Abstract
Having the visual and linguistic text of the film Hamam as the main data, the chapter discusses how the values are attributed to the images of orientalism and modernism and how these attributions affect the meaning, value, and consumption of the messages. Not only the cultural codes as Barthes mentioned were deciphered through the qualitative and descriptive methodology mainly following the discourse analysis, but also the chapter relies upon the data analysis making use of the 12T's approach inspired by Stoller and Grabe's Six-T's Approach for Content-Based Instruction. In this research, each T refers to a different perspective that controls the quality of the sample questioned and helps to establish consistency, cohesion, and coherence of the text. These T's put forward how the reflections of orientalism and modernism were scattered in the film Hamam and how Western images vs. Orientalism were put in a complementary and counteracting way helps to shape the new identities.
TopIntroduction: Reflections Of Orientalism
Nowadays, 'identity' has begun to be considered just like a garment that can be put on and take off. Or it is taken as a set of jewelry that can be used from time to time when it is needed. It might not be easy to follow identity due to its liquid qualities in nowadays and the multiple facets shaped carefully through the political, economic, social, cultural input. However, some type of identities would be staying stable as if they do not change in time. In that case, it becomes very difficult to distinguish what is really a part of the identity represented or whose identity it is. And it might also be impossible to determine which elements belong to which identity or which culture when the flow and fluid structure is considered. Identities and cultures of today increasingly take the appearance of a “patchwork”, designed consciously or accepted easily via some built-on strategies. This seems to have reached the universal acceptance criteria, both as a result of eclectic methods with the effect of postmodern structuralism and functionalism and also with the effect of the concepts of multilingualism, multiculturalism, and multivocality supported by international politics.
Considering Orientalizm, identity is mentioned as the core topic, because it is what one has or what one reflects through the language, culture and other means. Thus, the notion of identity is involved in different fields of science which might be quite deep and intensive study areas such as education, linguistics, communication sciences, sociology, and behavioral sciences as well as psychology, psychiatry and neurosciences. With many different perspectives, the notion of identity issues includes history, politics, and the economy. Identity is seen as an individual problem on one hand but on the other hand, its attributions and impact is regarded as a kind of social consciousness and awareness. Identity, on the one hand is seen as an individual problem, a kind of awareness and social consciousness and social identity as well. On the other hand, how identity is formed, its elements, the impact of the other identities, both positive and negative shades of it were always discussed.
Today, it is also possible to talk about the made up identities and specially designed or suggested ones presented with the help of the global media networks. Identity design is most effective while presenting structures developed within the same generic framework that emerged with the influence of the media and their repetitions over the years, such as orientalism.
Said's discussion of Orientalism parallels Foucault's discussion of power and knowledge: a discourse produces a kind of racialized form of knowledge of the other (orientalism) with its deep-rooted practices of power (imperialism) with a variety of representations (knowledge, exhibition, literature, and painting). According to Hall (Hall, 2000: 261), the circulation and dissemination of power become particularly important within the context of representation. Mainly the argument brings forth the discussion, even if it might not be equal, if everyone, strong or weak, would be in the circle of power. Neither those who are palpable victims nor those who do can remain completely outside the sphere of action of power. Thus, power creates its “subjects” as well as “victims - those who were exposed to power”. It might be easy to paint all into the same color and consider everything taking its roots from East as Orientalism. Yet, especially when it comes into the film form, it uniforms the power within it.
Long-standing and very important work left traces of Turkish identity and Orientalism seem to be gaining even more importance nowadays. So much that anything having a Turkish touch might be regarded as Oriental through the prejudiced Western point of view. Yet, the understanding of the philosophy as well as its impacts pave the way to more research to analyze the past and present reflections of it let it be in the form of discourse or implications of visuals and narratives. Present research methods and findings in the light of judgments by questioning the built-in identity and culture, critical, multi-disciplinary, and multi-faceted perspective with new samples also raise interesting fields of analysis.
Even if the stereotyped and cliché qualities were used as identities referring to the orientalism context of the visual narrative reflections provide us to the fundamental as well as the projected identity of the globalized culture codes. As Gilman pointed out, people sometimes need standardization in order to find the 'real-self'. He claims that what they can see or cannot see in the standardization is actually the individual's own strengths or weaknesses (Gilman, 1985).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Modernism: Modernism, in the fine arts, a break with the past and the concurrent search for new forms of expression. Modernism fostered a period of experimentation in the arts from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, particularly in the years following World War I.
Portrayal: Representing somebody or something in open or implied ways. The result of portraying is also defined to be a representation, description, or portrait.
Neutralisible Opposition: The action of neutralizing the duality, opposing, resisting, or combating things or ideas. Conciliation in case of antagonism or hostility or bringing together the different parts representing different ideas.
Hamam: Sometimes written as hammam or explained as Turkish Bath, it is a bath in which the bather passes through a series of steam rooms of increasing temperature and then receives a rubdown, massage, and cold shower.
Duality: The quality or character of being twofold; dichotomy. Duality of patterning refers to the ability of human language, both signed and spoken, to form discrete meaningful units.
Reflection: A thought or writing about something, particular in the past, or what one sees when looking into a mirror or body of water. An example of reflection is an article written by an author discussing how he feels he has grown in the past year in his writing style.
Identity: The distinguishing character or personality of an individual or a group of people.
Orientalism: Western scholarly discipline of the 18th and 19th centuries that encompassed the study of the languages, literatures, religions, philosophies, histories, art, and laws of Asian societies, especially ancient ones.