Pop culture in Turkey pushes the nation's buttons once again

Pop culture continues to bring out the nation's sensitivities, or, more likely, insecurities. Controversy is sparked by a TV series showing Sultan Süleyman courting women in the harem rather than conquering the known world, and by a comic book showing a young Atatürk beaten by his superior in the military. Both are accused of tarnishing Turkey's history. But when it comes to the ultra-nationalistic, ultra-violent movie 'Valley of the Wolves: Palestine,' there's no reaction

Turkey is the best country in the world, Turkish history is solely an epic collection of glorious victories and Turks are the greatest people to have ever graced the earth. If these are the messages in your film, TV show or comic book, you are good to go.

But if, by any chance, that same work is seen as tarnishing the image or history of Turkey, you are likely to find an army of sensitive citizens, fanatic ideologues and statesmen (and stateswomen) more than happy to lynch you.

Pop culture tested the limits of national sensitivities in January, with a TV series, a film and a comic book roiling the waters of a nation insecure, intolerant and, at times, paranoid about its identity and how it is perceived by others.

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Ban lifted on Atatürk film, but where is Atatürk?

A four-decade ban on a Hollywood film about the Turkish Independence War is about to be lifted. There might have been a little misunderstanding though, as Atatürk is only seen for a couple of minutes in the 1970 movie ‘You Can’t Win ‘Em All.’ It is not a historical drama but an action adventure set in the 1920s in Turkey, with Charles Bronson and Tony Curtis in the lead roles

According to renowned Turkish filmmaker Metin Erksan, Hollywood has been interested in making a biopic about Atatürk or a film about Turkey’s Independence War since the 1940s.

When Douglas Fairbanks Jr. visited Turkey in 1951 he is said to have been attracted to playing Atatürk in a film project that never took off. Later, when Sir Laurence Olivier showed interest in the same script he found that no government or civil or private institution would cooperate in the production of the film and the idea was shelved.

Soon after, legendary American director and producer Cecil B. DeMille wanted to adapt Atatürk’s life and the Independence War to the screen. They had no luck, however, even after production partner Adil Özkaptan and actor Yul Brynner met Turkey’s then President Cemal Gürsel.

Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)

A brief history (or lack thereof) of Atatürk in the movies

With Zülfü Livaneli's Atatürk biopic 'Veda' (Farewell), along with another offering on the same subject, due out in the next few months, we look back at the history of Atatürk biopics in Turkish cinema - or, more accurately, at the lack of them

Despite the passing of nearly a century since one of the first films detailing Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s role in the War of Independence, we have yet to see a truly impressive, groundbreaking feature film on Atatürk.

This week, Veda (Farewell), an Atatürk biopic by revered writer, composer, singer and filmmaker Zülfü Livaneli is being released. And in March, we will get to see another biopic, Dersimiz Atatürk (Today’s Lesson, Atatürk), written by Turgut Özakman, who penned the biggest-selling novel/biopic on Atatürk, Şu Çılgın Türkler (These Crazy Turks).

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