Medya ve Din Araştırmaları Dergisi (Jun 2022)
Cinema as the “Weapon of the Enemy”: The Archaeology of an Islamist Film Criticism Discourse
Abstract
The issue of how cinema should be, the influence of which on the society was indisputable for the intellectuals, became an important subject during especially 1960s in Turkey. During these years, the discourse of Islamism once again made an appearance in Turkish politics and thought in the form of a nationalist religious discourse. This study will examine the reproduction process of Islamist discourse on cinema and analyze the composition of Islamist film criticism. Even though the discourse of film criticism expressed as “arming up with the weapon of the enemy” seemed to come forward with its rejectionist attitude, it actually reflected an attitude toward harmony beyond measure. Redescribing cinema as an area dominated by symbolic violence caused the amorphization and reactiveness of cinema products. On the other hand, a second direction that opened a door for the imitation of the cinematic movements and products considered as rivals brought along the state of being bereft of identity despite its heavy emphasis on identity. The idea of “arming up with the weapon of the enemy” showed a continuity in the perception of cinema as a propagandist and political instrument. It became functional as a discourse activated by Islamists before they entered into the fields such as cinema production and film criticism, fields that were new to them. This understanding is based on a modernization-oriented approach that envisages a rupture with the tradition and distinguishing oneself from the existing cultural accumulation. It produces the content of this understanding by translating the dominant thoughts in the area on which it would like to exert its dominance into religious terminology. In that regard, it is a product of a mimetic cultural stance.
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