(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
In this study, the two Turkish films The Man Who Saved the World (1982) and The Son of the
Man Who Saved the World (2006), were investigated on the basis of an ideological analysis.
This analysis aims to analyse political implications and to reveal the function of films in
serving the purposes of the dominant ideology.
1.1.The Reason of Saving the World in the Cinema
Films can not be considered separately from the economic, political and psychological
conditions of the period when they were made because they are the products of those
conditions whose reflections clear in some films, while they are symbolical in many films.
Films that conceal reflections within symbols are more effective on masses because though
they may not raise them to the level of consciousness, viewers analyse these symbols in their
subconscious and internalise the discourse conveyed by these films (Ryan and Kellner 1997).
Since the films where reflections can be clearly seen appeal to the consciousness of viewers, it
would be more appropriate to talk about externalisation in these films rather than
internalisation. All stories possess a certain discourse which are generally in a manner that
approves of the dominant system and reproduces it (Althusser 2006). Furthermore, these
discourses determine the way viewers interprete the environment they live in and the events
that occur. In other words, a certain consciousness is raised in viewers through discourses
attached to stories. This is certainly a wrong-consciousness from a critical point of view.
In order to understandthe reason fort he increase in the number of ‘saving the world’
subjected films, it is necessary to investigate what is happenig in that country in that period.
The country which is saving the world at most in USA. While Hollywood was saving the
world, USA was in the deep crisis during 1950s, 1970s and 2000s (Nowell-Smith 2003).
All of the brave saviours of these periods exhibit variety ranging from those who come from
other planets such as Superman, to those with extraordinary power and training like Rambo,
Rocky and to ordinary Americans who initially do not have any distinctive qualities but then
turn into heroes out of obligation (Sartelle 2003;584-596, Topcu 2010;154-172). Claiming to
save the country, humanity or the world, these heroes serve an appeasing function in the face
of internal and foreign economic-political developments that threaten the system.
1.2.Economic and Political Situation in Turkey When the Films Were Made
The two films investigated within the scope of this study were made with an interval of 24
years. Therefore, they are products of different periods. In order to have an understanding of
what these are saying, it is necessary to determine the economic, political and social
characteristics of Turkey during the periods that they belong to.
The first film was made in 1982 while the second one was made in 2006. Accordingly,
Turkey in the second half of the 1970s, in the early 1980s and in the first half of the 2000s
need to be described.
1970s reveals a mixed economy where state control was predominant. Basic consumption
goods were manufactured by the state and a large portion of raw materials, strategic products
such as energy and agro-industrial products were also produced and processed by the state.
The level of national income per capita was near the poverty line whereas inflation was
extortionately high. By the late 1970s, it had become hard to purchase basic consumer goods
in the country especially by virtue of the global oil crisis; queues for oil, gas, sugar, salt,
butter etc. were etched in public memory. The first step convergence to market economy
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