INFLUENCES OF TRADITIONAL TURKISH THEATRE ON CINEMA

Contemporary art rises on the creative works of the past. Contemporary Turkish art posseses a rich cultural and artistic history, especially in the fields of architecture, literature, music and the theatre. Turkish cinema has benefited from this heritage sometimes purposefully and at other times without even realising it. The sources that have most benefited from traditional spectacle art are mediums such as; Karagoz, Meddah, Ortaoyunu as well as examples of narrated stories such as Keloglan and various examples of written humour literature. The relationship between cinema and traditional spectacle arts and oral literature starts with the transferring of the situation patterns on to the white screen and the borrowing of tried and tested comedy techniques performed over hundreds of years. Traditional Turkish Theatre successfully satisfied the publics taste of spectacle through the years. Traditional Turkish Theatre heavily depends on the strength of wording. This tradition affected Turkish cinema as well. Contrary to the supposition, criticism does exist in the Turkish spectacle. However, it never evolves into the conscious opposition establishment as in the western perspective. Similar tendencies and attributes can be observed in cinema comedy that feeds from this tradition. These films try to explore ways of criticism without upsetting anyone, specific to a society with no established criticism tradition.