Changing Perspectives : Representation and the gaze in Bilge Olgac's films from 1960s to 1980s

Abstract: Bilge Olgac, one of the first female directors of Turkey, who shot her first film in 1965, shaped her films according to the developments in Turkey. This thesis investigates how Olgac was affected by the events that took place in Turkey from the 1960s to the 1980s and how she reflected this impact on the representations of men and women in her films. The study seeks answers to the following questions;  'How has political, economic, and social changes in Turkey, influenced Bilge Olgac and her films from the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s to the 1980s? 'How are men and women and their relationship represented and how is the gaze indicated in the films? These research questions are tried to be answered by analyzing Olgac’s films Lawless Land (1967), Dark Day (1971), Gulusan (1985) and Ipekce (1987). While analyzing women and femininity and men and masculinity in these films, Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory is used. Findings suggest that between 1965-1975, Olgac tried to keep up with the male-dominated cinema industry on the one hand and tried to impose herself in the industry on the other and directed melodramas in which women were represented as weak and passive and men were represented as strong and active. Olgac, who took a break from cinema in 1975, focused on female protagonists by presenting a different perspective to the audience in the 1980s. However, detailed analyses of the films also reveal that she could not get rid of the dominant ideology and the female characters in her films could not escape from traditional roles. In other words, Olgac’s films reflect patriarchy, similar to the Hollywood films Mulvey has examined.