Critics, politics and cultural legitimation: An exploratory analysis of the Turkish film field

Abstract

In this paper, we draw on the growing Euro-American literature on cultural recognition, legitimacy, and film criticism and focus on the classificatory struggles taking place in the Turkish film field. We content-analyze the criteria that critics deploy as they review films as recognized by different institutions and actors. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) demonstrates that the distinction between artistic and commercial films is still very prominent. Moreover, the existence of political content in a film elevates its symbolic status, regardless of its production mode. To account for this peculiar finding, we explore a fraction of the reviews qualitatively. Our research contributes to the cultural legitimacy literature by crosschecking the effectiveness of recently posited trends and questioning the role of politics in the process of critical recognition in a specific national context located on the margins of Europe.

Cultural journalism—Journalism about culture

“…Cultural sociologists have also used cultural media content as a point of departure for studying broader sociocultural transformations, such as cultural globalisation, dissolving hierarchies between high art/popular culture, and the emergence of cultural omnivores with broad cultural tastes (e.g., Janssen, Kuipers, & Verboord, ; Janssen, Verboord, & Kuipers, ; Peterson & Kern, ; Purhonen et al, ). Especially elite newspapers and their cultural supplements and reviews have been analysed as important spaces and genres for cultural legitimation processes (e.g., Baumann, ; Janssen, ; Purhonen et al, ; van Rees, ; Yaren & Hazir, ). Much of this research has been informed by the work of Pierre Bourdieu (e.g., Bourdieu, ) and, among other things, his concept of the cultural intermediary, epitomised by cultural journalists and critics, who not only mediate between cultural producers and audiences, thus serving as gatekeepers, but also ascribe cultural legitimacy to cultural subfields and phenomena by means of their attention and discourses (see also Janssen & Verboord, ; Matthews & Smith Maguire, ).…”

“…Another example is Purhonen et al's (2019) recent comparative study that suggests that though politicisation of culture is not a main characteristic in European newspaper columns, the particular socio-political context may be an important factor for the cultural coverage. Using Spain and Turkey as examples, they conclude that "In both cases, the newspapers cultural coverage clearly refleted the political processes of the country" (Purhonen et al, 2019, p. 171; see also Yaren & Hazir, 2018). Another interesting case in point is the Nordic context, where arts and culture as well as media and journalism are publicly subsidised and represent important pillars of the Nordic Welfare and Media model (e.g., Kristensen & Riegert, 2017;Syvertsen, Enli, Mjøs, & Moe, 2014).…”

Balance of authenticity and artistry in TV drama scene design in the context of digital media

“…Scene design, as an important element in television art, is an artistic reproduction of the real scene, and it is also an important means of shaping the character's image and promoting the development of the plot. The reasonable use of interior landscape design can enhance the screen expressiveness of the character image, promote the development of the plot, and influence the audience with the development of the storyline, causing the audience's empathy [14][15]. Interior landscape design with reference to the principles of design aesthetics, according to the development of the plot and create the appropriate situation, so as to form a visual aesthetic suitable for the development of the plot, which in turn affects the audience, so that the audience touches the feelings, really enjoy the artistic charm of the TV series [16][17][18].…”

La prensa como prescriptora de lecturas

“…Recent years have seen an increase in the academic appeal of cultural journalism, as sociologically it can serve as a means of studying cultural transformations in a community (Kristensen, 2019;Janssen et al, 2011;Janssen et al, 2008). Likewise, the cultural supplements of major newspapers, where these journalists participate to a greater extent, are essential tools of cultural valorisation to legitimise major authors and their artistic productions (Kristensen, 2019;Purhonen et al, 2019;Yaren and Hazir, 2018;Janssen and Verboord, 2015).…”