From Home to Destitution: Deprived and Ignored Children in Yusuf ile Kenan (1979) and Masumiyet (1997)

Abstract

Yusuf ile Kenan (1979) and Masumiyet (1997) portray realistic ignored, neglected and deprived childhood in Turkish cinema. This article sets out to analyse the realistic depictions of child image focusing on displacement and destitute. Although displacement is dealt with broader senses of war and its consequences, this article, adapting an alternative discourse sets out to analyse the displacement in terms of family and homely atmosphere. First, I will present the odyssey of child image during the course of Turkish cinema. I aim to position elusive depiction of child image in Yusuf ile Kenan (1979) and Masumiyet (1997). Following spatial and narrative analysis in two steps, I will discuss the realistic destitute child images in these films in two parts: (a) spatial analysis focusing loss of home and (b) agency of child characters in narrative. I propose that realistic child image in these two films were constructed through delinquency and aphasia.

Keywords

• displaced children
• ignored children
• Turkish cinema
• destitution
• child in cinema