Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Turkey| Cinema Has Split the Girl’s Soul Into Pieces: Scrutinizing Representations of Women in Films From Turkey

Abstract

The 1980s in Turkey were marked by the emergence of new cinematic forms, including films dealing with issues regarding female subjectivity. This article argues that within the scope of an extensive body of films produced about women in the 1980s, Her Name Is Vasfiye, Aaahh Belinda!, How to Save Asiye, Ten Women, and My Dreams, My Love and You opened up a significant space for discussions about ideological constructions concerning images of women in cinema. By deploying reflexive and fragmented structures, laying bare the ideological operations of voice-over and dubbing, and deploying the screen personas Türkan Şoray and Müjde Ar as cinematic tools, these films offer up a critique of representations of women onscreen, including the trend of “women’s films.”