Digitalization of the Industry in a Brand New Normal

Foreword

On Creative Industries…

It is an undeniable fact that cultural and creative industries have become more attractive, important, and effective not only in developed but also in developing countries in various ways. The creative industries of an economy, the capacity of a society for innovation, and the entrepreneurial zeal of the citizenry are the true triple helix of the social and economic development. It has become “conventional wisdom” that innovation “requires a form of intensive collaboration that goes well beyond the kind of joint ventures and project partnerships we have seen in the past” (Agtmael & Bakker, 2016).

Although cultural and creative industries are at the top of the industries that contain the most areas that continue their way from digitalization, it is also the industry that accepts digitalization the fastest and most often. It incorporates creators who continue their way with classical methods in many different fields from theater to performing arts, from painting to ceramics, etc. However, as can be seen from the working topics in this book, digitized creative works and the rapid rise of creators have been embraced with a synergistic approach. It is obvious when it comes to the digitalization of creative industries; it is obvious that the first areas that come to mind and carry the flag are games, animation, and film-production. Of course, visual design, music, and advertising follow the others as fast digitalizing areas. In the study edited by Massi, Vecco, and Lin (2020), this reality is explained by the title “digital transformation in the cultural and creative industries” by analyzing different aspects. Due to this undeniable fact, two more essential issues grow and come into prominence: sustainable projects in creative industries, and creative entrepreneurship. Also, United Nations celebrated 2021 as the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development (UNCTAD, 2021).

It is necessary to share with the readers of this book that there is an evidence that proves all these chronological developments, mentioned above, have come to life. This is a brief summary of a youth project implemented by BAUKEM, of which I am the director as the author of this Foreword, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey. D-Art House BAU (2022) is a training program for young entrepreneurs who have ideas possible to realize. ←15 | 16→During the phase of the call, it is noticed that all the young applicants have creative ideas that can be realized and these ideas generally had the potential to affect or change the World in a positive way as UNCTAD declared about the creativity of sustainability. Another aspect of this Project is that young entrepreneurs are highly motivated to develop art-related digital business models. The fresh art-based innovative ideas are related to very wide range of various issues such as; children, artists, elder people, audiences, art-lovers, LGBT+, animals, and more. This situation can be considered as an indicator of transformation in creative industries in the close future.

D-Art House BAU. (2022). Meet D-Art House. Retrieved from https://bau.edu.tr/haber/17573-d-art-house-ile-tanisin [Accessed on Sept., 17. 2022].

Ochai, O. (2022). UNESCO Report. Reshaping Policies for Creativity: Addressing Culture as Global Public Good. [Online report]. Retrieved from https://www.unesco.org/reports/reshaping-creativity/2022/en/download-report [Accessed on Sept., 15. 2022].

UNCTAD. (2021). International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, 2021. Retrieved from https://unctad.org/topic/trade-analysis/creative-economy-programme/2021-year-of-the-creative-economy [Accessed on Sept., 15. 2022].

Turkish Cinema Goes to Digital? Reviewing the Popular Cinema in Turkey on the Filmography of Cem Yılmaz from the Beginning to Netflix

Abstract: This chapter proposes to review the condition of popular cinema in Turkey through one of the most prominent figures, Cem Yılmaz, whose filmography includes commercially successful mainstream comedies, mostly genre parodies, both made for cinema and digital. The majority of Cem Yılmaz movies have become box office winners, which have gathered genre and parody filmmaking together. Cem Yılmaz is known for his stand-up shows and commercially successful movies from the beginning of the 2000s. In 2022, he made an original comedy series aired on Netflix titled The Life and Movies of Erşan Kuneri (Cem Yılmaz, 2022-), based on the character called Erşan Kuneri, who had his first appearance in Cem Yılmaz’s first box office winner movie, G.O.R.A.: A Space Movie (Ömer Faruk Sorak, 2004). G.O.R.A. becomes the first installment of a trilogy followed by A.R.O.G (Ali Taner Baltacı and Cem Yılmaz, 2008) and Arif V 216 (Kıvanç Baruönü, 2018). After the appearance of the character, Erşan Kuneri, in a short flashback scene (G.O.R.A., 2004), Erşan Kuneri has a more extensive sequence in Arif V 216 (2018). Those movies reached significant box office records that marked them in Turkish Cinema. The last return of the character, Erşan Kuneri, is on Netflix in 2022 with a Turkish original series, which is also the first series of Cem Yılmaz in any medium.

The study aims to showcase the current scene in popular Turkish Cinema after the encounter of both national and global video-on-demand services, BluTV, puhutv, Netflix, Exxen, GAIN, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, in the market. The first director chairs of Turkish original series and movies on SVODs have mostly given internationally award-winning independent art-house movie directors. However, the release of T.L.M.E.K (2022-) on Netflix highlights that the prominent figures of popular Turkish Cinema have started to land on digital. Therefore, the study attempts to bring a new perspective on the current state of Turkish Cinema through popular cinema’s one of the most well-known names, Cem Yılmaz, his filmography’s characteristics, and T.L.M.E.K’s (2022-) way of storytelling.

Keywords: Cem Yılmaz, Turkish Cinema, Popular Cinema, Mainstream, Box Office, Netflix

Introduction

Turkish Cinema and television industry have been in an adaptation process to the encounter of the digital streaming platforms (VODs), BluTV, puhutv, Netflix, ←19 | 20→Exxen, GAIN, and Disney+, in the market since the second half of the 2010s. The reaction of the Turkish productions to this encounter is still in progress. From 2015 (the launch of the first Turkish SVODs, BluTV) to 2022 (the present), the Turkish industry has experienced several changes for many reasons, including COVID-19-related occasions. Before mentioning the transfer of Turkish artists, directors, producers, and creators to the VOD services, an understanding of the Turkish Cinema and television industry’s dynamics is necessary. Comedy, as a genre, which was also one of the dominant genres of Yeşilçam1, has been the dominant genre for Turkish productions at Turkey’s box office between 2000 and 2021 (Arslan, 2022, p. 461). Besides, Turkish productions in the market have held the high ground that 142 of 220 movies have been Turkish productions in the top ten list of the box office Turkey for twenty-two years (ibid.).

Currently, Recep İvedik 5 (Togan Gökbakar, 2017), Recep İvedik 4 (Togan Gökbakar, 2014), Düğün Dernek (Selçuk Aydemir, 2013), Fetih 1453 (Faruk Aksoy, 2012), Müslüm (Ketche and Can Ulkay, 2018), Düğün Dernek 2: Sünnet (Selçuk Aydemir, 2015), Ayla (Can Ulkay, 2017), Bergen (Mehmet Binay and Caner Alper, 2022), 7. Koğuştaki Mucize (Mehmet Ada Öztekin, 2019), and Aile Arasında (Ozan Açıktan, 2017) constitute the top 10 list at the box office among both national and foreign productions² in Turkey. The total of the movies are mainstream examples, which could be regarded as a crucial part of the popular cinema in Turkey. As it is seen, half of the list consists of comedy movies, including sequels. Müslüm (2018) and Bergen (2022) are based on the lives and dramatic journeys of two iconic Turkish arabesque singers, whereas the genre of Fetih 1453 (2012) could be defined as a historical epic. 7. Koğuştaki Mucize³ (2019) is a drama, which is a Korean adaptation of a movie⁴ with the same title. The data provides to understand the dominance of Turkish comedy movies in the market. Several figures are prominent in Turkish comedies both for cinema and television, including Cem Yılmaz, Şahan Gökbakar, Yılmaz Erdoğan, Ata Demirel, and Ahmet Kural and Murat Cemcir. Şahan Gökbakar is the writer and the actor of the title role of the Recep İvedik franchise, currently including six movies that have achieved to reach over 30 million spectator⁵ record in total at the box office. Recep İvedik 5 (2017) is still the leader of the box office, with the 7.4 million spectator record in the theatrical releasing period.

However, Recep İvedik 7 has been announced as a Turkish Disney+ original movie in-production. Gökbakar (2022) shares the news with a video, in which Gökbakar (2022) describes that “even though Disney is one of the global and major studios, covering many superheroes, there are not any Turkish superheroes on the platform.” He continues that “thus, Recep İvedik would be a perfect fit, ←20 | 21→which audience knows the character’s superpower when Gökbakar implies ‘farting’ with his gestures (Gökbakar, [Tweet video], 2022).

The transfer of the character, Recep İvedik, from bigger screens to the digital platform is an indicator to showcase the current condition of the popular cinema in Turkey. National and global VOD services have produced many Turkish originals6, including series, movies, and documentaries, for a couple of years. Sarı and Sancaklı (2020, p. 245) mention that “it is necessary to carry out, more specifically, local works to be able to exist in such a [Turkey] market and to carry out long-term productions for global brands.”

The first years of national and global VOD platforms’ choices have been new generation Turkish directors, who have international and national award-winning independent art-house movies, for the initial original works. BluTV’s, as a national (Turkish) SVODs, first original series, Masum (Innocent, 2017), was directed by Seren Yüce, who is an award-winning art-house movie director whose filmography includes Çoğunluk (Majority, 2010) and Rüzgarda Salınan Nilüfer (2016). Çoğunluk (2010) was awarded the Best Debut Film for Luigi De Laurentiis Award at Venice Film Festival (2010), when the movie won many other awards, such as three Golden Oranges at Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (2010), two Gateway awards at Bombay International Film Festival (2010), and four awards at Turkish Film Critics Association Awards (2010). After BluTV’s Masum (Innocent, 2017), Yüce has become the co-director of Netflix’s Turkish original series titled Kulüp (The Club, 2021-2022).

Likewise, Tolga Karaçelik is regarded as a talented independent art-house movie director whose filmography consists of international award-winning movies, covering Gişe Memuru (2010), Sarmaşık (Ivy, 2015), and Kelebekler (Butterflies, 2018). When Sarmaşık (Ivy, 2015) achieved to earn several winnings at Turkey’s one of the prestigious film festivals, including Adana Film Festival (2015), Ankara International Film Festival (2016), and Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (2015), the movie was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival (2015). Karaçelik’s following movie, Kelebekler (Butterflies, 2018) achieved to win Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival (2018). After that, he directed a mini-series titled Bartu Ben (I, Bartu, 2018) for BluTV, and an original series, Yakamoz S-245 (2022) for Netflix. These examples could be varied with Can Evrenol, the director of the first Turkish Netflix original series called Hakan: Muhafız (The Protector, 2018-2020), Onur Saylak, the director of the original series, Şahsiyet (Personality, 2018) for puhutv⁷, and Uysallar (Wild Abandon, 2022) for Netflix. The point is that both Netflix and Turkish VOD services’ first choices for the director chair have been internationally award-winning independent Turkish directors for the Turkish (local and national) original ←21 | 22→content. Popular figures, such as Cem Yılmaz, Yılmaz Erdoğan, and Şahan Gökbakar, of the market had stayed behind when the topic became producing only for digital in the mid-2010s.