.

The existence of identity problem in women is a process that exists for a long time. This problem mainly comes from patriarchal society. In the book, The Museum of Innocence, Sibel who was well - educated in Europe, is still disturbed with the idea of having sex before marriage. On the other hand, she introduces herself as a brave because of having sex before marriage. (Pamuk, 2013, 18). Sibel' s conflict of identity can be seen. At the same time, this situation shows the inequality between woman and man. People evaluate woman as a 'female' not a 'person' and this is a sexist distinction. Women are being evaulated with their gender roles in society. When men can have a sex whenever they want, women are called as brave when they have sex. Because according to gender roles it is not appropriate. Turkish families aren' t open to the idea of having sex before marriage for women. Not only Sibel, but also Sibel' s friends are well-educated people and some of them were educated in Europe. However, Sibel' s and Kemal' s friends can show Sibel as a dishonorable woman if they don' t marry. Because they live in the same home. (Pamuk, 2013, 195) On the contrary, men are pushed to make more sex. Man who has a lot of sex thinks he looks very strong, and the man is proud of with this. There is a word called 'milli'. This word is used when a man has his first sex. Parents proud of that when their son is 'milli'. Inequality between man and woman can be seen again.

At the past times and todays, identity problem is not only seen among women, but also seen among men. Some men like to have time with enjoyable educated middle class women, on the other hand are disturbed by these women' s sexual freedom. In the book named the Museum of Innocence, it is explained as; 'There is one more meaning of the sentence that I' ve told to Füsun. When I explained the sex made between me and Sibel before marriage as love and trust, I explained the sex made between me and Füsun as courage and modernity. Because of the compliment I told to Füsun as 'courage and modernity' that I will be regret for years, It can be concluded that I won' t feel any responsibility and loyalty toward Fusun because of the sex we made. Because of being modern, it is not a big deal to have sex before marriage or not being virgin before marriage.' (Pamuk, 2013, 53) Füsun is such as European Woman that is dreamed by Turkish men, she is like European legend woman who walks around Istanbul streets. Men like brave and modern women, I mean European women but they don' t see them as ideal marriage candidate. This creates fear and pressure on women despite their modernity. Because Turkish women have been raised with the idea of being 'ideal wife'. Women have never been brave as much as men. The reason is the pressure of patriarchal society that has come from the past. This pressure can be seen in terms of many different ways in daily life. When woman has a close eye connection with man, first, woman turns her eyes away and woman is afraid of being seen as simple woman by man. This is the internalization of pressure of patriarchal society on women.

The density of gender roles change depend on the education level of women. University graduated women are less obedient to men than high school graduated women.  University education leads to an increase in the self-confidence of women, creates individuals who can stand on their feet and win their own money. Many women tolerate their husbands' unwanted behavior because of their dependent states. Education provides independence to women. 'In Turkish society, being graduated from university is an important occasion for women. While primary school provides basic academic knowledge, university education enables individuals to be aware of their needs and to develop selfactualization. Qualification by education may seem to foster individualism and responsibilities. Owing to education, positive acceptance of self and others may exist. Women with limited educational status seem to affect perception of self and others negatively' (Gündüz-Hoşgör & Smith, 2007; Çoban-İçağasıoğlu, 2009). 'In this case, these women are more affected by cultural norms as being mutual and obedient, and others may be perceived as powerful and untrustworthy.' (Imamoglu, 2015, p.90)


2.2. 21TH CENTURY, PRESSURE OF PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY IN TERMS OF SEXUALITY IN TURKEY

As Serpil Sancar mentioned in her book, one of the major reasons of male domination is industrial capitalist factory order. This order positions the classes in terms of gender. Factory, needs muscular, powerful men, puts women in the background and hires men. So, men have more economic freedom than women and this gives to men the responsibility of feeding the home. (Sancar, 2008, 53) 'In reality, Turkish legislation reflects conventional gender ideology where gender roles are constructed around “male breadwinner-female homemaker” roles.' (Duncan, 1996, p. 419). 'Women were portrayed in traditional roles such as “wife”, “mother” and “housewife”. Being a good wife or a good mother and housewife was prerequisite for women. Beside, men had an importance of being a breadwinner for the economic well being of family' (Yesildag Sen, 2005, p.6)

Even if there are many educated women, that women have encounter with discrimination in business life. In some workplaces, it is hard to rise to executive level.
'Women’s status in Turkey is still a complex issue. The law gives women equal pay for equal work, but gender segregation is often the social norm in the workplace and in other public spaces. Even urban, educated, professional women run up against traditional and religious values with regard to gender roles. In the present workforce, the number of female Turkish executives tends to decrease in the higher ranks because of traditional social mores, marriage, or children.' (http://www.ataturksociety.org/the-contribution-of-turkish-women-to-the-modernization-of-turkey/)

This gender based regime creates sexual class separation. While men gain economical freedom, women stay behind from this freedom. Because, today, ranks of labor force of women are still very low in Turkey. If Turkey' s labor force participation rate of women is evaluated, it can be seen that Turkey' s rate is %16,8 lower than World' s rate. Women' s labor force participation rate is %32 in Turkey. (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS)

In addtion to these, today, in spite of the fact that some women have economic freedom  like men, however, they still prefer the men with much more economic freedom. Because women got used to their gender roles in society. Today, when feminists study on gender discrimination, they start to use the word 'gender' instead of 'sex'. Because there are gender roles that society creates on people. According to this role, man should be stronger than woman in terms of money and power; woman should be protected by man.

According to gender roles, there are many more roles that women have to deal with. One of the gender role that was given to women is to protect the hymen. When man makes sex freely, sex is a taboo for woman for almost 30 years. There are many reasons of this taboo that basically is based on patriarchal society. The notion of 'namus' is one of the reasons; this word has been emerged by society and has placed in our mind for years. 'Namus' means not having sex before marriage, and protecting hymen. ''Namus' can be roughly translated to sexual purity. The most important aspect of sexual purity for women is virginity and chastity.' (Muftuler, 1999, p.309) In Ayse Kalav' s book, named Namus and Gender, she says that 'The notion of namus finds its meaning and is revealed through gender patterns which are constructed by patriarchal system. (Kalav, 2012, p.154) According to Nukhet Sirman' s comment about gender roles, 'In Turkey, dishonest woman is the woman who can not control her 'namus' '.  (Kalav, 2012, p.155) Nukhet Sirman refers to gender roles. She criticizes the gender roles that were created by society.

In 2015, a murder case took place. 20 years old Ozgecan Aslan was killed while she defending herself from being raped. While so much rape cases are happening in Turkey, this case was heard more than usual. According to the sociologist Nukhet Sirman, the reason was that Ozgecan was coded as innocent. She is 'namuslu'. According to Nukhet Sirman, the killer of Ozgecan is just one of the men that can be encountered in daily and society produces those men. According to her, if Ozge were married or were drinking alcohol, she wouldn' t be coded as innocent. She does not recognize sex. According to Sirman, the killer is not psychopath or killer, she claims that the killer is a man that can be encountered in daily. According to her, killer' s father is not different from the other fathers living in Turkey. Society produces these kind of men. (http://www.aljazeera.com.tr/al-jazeera-ozel/toplum-bu-insanlari-uretiyor)

The notion of namus can be seen in media, too. One of the major media elements that is shaped according to Turkish traditions and now, is shaping the society, is the Turkish Tv series. If we analysis the Turkish Tv Series named ''Black Pearl'' (2017-), we encounter with ordinary Turkish tv series that consists in all of the properties of Turkish Tv series. Hazal 'the leading actress' makes love with Kenan, on the other hand, Vural is obsessed in Hazal and Vural organizes a big lie to obtain her. Vural deceives Hazal as if they made sex, however it is not true and Hazal doesn' t remember anything. Hazal turns this case to matter of honor and she can' t explain this problem to her lover. She lose her virginity and there is one thing left she could do to protect her honor; she marries with the bad guy. (Black Pearl, 2017) It is a fact that these kind of scenarios feeds from the society, at the same time, people, living in Turkey are being effected by these scenarios and internalize these issues. There is a perception that innocent woman is virgin woman. Hymen is one of the most important thing for women' s honor in Turkey and in fact the scenario of 'Black Pearl' is shaped around this taboo. 'In short, woman’ s value in the Turkish society is measured through her sexual purity, which is controlled by customs, mores, norms, and laws.' (Muftuler, 1999, p.311) The important point is that virgin woman is introduced as 'good' and 'namuslu'. However, woman who makes sex, is introduced as 'bad' and 'namussuz' woman. Events take place outside the Hazal' s will. However, Hazal feels guilty. These words; 'namuslu', 'namussuz', 'good' and 'bad' approve the perceptions of society.

Orhan Pamuk inspired from his period' s culture while he was writing his book, The Museum of Innocence. In book; Feridun marries with Füsun. He has always loved her. Füsun accepts to marry with Feridun. Because, if she weren' t marry with him, she wouldn' t be accepted by another man. So, it can be mentioned that woman who have already made sex, has a fear of not being accepted by man. As it can be read from the book, 'Inspite of the all women rights and feminist words, that were learned in Europe, Turkish Women are afraid of having sex life before marriage.' (Pamuk, 2013, 18)
'In Turkish culture, control of women’s sexuality is conducted both by externally
imposed restraints and by constituting gender according to cultural code of honor and
shame. For example, a woman could bring shame not only on her family, but also on a
network of people who feel connected to her.' (Kukulu K., Gursoy E., Ak Sozer G., 2009, p.50) If a woman can not control herself and loses her virginity, the man who believes traditionally in the word 'honor' and made sex with this girl, should marry with her to protect her honor. Inequality between man and woman can be seen again. This injustice is not only for woman but also for man. Because it is an 'honor problem' for man. Being virgin is a power for a woman. In order to have a good marriage, virginity is one of the most important thing. Today, this issue can still be seen at the some Eastern parts of the Turkey. However, it is not that much influential among Today' s middle class women since, they educates themselves and are growing up in a high self esteem. However, today, woman who did not have a sexual contact with any male, still, has a great influence on male. Because, internally, Turkish men love to 'own' women. Today, still, a man would like to be the only person that made sex with the woman. The idea of sharing woman with other men from past, is not preferable among them.

It can be said that the ideal properties of women that was mentioned past years in the media continue today. Turkan Soray was mentioned as 'Yesilcam' s virgin female' and continued her reign almost 20 years. 'She is virgin, she is innocent, however her wet spaced lips, her fleshy body are served to audiences as erotic items.' (Ulusoy, 2013, p. 286). Turkan Soray is one of the public figure that is taken an exemplary by public.

According to gender roles, middle class women hesitate to use sexually linked words in order not to be understood as a 'bad woman' or an 'innocent woman'. Today, one of the most known actresses, Berguzar Korel, shows gender role in her speech about the girls being raped. She used the words 'special zone' instead of 'vagina'.  (https://www.instagram.com/p/BfQ6-q5BTrS/?hl=tr&taken-by=berguzarkorels) There could be two reasons of using 'special zone' instead of 'vagina'. It could be related to the internalization of patriarchal issue or it could be for society that is unprepared about hearing the word 'vagina'. Turkish middle class women usually use the word 'special zone' instead of 'vagina'. Because, Turkish women are afraid to say vagina. They are generally not comfortable while using this word because of the pressure of patriarchal society.

If we turn back to the 'honor' issue, it can be said that the word 'namus' has associated with Turkey' s traditions, so it is clear that this word won' t disappear in years. However, the concept of honor has changed with modernizm. According to Gul Ozyegin, 'The new Turkish woman embodied the ideals of the West and rejected an Ottoman past.' (Ozyegin, 2009, p.105) She made a survey and she says 'both women and men view societal insistence on female virginity as a mark of traditionalism. They strongly reject the idealization of female chastity and the symbolic value of virginity, its equation with honor and female purity. The intact hymen is not seen as the property of ‘others’; the family, parents, the nation, culture. The representation of ‘technical virgins’, those who engage in various sexual activities but avoid penile-vaginal intercourse, among the young women I interviewed, as a large middle category, between virgins  and non-virgins, highlights this tension.' (Ozyegin, 2009, p.109)  She said that 'Among upwardly mobile, educated young Turks, a virgin is not an elite woman anymore but then neither is a self-proclaimed non-virgin. It is between this dichotomy, the virgin and the non-virgin, two undesirable states, that new constructions of young elite (valued) woman are being built.' (Ozyegin, 2009, p.113) This dichotomy creates ambivalences among women. Among today' s middle class women, 'sex worry' occurs. Women would like to have sexual relationship with their boyfriends, however, there are still some patriarchal society issues that couldn' t have overcome.

Many years ago, man didn' t prefer non-virgin woman, however, today, man accepts woman who had sex with her long-term relationship. However, today, man still doesn't prefer woman who has sex with more than one man and It is still hard to accept a woman who has one night stands. 'The importance attained to virginity has not changed throughout years and it is a significant token of how female body is socially and culturally trapped by patriarchal system.' (Korumaz, 2015, p.430) 'In Turkey, sexuality has not been accepted as a natural, healthy and integral part of human life yet. Premarital sex is still a taboo for many people because of traditional value systems.' (Hatipoglu, 2006)

Females are called with different titles according to their virginity. If the woman is married, she is called as 'kadın'. Because married woman loses her virginity. However, if  the woman is unmarried, she is called as 'kız'. 'The aim of the distinction between females such as 'kadın' and 'kız' is to make sure that the
transition from girlhood to womanhood occurs via the institution of marriage. The
hymen represents the line that separates 'kız' from 'kadın' which are two different social statuses.' (Korumaz, 2015, 431)

There are sex related words that are being used for insulting woman. 'Kaşar' is one of them. Middle class woman who has sex with multiple men, are attached with many adjectives. One of these adjectives is 'kaşar'. When a man has many sexual relationships, it is normal. However, when a woman has many sexual relationships, it is abnormal.  This environmental effects  lower woman' s self esteem and affects her personality. Today, Even In Turkish Tv Series, sexual discrimination can be seen openly and certain adjectives and characters are assigned to 'good' women. In these kind of  Tv Series, generally, good women are proud and virgin. They are innocent and pure. Man protects woman with protective roles. Woman who is not innocent, is a 'bad woman'. 'Bad woman' has usually bad end and will never be happy.  As it is in The Museum of Innocence, Füsun, like all non-virgin girls who dies at the end of the movie without having a happy family life, dies in the end of the book.

In daily life, women encounter with many kind of pressure, unconsciously. 'Amına koyim', 'Sikeyim' kind of swearings are a few examples of them.  'Amına koyim' and 'sikeyim' are refer to 'I will fuck you'. Today, among educated middle class people, sexist sentences like 'we can fuck this woman', 'this woman is a kind of woman that you can fuck easily.' are still being said.


4. CONCLUSION

Today 'modern middle class Turkish women' who have grown up in Turkey, encounter with serious identity problem. These women postpone making sex and their virginity continues until middle ages. Generally their excuse is to live the special moment with the right man. However, the main reason is different; the fear of not being accepted  from the man who is entered to their new life. In fact, young women who are in this fear, loses a bit their fears after they gain self-confident, after having profession. However, this fear still exists. The reason of this fear is the gender roles given by society, the importance of 'virginity issue'.

The main aim of this thesis is to show Turkey' s patriarchal society' s pressure over Today' s modern middle class women. Internalization of patriarchal society' s pressure over today' s modern women in terms of sex, is studied by evaluating eastern and western culture, society, gender roles and Turkey' s political state.

I try to explore the reasons of internalized conflict related to patriarchal society that is seen among young women. When I try to explore, I study in understanding the place of women in Turkey and then went into identity problem that exists among Today' s middle class women. I start to deepen the issue by analyzing the internalization of the identity problem. Finally, I finalize the thesis by examining the patriarchal society' s pressure over women in daily life and sexually.

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15 Ekim 2016 Cumartesi

The Originality of Hitchcock and a Hitchcockian movie 'Shutter Island'



The originality of Hitchcock not only comes from the style of his movies but also,
comes from his many classical plot devices. The elements, used in his movies, are
characteristics and they are kind of Hitchcock's obsessions. Dining scene, different
kind of crime fiction speech, Brandy, Train, Staircases, poison, macguffin, red
herring, are a few of them. Every kind of these plot devices have contributions to the
plot and drags the plot and the audiences as well to different ways.
For instance, In Suspicion, brandy is an intermediary for causing death. Support actor
Beaky' s 'Nigel Bruce' relation to brandy shapes the narrative. The consumption of
brandy can be seen in Hitckcock' s other movies like Shadow of a Doubt, The 39
Steps, Number Seventeen, Stage Fright, Vertigo, Topaz, Rear Window, Saboteur,
Murder. Another threatening element is poison that almost many movies have a
conversation related to poison or include poison for an aim.



The Frame





In suspicion, Hitchcock uses poison with another well-known element; staircases. The protagonist - Cary Grant
who goes upstairs with a glass of milk, is suspensed for killing his wife-Joan
Fontaine. A possibility of attempted murder usually creates a suspense. There is a
shadow created by the stairs and at times Johnnie will come out of the shadows or be
in the dark. A sense of mystery can be felt.


Analyzing the frame-The Visual Components


It is a moving picture that this man is clearly going up the stairs. As it can be seen, there are many lines; vertical lines; the man, these shadows, the column, stair rails and horizontal lines; stairs. All of them are black and white. These creates clearly a contrast. Suspicion which is one of the most well known and used thought or feeling in Hitchcock's movies, is strength by this usage of contrast. A small light was actually placed in the glass of milk. This light makes the dark stairwell luminous. Actually the director wanted it to be complete focus of the scene.
This picture is a frame from a film noir movie. It can maybe be estimated from this dark and pessimist picture. In this picture, many shadows can be seen. Shadowing could be used to set the mood. This shadow is created by stairs. While the man is walking, he comes out of the shadows or be in the dark. A sense of mystery can be felt. In fact, This picture is a two dimensional picture however, it looks like three dimensional picture. Because, camera is placed on the beginning of stairs and the man is shot from his top. This style increases anxiety and I think it contributes a sense of depth to the picture. This provides a huge space between camera and man, indeed.
In conclusion, I think that this composition serves a goal and this is creating suspicion.

As it is mentioned before, conversations, related to murder stories, usually prepare the audiences to suspicious elements and behaviors. These conversations increase the protagonist's doubt and uncertainty about its action toward to the events. Beside these, Hitchcock loves to put out suspicion elements to audiences. If it is reminded the
'puzzle scenes' from the movie 'suspicion' , Lina creates the word “murder” with scrabble pieces, then imagine a cliff that Johnnie is taking his friend, then imagines his friend being pushed off a cliff. After that scene we are certain that Johnnie is a murderer. 

Macguffin is another plot device that the protagonist has a relation with this device, follows or kind of pursues it. However, there is no aim or meaning beyond that. In short, macguffin is nothing exclusively it is a trigger for suspense. In almost every Hitchcock movies, macguffin can be seen.


In his 1962 interview with François Truffaut, Hitchcock explains: 'The main thing I’ve learned over the years is that the MacGuffin is nothing. I’m convinced of this, but I find it very difficult to prove it to others. My best MacGuffin,
and by that I mean the emptiest, the most nonexistent, and the most absurd, is the one we used in North by Northwest. The picture is about espionage, and the only question that’s raised in the story is to find out what the spies are after. Well, during the scene at the Chicago airport, the Central Intelligence man explains the whole situation to
Cary Grant, and Grant, referring to the James Mason character, asks, “What does he do?” The counterintelligence man replies, “Let’s just say that he’s an importer and exporter.” “But what does he sell?” “Oh, just government secrets!” is the answer. Here, you see, the MacGuffin has been boiled down to its purest expression: nothing at all!'


From 'Blackmail (1929) to Family Plot (1976), almost every Hitchcock movie has a macgguffin as a plot device.

Hitchcock's differences not only comes from his usage of plot devices but also comes from his shooting style. He is well-known and specified with his usage of close-up's that these are very effectual on narrating the story. Expression of actor's faces and the way of juxtapositions the scenes with the usage of close up's directs the story.
Because of close up, actors should be careful about their actings that minimal acting mistakes are even can be seen obviously. So, sometimes actors minimalize their actings. Sometimes, the max amount of emotional power is achieved despite of this minimal amount of facial gesture. From Hitchcock's favorite shooting style, a form of cinema, called 'pure Cinema' is occured. Hitchcock comes from the silent film period that this should be one of the reason his usage of pure cinema. He is one of the pioneer of pure cinema. He tries to give the feeling of shots or sequences, tries to bring visual means with no dialogue. In 'Suspicion', at the beginning of the movie, Hitchcock shows us the contrast between the two leading actor's characters, visually. Johnnie is hung over. Lina ,fully alert, is reading a book on child psychology. Johnnie is tired. Lina is restrained, dressed in an expensive overcoat. These visual contrasts show the pair's differences in terms of social class, intellectual interests, and lifestyle. These are made with a series of visual juxtapositions. These all are a perfect example of 'pure cinema'. In 'Psycho' famous shower scene and ensuing scenes are a well-known example of pure cinema, again.

Hitchcock is famous with the usage of motifs in his films. Especially, sometimes, music plays a key role.

Hitchcock has so much effect on cinema world that There is a term called 'Hitchcockian'. This means that Some films have the similar styles and subjects with Hitchcock's movies. Mirage (Edward Dmytryk, 1965), Duel (Steven Spielberg, 1971), Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955), Le Boucher (Claude Chabrol, 1970) are a few Hitchcockian film examples. Now, Martin Scorsese's 'Shutter Island' will be analyzed as a Hitchcockian movie. The usage of plot devices were mentioned and depends on that a new term is emerged and this term is 'Hitchcockian'. Some films are made with the styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock's films and this films are Hitchcockian films. 'Shutter Island' is one of the most well-known example that can be mentioned as a Hitchcockian movie.

Hitchcock uses the Kuleshov Effect. Many kind of images from actor's face expressions is shot. The actor's feeling tries to be shown by these facial expressions depends on the subject that is viewed. In Hitchcock movies, this is used in voyeurism. In 'Shutter Island', this effect can be seen at the beginning of the movie. When the
protagonist, Leonardo Di Caprio goes into the hospital, one of the patient looks toward him and tells him to be quiet.









Leonardo Di Caprio' s face expression changes scene by scene. Another expression is used in both hitchcocks and Hitchcockian movies is that German expressionism. Hitchcock uses German expressionism in set, lighting, and distortion. In Shutter Island, this can be seen with the changing of color with the usage of lighting. In
addition to these, many classical elements like harsh polices, staircases and close-ups can been seen in this hitchcockian movie. There are some casual scenes, are seen in hitchcock's movies, are used in Hitchcockian movies, as well. One of them is the actors's conversations or discussions over the hill. Hill, clouds and actors from their
busts cover the scene. Clouds are so close-uped as if they are just behind the actors.

In Shutter Island, Leonardo Di Caprio and Marc Ruffalo make a conversation over the ship. Camera is closed up toward the bust of actors and clouds. The actors look toward the Island from the ship and the threating melody starts to play. Maybe, this can be considered as a kind of motif as well. Hitchcock always uses threating melodies or sign music in his movies. The other one is the well-known car scenes. Actors, sit at the front seats, are shot from their busts. They are seen from beginning of their shoulders and wooded area is at the back side. In Shutter Island, this scene is
seen in a very bit different version that camera is not exacly located from the counter of actors. one of the actor is in the foreground, the other one is shot laterally. When the vehicle moves on in the forest, the way of zoom in is like the way is in Hitchcock's movies. Forest is seen in the background.

8 Ekim 2016 Cumartesi

Based on the Article; 'The Object and The Face Notorious, Bergman and the Close ups'

BEYOND FACES

Hitchcock wrote that; ''Everything in cinema 'begins with the actor's face.'' This can clearly be seen in many kind of Hitchcock' s movies. Beyond of Hitchcock's usage of faces, many styles, meanings and feelings can be inferred.
Face is the main part of an actor's body that audience's most attention is firstly on the actor's faces during the movie. Hitchcock has been used this on a very clever way that by using faces he reflects many kind of emotions, he sometimes gives clues about narration and actor's psychological approach and he develops technics. His close-up's on faces emphasizes these. Because of close up, actors should be careful about their actings that minimal acting mistakes are even can be seen obviously. So, sometimes actors minimalize their actings. Sometimes, the max amount of emotional power is achieved despite of this minimal amount of facial gesture. Narrative sequence, style and camera's position are a few of the reasons. Juxtapositions of facial pictures with  silent can result in Hitchcock's one of the favorite style called 'Pure Cinema' . In Pure Cinema, many meanings can be inferred from a few pictures.
Close-up's to faces with black&white associates with the neorealism wave in such a way that this wave includes the minimalist pictures belongs to realism. Not only the characteristics of Italian neorealism can be seen in Hitchcock's  close-ups, but also, Andre Bazin's realistic editing style can be seen. In Notorious, the kissing scene happens among a long take.  This scene is like, there is an improvisation btw the actors. On the other side, if Eisenstein's editing style is considered, close ups can break down a film and  it can be hard to catch the exact emotions of combined scenes. However, Hitchcock likes to use decoupage and this helps to provide the feeling of continuity. This technic keeps the audience's interest constantly.


One of the remarkable reason of being popular the Hitchcock's close ups is that the beauty of female actresses are worth to be watched. The mouth,eye are being shot in very attractive and erotic way. The producer David O. Selznick writes that “Every beautiful shot of Bergman's is a great deal of money added to the returns on the picture and I urge Mr. Kern and Mr. Ratoff  to start to work on a list of where re-take close-ups might be made''.