Silent Representation of Kurdish Identity in Cinema through "Sarmaşık (Ivy)"

Authors : Şenay Tanrivermiş

Pages : 70-78

Doi:10.21600/ijoks.632527

View : 28 | Download : 12

Publication Date : 2020-01-25

Article Type : Research

Abstract :All this – all the meanness and agony without end I sitting look out upon See, hear and am silent.   -Walt Whitman, "I Sit and Look” (Genius, 2018).   Kurdish people have constituted a significant part of Turkish society for some time but with some cultural and linguistic differences. This study focuses on the symbolic representation of Kurds in Turkish cinema through a close reading of the movie Sarmaşık in order to reveal how and to what limits the movie touches upon different forms of verbal and sound control imposed. It analyzes how Kurdish identity is constructed in film. By embodying the silence of Kurds, the film Sarmaşık brings to light the existing Kurdish situation in Turkey. It also emphasizes minority identities through its theme of silence. 
Keywords : Kurdish identity, Kurdish silence, Turkish cinema, Kurdish cinema