Turkish Police Procedural TV Series: Genre, Globalization and National Identity.

This research project concentrates on Turkish police procedural TV series. It is argued that, stuck between the 'Western-ness' of the police procedural genre and the national reflexes, tendencies, anxieties and tastes both in the textual and industrial dimensions of a non-Western country, Turkish police procedural TV series have been formed by the tendency to appropriate 'Western' police procedurals while simultaneously preserving 'Turkish' values. Inspired by this dialogic and discursive process, the research concentrates on five Turkish police procedural TV series: Arka Sokaklar (Backstreets, 2008-), a combination of the 'local' generic forms and the police procedural format; Kanıt (The Evidence, 2010-2013), a forensic TV series which can be considered as the Turkish appropriation of the CSI franchise; Behzat Ç. (Behzat Ç., 2010-2013) which is considered as a highly provocative TV series because of its critical narration of the contemporary political issues; Cinayet (The Murder, 2014), a short lived format adaptation of the popular Danish crime series, Forbrydelsen (2007-2012); and a historical police procedural TV series, Filinta (Flintlock, 2014-) which revolves around the adventures of an Ottoman police commissar. By primarily focusing on the intertwined dynamics between global media flows and the growing Turkish national television industry, and aware of the ambivalence embedded in the past and the present of Turkish national identity and the articulation of the West in this construction, it is examined how the police procedural genre is adapted to the Turkish context while creating TV series for the 'national' audiences.

Keywords:TURKEY, GLOBALISATION, NATIONAL IDENTITY

Disciplines:Communication sciences, Journalism and professional writing, Media studies, Other media and communications

Project type:Collaboration project