Eski Türk Tarihinden Yeşilçam’a: Tarkan Filmleri
Tarkan Films: From Ancient Turkish History to Yeşilçam

Summary/Abstract: It can be said that studies on the history of Turkish cinema constitute a considerable literature in Turkey. While only a small portion of these focus on historical films, an even smaller number of members of this body of work have been written about films about early Turkish history. However, the studies that do exist often consist of cataloguing films, arranging them chronologically, and adorning the texts with copious visuals. This study examines the Tarkan series, one of Yeşilçam’s cult productions. These films are valuable both for their reflection of the political atmosphere of their time and for the historical discourse and narrative they present regarding early Turkish history. In this study, Tarkan films are treated as popular historical texts. Approached from this perspective, the script and the selected images projected onto the big screen are considered a manifestation of what the screenwriter and director wanted to convey about ancient Turkish history. Based on this perspective, five cult Tarkan films: The Sword of Mars, The Silver Saddle, Viking Blood, The Gold Medallion, and The Mighty Hero vs. the Armless Hero were considered original texts and subjected to discourse analysis, revealing their messages to the audience within three predetermined themes. The study, which consists of two main sections, first introduces the plots of the films to the reader. The second section analyzes the films based on their historical discourse, their messages conveyed through the lens of Turkish nationalism, and how they portray the antagonistic elements within the films, the other. In the analysis of the historical discourse, support is occasionally drawn from primary sources and academic studies. The messages conveyed through the lens of Turkish nationalism are examined within the framework of concepts such as Turkish identity, Turkish culture, and the essence of Turkishness. The article does not address the political conflicts of the 1960s and 1970s. However, Tarkan's films are certainly not independent of the ideological conflicts of their time. Finally, the concept of the other, as first seen in historiography, is defined as a consequence of the Eurocentric approach. It then demonstrates how skillfully the film's screenwriter and director wield this weapon, which we might call defining the other, against the West. The study concludes with a brief conclusion.

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