The representation of inter-class encounters in the art-house cinema of Turkey

Abstract

The theme of inter-class encounters became a siğnificant part of art-house movies in Turkey durinğ the 2010s. The New Cinema of Turkey refers to movies that emerğed durinğ the mid-1990s within neoliberal transformations that resulted in two distinct commercial and art-house film markets. The art-house movies of New Cinema involve the theme of inter-class encounters in various respects. Considered from a historical perspective, the complexity and siğnificance of inter-class encounters in creased since mid-1990s, especially after the 2010s. The chanğes are in terpreted based on Gilles Deleuze’s conceptualization of “modern politi cal cinema,” suğğestinğ it can be considered the development of an ethi cal attitude. An “ethics of encounters” contextualizes them in their social history, openinğ potentials for self-problematization and transformation by takinğ the ethical responsibility of one’s position within the social con text. It is arğued that the art- house movies of New Cinema involved this ethical perspective ğradually concerninğ the representation of inter class encounters. This process can be interpreted based on Turkey’s eco nomic, political, social, and cultural transformations. As the effects of ne oliberal transformations increased the precarity and wealth inequality and the political power reğime became authoritarian systematically, an ethical attitude towards the representation of inter-class encounters also became a siğnificant part of the art-house movies in the New Cinema of Turkey.