Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Murat Cem Acaralp, muratcem.acaralp@neu.edu.tr, Near East University Fevzi Kasap, fevzi.kasap@neu.edu.tr, Near East University Mustafa Ufuk Çelik, mustafaufuk.celik@neu.edu.tr, Near East University Abstract The film of the destruction of the Russian monument in 1914 is not only the history of Turkish cinema, but also of a country. The aim of this study is to reveal the representation of teachers in Turkish cinema, which is one of the professions that shape a nation, in films that reflect the effects of the periods spent in all its positive and negative aspects. The reflections of the political and social changes experienced in the historical process on the cinema, the emphasis in the representation of the teacher and the quality of the added value created in the society were analyzed in comparison with the periodical conjuncture. With the purposeful sampling management, the films in which the teacher was represented from 1940 to 1980 were compared with the conditions of the period in which they were shot, and their reflections on the society and the teacher were examined. Keywords: Cinema, Turkish Cinema, Film Criticism, Social Change, Profession, Teacher Representation New articles in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 United States License. This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu http://www.library.pitt.edu/ http://www.pitt.edu/ http://www.library.pitt.edu/articles/digpubtype/index.html http://www.upress.pitt.edu/upressIndex.aspx CINEJ Cinema Journal: Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 475 Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Murat Cem Acaralp, Fevzi Kasap, Mustafa Ufuk Çelik History of Turkish Cinema In 1910, cinema entered a school with the first cinematograph show for students in Istanbul Sultani. This event is very important for Mehmet Şakir Bey (Seden), the history teacher of the school, who is one of the people who made this show. This show laid the foundations of the first cinema production house to be opened in Turkey. In 1911, the first movie was shot on Ottoman soil. This film is about the visits of Sultan Mehmet Reşat 5, to Monastery and Thessaloniki, which were still within the Ottoman borders at that time, under the direction of Macedonian cinema and photography artists Yanaki and Milton Manaki Brothers. However, in the history of Turkish cinema, since its director Fuat Uzkınay is a Turk, his documentary named Ayastefanos Monument's Collapse is considered the first Turkish film. Fuat Uzkınay shot this first film in our country on 14 November 1914, three days after our entry into the First World War. The period we call the "first period" in Turkish cinema covers the years 1914-1922. With the establishment of Kemal Film, the first Turkish private film production company, in 1922, the second phase of our cinema began. The first two films shot in Turkish cinema are “Pençe” and “Casus”. For the 1917 film Claw, one of the films directed by Sedat Simavi, Muhsin Ertugrul said in 1918: "Those who watched the film, covered their faces while leaving the door. The strip, which consists of adding together those ridiculous things that were put forward under the name of “Pençe”, embarrassed every Turk in our country.” he said. "Mürebbiye", "Binnaz" in 1919 CINEJ Cinema Journal: Murat Cem Acaralp, Fevzi Kasap, Mustafa Ufuk Çelik Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 476 and " Tombul Aşığın Dört Sevgilisi ", which was shot unfinished in 1920 and the first comedy attempt, "Bican Efendi" inspired by Şarlo are examples of films of the period. The year 1922 is of great importance for the history of Turkish cinema. After the establishment of Kemal Film, the first private production house, Muhsin Ertuğrul started to work in this institution, and the "Period of Theater Players" was opened. With the establishment of the first Turkish film studio in this period, which is considered to be between 1922-1939, movies started to be shot on the plateau. In the first period of Turkish cinema, mostly preference was given to the adaptation of literary works, and Turkish cinema could not relate to social relations and developments in the political field. Erman Şener lists the dates, events and films that have been made as follows; 1922: The Turkish army entered Izmir; The Mudanya Treaty was signed, the Sultanate was abolished. / Movies: “İstanbul’da Bir Facia-i Aşk”, “Boğaziçi Esrarı” 1923: Treaty of Lausanne signed; The People's Party was founded, the Turkish army entered Istanbul; Ankara became the capital, and the Republic was proclaimed. / Movies: “Ateşten Gömlek”, “Leblebici Horhor”, “Kız Kulesi’nde Bir Facia” 1924: The caliphate was abolished. / Movie: So-Called Girls 1925: The tithe was abolished, the Faculty of Law was opened, the hat law was enacted, the dervish lodges and lodges were closed, the Gregorian calendar was accepted. / The movie was not shot. İpekçi Brothers Company was established in 1923. With the persuasion efforts of Muhsin Ertuğrul, İpek Film Company was established in 1928 and İpek Film Studio was established in 1929. In the same year, Muhsin Ertuğrul shoots the movie "Ankara Postası" from this studio. Muhsin Ertuğrul shot the first sound film of Turkish Cinema, "İstanbul Sokakları", in 1931. CINEJ Cinema Journal: Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 477 Muhsin Ertuğrul shoots the movie "Millet Uyanıyor" in 1932. In this movie about the War of Independence, Atatürk takes a role by reading “Nutuk” in front of the camera. The film was acclaimed by both the public and critics. Between 1933-1935, Ertuğrul made seven films. These are operettas and theatrical adaptations. Cahide Sonku, the first female star of Turkish Cinema, plays a role in “Aysel Bataklı Damın Kızı”, which was filmed in 1934. All four films shot between 1935 and 1940 are theatrical adaptations. “Kıskanç” in 1939-1942, “Akasya Palas” in 1940, “Kahveci Güzeli” in 1941 and “Nasreddin Hoca Düğünde”, which started in 1940 and completed by Ferdi Tayfur in 1943, are the last works of Ertuğrul for İpek Film. With the start of the Second World War in 1939, a troubled period began in Turkish cinema. The years 1939-1952 have been a period called the "Transition period" in Turkish Cinema. The film that started the transition period was Faruk Kenç's "Stone Piece" in 1939. With this film, Kenç moved away from the language of theater and shot a film that formed the language of cinema. Young directors such as Baha Gelenbevi, Şadan Kamil, Turgut Demirağ, Şakir Sırmalı, Çetin Karamanbey, Aydın Arakon and Orhon Murat Arıburnu contributed to the Transition Period by producing products reflecting the characteristics of the language of cinema until the 1950s. The film "Halıcı Kız", shot during this period, took its place in the history of Turkish cinema as the first color film. It was unsuccessful because Muhsin Ertuğrul shot the film in a theatrical style. After this failure, Muhsin Ertuğrul left the cinema, and the era called Ertuğrul's only man came to an end. In 1952, the "Golden Age" of cinema, which made its presence felt between 1952-1963, when filmmakers made their presence felt, began. The period of filmmakers, which lasted until the 1970s, was "Kanun Namına" directed by Ömer Lütfi Akad with the production of Kemal Film. 22 films were shot in 1950, 36 films in 1951 and 61 films in 1953. After the great success of CINEJ Cinema Journal: Murat Cem Acaralp, Fevzi Kasap, Mustafa Ufuk Çelik Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 478 Akad's film "Vurun Kahpeye", "İpsala Cinayeti" (1953), "Öldüren Şehir" (1954), "Beyaz Mendil" (1955), "Ak Altın" (1957), "Meyhanecinin Kızı” (1958), “Zümrüt” (1959), “Yalnızlar Rıhtımı” (1959), “Üç Tekerlekli Bisiklet” (1962) and “Meçhul Kadın” (1970). "Kızilirmak- Karakoyun", "Ana, Hudutların Kanunu" and Akad's trilogy "Gelin- Düğün-Diyet", which he later shot, are among the classics of Turkish cinema history. Metin Erksan with his films such as "Gecelerin Ötesinde", "Yılanların Öcü", "Acı Hayat", "Susuz Yaz", "Suçlular Aramızda", "Sevmek Zamanı"; Atıf Yılmaz, with his films such as "Hıçkırık", "Kadın Severse", "Karacaoğlanın Kara Sevdası" and "Alageyik"; Osman Fahir Seden, with his films such as "Kanlarıyla Ödediler", "Bir Avuç Toprak", "Düşman Yolları Kesti", "Namus Uğruna"; Memduh Ün with the films "Ağaçlar Ayakta Ölür", "Keşanlı Ali Destanı", "Üç Arkadaş", and Ertem Göreç with "Karanlıkta Uyananlar", "Otobüs Yolcuları" and Ertem Göreç are the important names of this period. Ömer Lütfi Akad, Metin Erksan, Atıf Yılmaz, Osman Fahir Seden, Ertem Göreç and Memduh Ün; They produced prominent productions with the cinema language they created by removing the cinema that Muhsin Ertuğrul established in the language of theater. Since 1960, Turkish films have started to be sent to festivals abroad. Despite the transition to the multi-party period and the political turmoil and economic difficulties brought by the 27 May 1960 revolution, Turkish cinema has been able to survive, and despite the inability to present a different language of expression, they have made great efforts for the future filmmakers. In this period, the "Social Realism" movement emerged with the effect of the coup. "Otobüs Yolcuları" directed by Ertem Göreç in 1960, started with Metin Erksan's film "Karanlık Dünya" in 1952 and ended with Ö. It is considered one of the best examples of the "social realist" genre, which ends with Lütfi Akad's "Law of Borders". CINEJ Cinema Journal: Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 479 The period between 1963-1980 was named as New Turkish Cinema and was divided into three as old generation, middle generation, and new generation. As a result of the 1960 revolution, ideological concepts began to be talked about in Turkish cinema, and films with social content began to be shot. Towards the end of the 1960s, the National Cinema movement emerged, which Kemal Tahir was the father of and Halit Refiğ led. In the 1970s, under the leadership of Yücel Çakmaklı, another flow called the "National Cinema Movement" emerged. This trend was started with the movie "Other Ways" directed by Yücel Çakmaklı in 1970. National cinema is also against westernization, but there are different values that it wants to reveal. The traditions, national values, thoughts and religious beliefs of the Turkish people should be reflected on the screen. Important characters in Islam and Turkish history should be explained. In the mid-1970s, the obscene movie frenzy begins. Under the influence of these films, Turkish cinema audiences move away from movie theaters, and directors and actors who do not want to produce in this way move away from their profession. Turkish cinema, which produces over 200 films, becomes 68 films by the 1980s. With the spread of television and the introduction of videos into homes, Turkish audiences who want to watch movies from the comfort of their homes instead of paying for movie theaters are formed. Classification of Turkish Cinema History Alim Şerif Onaran has classified Turkish Cinema as follows; CINEJ Cinema Journal: Murat Cem Acaralp, Fevzi Kasap, Mustafa Ufuk Çelik Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 480 Cinema historian Nijat Özön made this distinction as follows; Source: (Ozon, Sinema Uygalıyımı Sanatı tarihi 1985, 333) Occupation Representations in Turkish Cinema In every period of Turkish cinema history, the political, social, and economic conditions of the period were reflected in the cinema, explained in the artistic language of cinema, and reflected on the big screen. People and professions who are in a difficult situation because of the current period, who are victims, who are defeated, who are oppressed, who sacrifice themselves, have often been the subject of cinema, and in some films, the negative effects of professions and people and the damage they have caused to the profession in moral and ethical terms have been reflected in the cinema. CINEJ Cinema Journal: Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 481 in Turkish cinema, Doctor, nurse, clergyman, worker, teacher, policeman, soldier, engineer, postman, driver professions are among the most represented professions. In our films, the protagonists, especially men (usually women are exceptions.) have various occupations, but their professional activities are not seen much in the film, they exist only as names. Some professions, such as doctors, lawyers, judges, are emphasized at the last moment, creating a dramatic structure, and saving the person in trouble. In some films, the profession is not related to the subject of the film at all, it is used as a structure that emerges when necessary. Teaching is one of the most used professions for men and women (in leading or secondary roles) (Cilingir 2011). Teacher Representation In the history of Turkish cinema, Teacher has been the main character or side character of many movies. Although the name of the profession is not written in the name of the film, there are many Turkish films in which teaching is handled with all its simplicity. Traditionally, the teacher's job has been defined as teaching. Leadership quality is perceived for managers. For this reason, teaching was not seen as a profession to lead. In the structure of schools, the relationship between the school principal and the teacher is likened to the relationship between the boss and the worker (akt. Bakioğlu, 1998, s. 1119). The teacher works under a heavy teaching load in crowded classrooms, with limited resources and opportunities, with different expectations in different parts of the society. Like teachers, families, and other cultural elements, this is a crucial element in the acquisition and establishment of positive social relationships (Bakioğlu 1998, 1119). Cinema is the area where the narration about the teacher, the teaching profession and its social role in society is indirectly conveyed. Cinema is a tool that tells the social role and professional efforts of teachers. CINEJ Cinema Journal: Murat Cem Acaralp, Fevzi Kasap, Mustafa Ufuk Çelik Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 482 Movies that both reflect the society in which they were born and direct the audience in the society reach large audiences both as a branch of art and as a mass media tool (Akıncı Yüksel 2015). With the acceleration of the development of technology, cinema has ceased to be just an entertainment tool, and has a function that affects and manages the audience by stimulating people's senses from various aspects with its expression style (Ozon 1984). From this point of view, a movie can encourage more reading and research, make abstract ideas attractive and make them think, and actively participate in the discussion (Nugent and Shaunessy 2010). The representations of the characters in the movies provide important data to the researchers as well as the audience (Akıncı Yüksel, 2015). Films on teachers and education can provide information about how teachers communicate with the society they live in, the social problems of the period, or what kind of expectations the society they live in has from education and teachers (Scull and Peltier 2007). When we look at the history of Turkish cinema, cinema has been affected by all social, political and economic changes, and these effects have been combined with all elements as a reflection of society and culture in films and transferred to the society. Changes in social life, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly, are reflected in motion pictures in the form of representations (Duyan 2013, 334). Good examples of teacher-student, teacher-society and even teacher-teacher relations can be found in movies with school and teacher content. At the same time, these films can be effective in developing positive attitudes of teachers towards the profession. (Kaşkaya, et al. 2011, 1765). When we look at the content of Turkish films with school, teacher and student themes, it is seen that humor elements predominate. From time to time, it is presented to the audience in movies containing tragedy and drama. In fact, although school life differs from the one described in the CINEJ Cinema Journal: Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 483 cinema, it is known that cinema is fed from real life. Although the teacher represented in the cinema is generally represented positively in terms of professional and morality, events, attitudes and behaviors are conveyed in their natural structure in order not to stay away from the reality of life in the narrations. This can lead to negative examples from time to time. In Turkish films, whether the teacher is a woman or a man, they are always depicted as modern, neatly dressed, and their hair is always combed or collected, depending on the period. In films, the teacher is a role model not only for its students but also for everyone around him. While describing his social life outside the school, they are represented as an individual who shows a level attitude with the local shopkeepers, who is trusted and respected. On the other hand, in films depicting Anatolia and rural areas, the narratives that do not find it right that the teacher teaches religion as if it is a non-religious person when the subject comes to the stage of religious beliefs, is an important detail conveyed by the cinema from real life, no matter how valuable the teacher is. Religion and teacher are considered as separate concepts. Teacher Representation in Films by Year Although teachers have been mentioned in many films shot in the history of Turkish cinema, the number of films in which the main character is a teacher, and the teaching profession is not very high. When the literature is scanned, there are three articles and a thesis study examining the representation and image of teachers in Turkish cinema. From article studies; Aysun Akıncı Yüksel's “School, Teacher and Student Representations in Cinema Films in Turkey as a Cultural Product” (2015), Emrullah Akcan and Soner Polat's “The Image of the Teacher in Turkish Films on Education: A Historical View of the Image of the Teacher” (2016), Şükrü Sim and Semih Göncü's “Examination of Teacher Representation in Turkish Cinema: A Comparative Analysis of Vurun Kahpeye and Exile”, Erdoğan Efendioğlu's “The Image of Teacher in Turkish Cinema” (2013) has been included in the literature as a thesis. CINEJ Cinema Journal: Murat Cem Acaralp, Fevzi Kasap, Mustafa Ufuk Çelik Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 484 Vurun Kahpeye (1949), Sevgili Öğretmenim (1965), Çalıkuşu (1966), which are films about teacher representation in Turkish Cinema, can be cited as the first examples. Table 3 shows the categorization of the 5 films made during the period from 1940 to 1980, in which the teacher and the teaching profession are represented, according to the years. 2.1.1.1. Between 1940-1960 “Vurun Kahpeye”; In the film, which was adapted into the cinema by Ömer Lütfi Akad from the novel of the same name by Halide Edip Adıvar in 1949, Aliye teacher, who was assigned to a town in Anatolia during the War of Independence, is told. The role of Aliye teacher Sezer Sezin, who was educated in Istanbul, is young, idealistic, promising to not be afraid of anything and sworn to be a light for children. Aliye's emphasizing that she will be a "light" to Anatolia at the beginning of the movie points to her intellectual teacher identity and raises her to the position of a Turkish woman who owns, saves and illuminates Anatolia. Aliye, who supports Kuva-i Milliye, is in love with teacher Tosun Bey. She is slandered by the bigoted Hacı Fettah, using religion and honor as an excuse. Aliye, who fights for her ideals and thoughts by agitating the people, has her teacher lynched. Turkish soldiers, who entered the town after his death, look for Aliye teacher. The CINEJ Cinema Journal: Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 485 commander, who learned that those responsible for the murder of Aliye teacher were Hacı Fettah and Hüseyin Efendi, took the case to the Independence Courts and made them stand trial. Hacı Fettah and Hüseyin Efendi are executed. Tosun Bey returns to town and the movie ends with the National Anthem (istiklal Marşı) being sung as the voice-over while Aliye is at the teacher's grave. The film, which was shot in the troubled years of Turkish cinema between 1939-1952, which included the second world war after the period of theater actors, was largely successful and made a significant contribution to the period. With the directors who started to stir with this film and tried to create the language of cinema in which Ömer Lütfi Akad was involved, the process until the 1960 revolution was a time called the period of Filmmakers. 2.1.1.2. Between 1960-1980 After the 1960 revolution, with the effect of the national cinema movement, in which the reflections of ideological concepts and social contents in Turkish cinema were seen, teacher narration began to be used more in cinema. During this period, the films My Dear Teacher (1965), Çalıkuşu (1966), Paydos (1968), Tatlı Dillim (1972), Hababam Sınıfı (1975) are among the important works that met with the audience. Sevgili Öğretmenim (My Dear Teacher); In 1965, Hülya Koçyiğit portrayed Hülya teacher in the movie Sevgili Öğretmenim (My Dear Teacher), directed by Ülkü Erakalın. Teacher Hülya draws the profile of a woman teacher who has lost her father, cannot leave Istanbul to take care of her sick mother and her sister who is studying, struggles with economic inadequacies for treatment expenses, has a modest life and has a sense of responsibility. The film tells the story of a student who falls in love with his teacher. Metin, son of the fabricator Keramet, is studying at a private college founded by his father. He is a rebellious, unruly, mischievous student. No matter how hard the school principal tried to CINEJ Cinema Journal: Murat Cem Acaralp, Fevzi Kasap, Mustafa Ufuk Çelik Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 486 discipline Metin and his friends, he could not succeed. Hülya, who got into an argument with Metin on the day she started working at the school, will have a rapprochement with Metin in the future. The economic difficulties experienced by Hülya teacher represented in the film are expressed not as professional conditions, but as inadequacies arising from the heavy burden of family responsibility. Because with the 1963 development plan, Turkey was in a period where there was a shortage of trained teachers who developed policies for adequate employment. The emphasis on the fact that the teacher is borrowing money from the shopkeepers of the neighborhood is explained as the profession of an ordinary citizen who is included in the middle stratum as a social status. According to Balcı, no teachers whose parents are doctors or academics have been encountered, the education of the parents of the teachers is below the secondary school level, and it is seen that the parents of some teachers over the age of 40 do not even know how to read and write (E. Balcı 1991, 122). According to the socioeconomic findings of Arslan's "Tomorrow's Turkish Teachers: Sociological Profile of Primary Education Teacher Candidates", most tomorrow's teachers have 3-5 siblings, and the ratio of those with 5 or more siblings is at the level of one-fourth. The teaching profession is seen as the work of the children of families from traditional society. More than sixty percent of the fathers are workers, farmers, or small tradesmen. The rate of those whose fathers are teachers is just over nine percent. The representation presented in the movie Sevgili Öğretmenim (My Dear Teacher), as in the studies mentioned, is the representation of a teaching profession whose middle-income status is taken for granted by the society. The social and economic elements described in the first half of the movie describe a marriage that ends in a hopeless love and marriage in the continuation. Although the aforementioned CINEJ Cinema Journal: Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 487 college was a private high school, the fact that the students were portrayed as high school students in black aprons, which was a symbol in the education of that period, the classroom environment did not resemble a classroom, the teacher was not seen while teaching, supports the idea that the main subject is the teacher and educational elements added to a melodramatic love story. Çalıkuşu (Wren); The film, adapted from Reşat Nuri Gultekin’s novel of the same name by Osman Seden in 1966, tells the story of the uneducated, bigoted villager and the idealist teacher Feride, who works for them, leaving Istanbul to work as a teacher in the countryside. In the story, Feride, the daughter of an officer from Istanbul, lost her mother at a young age; She studied at the French boarding school "Notre Dame de Sion" after the death of her grandmother, to whom she was sent. Because of his mischief, her friends nickname him "Çalıkuşu" at school. Feride spends her summer holidays at her aunt Besime's mansion. She and her aunt's handsome son, Kamran, fall in love with each other and get engaged. With the support of Feride, Kamran returns after serving at an embassy in Europe for three years. Meanwhile, they make wedding preparations with Feride, who has graduated from school. On the wedding day, Feride learns from a letter brought by a woman that Kamran had an affair with a sick girl named Münevver while he was in Switzerland and promised to marry her, she abandons everything and runs away. Feride, who wants to forget Kamran by teaching in Anatolia, does not accept the offer of teaching in Istanbul secondary schools; Despite all the difficulties and bureaucratic obstacles, he gets what he wants and leaves Istanbul. Feride, who teaches in various parts of Anatolia, is an idealistic educator, but her beauty gets in trouble wherever she goes, and various rumors arise about her. CINEJ Cinema Journal: Murat Cem Acaralp, Fevzi Kasap, Mustafa Ufuk Çelik Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 488 His first teaching experience was in the village of Zeyniler, where no teacher agreed to go. He gives all his love to Munise, whom he adopted and took with him in Zeyniler. While teaching in Kuşadası, the war begins; The school is turned into a hospital and Feride starts working as a nurse. Doctor Hayrullah Bey, whom he met while in Zeyniler Village, was appointed as the chief physician to the hospital in Kuşadası. Schools reopen five years later. Hayrullah Bey, a fatherly man, retired and settled in Kusadasi and protected Feride like his daughter. Feride, who fell ill after Munise's death by being caught and killed, stays with Hayrullah Bey. They marry him on paper, on public gossip; but there is only a "father-daughter" relationship between them. Although she chose Anatolia to escape from a love affair, Teacher Feride is an idealist, devoted to her profession, as well as patriotic and self-sacrificing woman type. She represents a determined, hardworking and honest female teacher who is aware of her profession as a primary school teacher and tries to do her best to convey the good education she has received. Paydos (Take a Break); In another film with the content of teachers, shot by Ülkü Erakalın in 1968, Sadri Alışık, Murtaza draws a profile as a public-school employee, who struggles with economic inadequacy as a teacher, consoles himself with the thought that his teaching income does not make him happy, but his spiritual happiness is high. Written as a play by Cevat Fehmi Başkurt in 1948, Paydos tells the story of the character Murtaza's transition from being a teacher to a grocery store. Since teaching was described as economically the same in 1968, when it was transferred to the cinema, it would be possible to say that Turkey could not improve the socioeconomic status of teachers in a period of twenty years. CINEJ Cinema Journal: Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 489 Teacher Murtaza is a low-income civil servant who tries to make a living by renting the rooms of his father's historical mansion outside his profession, strives for the needs of his son, who is in the last year of university, and is full of professional idealism, on the contrary of his economic inadequacy. As in the movie Dear Teacher, Director Erakalın's economic hardship of the teacher reflects the theme of "poor but proud teacher", which he conveys with the teacher - tradesman relationship. Teacher Murtaza is sad and embarrassed that he couldn't come by at the beginning of the month, apart from not being able to get the cutlet prepared by the butcher for him. He reveals the difficulty of his conditions to say that he can only buy the tomato, which the greengrocer has reduced to two liras, only when it is reduced to one lira. When he comes home, he is often faced with the resentments and criticisms of his wife, and the economic conditions will force him to make a necessary choice between his profession and financial difficulties. The most dramatic scene of the movie is seen as the most dramatic scene of the movie, when the two families come together with the desire of his wife to marry his son to the daughter of the merchant Hacı Hüsam, and Hacı Hüsam's statement that Murtaza will give consent on condition that he resign as a teacher and work as a grocer. By the end of the movie, Hacı Hüsam, whose wish did not come true, slandered teacher Murtaza and ended his professional life, Murtaza was forced to run a grocery store, and Hacı Hüsam achieved his goal. However, honest, kind-hearted, and generous Murtaza could not fulfill the tricks of commercial life and could not be successful in groceries. Muhittin, his former student, who saved Murtaza, pays his debt of loyalty to his teacher by revealing all the lies of Hacı Hüsam. Emphasizing the economic hardship and inadequacy of teachers goes back a long time before the movies were made (Efendioğlu 2013, 25). Sevgili Öğretmenim(1965) and Paydos (1968) provide CINEJ Cinema Journal: Murat Cem Acaralp, Fevzi Kasap, Mustafa Ufuk Çelik Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 490 an example from the middle of the time period that has flown from the Republic to the present. However, John Dewey, who came to Turkey in 1924 at the invitation of the government of the period, determined the lives of teachers in "misery" and showed teachers' financial problems as "the central issue of Turkish education" (Akyüz 2012, 378). Hababam Sınıfı (Hababam Class); The film, which was adapted from the novel Hababam Sınıfı, the immortal work of Rıfat Ilgaz, which was directed by Ertem Eğilmez in 1975 and brought to Turkish literature, with the same name, has taken its place in the history of Turkish cinema as a classic in which the humor elements describing the teacher-student relations in a private school in Istanbul. Hababam Sınıfı, it is the story of a class filled with students who cheat with Mahmut Hoca, a newly appointed assistant principal and history teacher of Private Çamlıca High School, who run away from school and go to matches, and who are constantly getting high with the teachers. It is a film that criticizes the education system with its dramatic narratives from time to time, mostly with comedy elements (Yurdigül 2014, 492). In the Hababam Classroom, scenes of the school principal, assistant principal and other field teachers are heavily featured. The Principal of the School is shown not as a teacher or an educator, but as an administrator, a businessperson who manages the school as a business. There was no scene related to the human and conceptual skill levels of the school principal (Tofur 2017, 64). On the other hand, it is seen that the assistant principal has high-level skills in terms of human, conscientious, professional, and conceptual, both as a manager and a teacher (Tofur 2017, 64). In the movie, the character of Mahmut Hoca is an exemplary teacher who has devoted and spent years on his profession, with a fatherly attitude, devotedly striving to educate his students and CINEJ Cinema Journal: Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 491 bring them to life, often with a sweet-hard temperament, displaying his role as a guide not only in education but also in behavior and human relations. In one scene in the movie, when the parent of one of the students does not send the tuition fee, the principal calls the student to his room and tells him to leave the school the next day. Thereupon, the school assistant pays the student's tuition, and the student continues to school. The speech that Mahmut teacher gave on the stage where he met his students, - - In every school, teachers have a nickname, just like you. Don't bother looking for names. They call me 'Kel Mahmud'. I shed this hair in my 25 years of teaching life. What I've heard and seen about your class isn't pretty. You're running away from school; I won't miss it. I see, you're playing ball in the front yard, I'm not going to. You must be smoking. I won't see you while you're drinking, I'll hurt you. As for the copy, I will neither have it taken in my own class nor in another teacher's class. Just so you know… I don't want a fuss at school. You will come to classes on time, eat at mealtime, go to bed on time and get up on time. If you do as I say, we'll get along well. If you don't! you know. It shows the sweet-hard transfer of experience, experience, authority, and professional knowledge given by his teaching years to his students. In another part of the movie series shot from the same novel, Hoca Mahmut takes his class to the scout camp. Hababam class does not like this at all. Mahmut teacher wants to take a lesson from this situation to the students. In the dialogue between Mahmut Hoca and the class, - So you haven't learned any lessons from this camp life. - The lesson will be at school, sir. - School children in this environment. - Is there such a school, Mahmut Hoca? CINEJ Cinema Journal: Murat Cem Acaralp, Fevzi Kasap, Mustafa Ufuk Çelik Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 492 - It's possible. The school is not just a place surrounded by walls on all four sides, with a roof on top. School is everywhere. A forest on its way, a mountain top on its way, any place where learning is knowledge is a school. - For God's sake, teacher, what do people learn in this school? - You learn to live, to struggle, to fight with nature. You learn to be knowledgeable, and most importantly, to respect yourself. If these things do not exist in a school, there is only a pile of stones. He tries to teach them the ability to work in any situation they are in. According to Katz, an individual with conceptual/intellectual skills can work with the situation he is in. What Mahmut teacher did can be related to this. At the end of the year, he wants to give the report cards to their parents, not to the students. In his speech to the parents, - Look back and think about it. How much have you been interested in your children's education since you were in primary school? Have you tried to be friends with them, to understand them, to share their problems and help them? What did you do to raise them as useful people to their teachers and parents, that is, to you and even to their country? Did you remind them of their duties and responsibilities? A child cannot be educated by giving a bag and sending it to school, by putting a few cents in his pocket and walking to the school corner. In other words, the duty of parents does not end here. Therefore, in my opinion, there are no lazy children, faulty children, or guilty children. There are faulty and even guilty parents. That's why I found it more appropriate to give these report cards to you, the real owners, not to your children. The notes in it are not just their lecture notes, but in a sense, they are the notes given to your parenting duties. CINEJ Cinema Journal: Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 493 His words affect the parents and cause them to take credit for themselves. What the teacher is doing here is not only for his students, but also for their families and the whole society. The Hababam Classroom series, adapted from the same novel and shot as 5 films between 1975 and 1979, represents the self-sacrificing, conscientious and ideal teacher who devoted all his life to boarding school students who do not have financial impossibilities but are excluded by their families and ignored by their families. In the representation of the teacher, the Hababam Class series is one of the most important works. It was loved by the society, influenced the society, and became an important work that describes the period and the education system well. 3. Method and Sampling With the purposeful sampling method, the entire history of Turkish Cinema has been scanned and 10 films have been identified from 1940 to the present, in which the main subject is teacher representation. For this study, 4 films selected between 1940 and 1980 and produced between these years were examined. Some of the films are about the subjects that take place in the city and some in the countryside, including the representations of teachers doing their jobs there. The schools where the teacher is represented in the selected films cover secondary education, mainly primary education. These films are films shot in different periods and contain different political, social and structural elements, and they are meaningful because they contain realistic narrative elements. In these films, content knowledge, teaching profession knowledge, general culture and personality traits of the period were examined through descriptive analysis. 4. Discussion, Conclusion It would not be wrong to say that the lack of education and ignorance due to the neglect of Anatolia stemmed from the intellectuals of the period, which the state was responsible for the weight of the Ottoman period. The world of values of the intellectual who grew up in the madrasa culture and translated it into Western culture and Western literature, especially in the CINEJ Cinema Journal: Murat Cem Acaralp, Fevzi Kasap, Mustafa Ufuk Çelik Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 494 last periods of the Ottoman Empire, is reshaped according to the West. However, this also alienates the intellectual from its own culture and his own people. Westernization has opened the gap between the public and the intellectual with each passing day and has gradually become a chasm. With the Republic, the spreader of the reforms and the guide of the people have always been intellectuals. The first quarter of the Republic was the year when Anatolian idealism became a trend. This period, which is also called the Atatürk Period, is a process in which attention is turned to Anatolia in terms of its general characteristics. The representation of the idealist, self-sacrificing, revolutionary and patriotic teacher described in Turkish cinema has become a common understanding with the theme of increasing the education level of Anatolia and the development of every region of the country by increasing the level of education and welfare. Based on the idea that the enlightenment desired to be realized in Anatolia will start with education, teachers first aspire to work in Anatolia. “Vurun Kahpeye” (1949), “Çalıkuşu” (1966) were the first feature films to feature the types of teachers who went to enlighten Anatolia - and towards the public. In these films, there are also teachers who adopt it as their ideal to eliminate the separation between us - them - Istanbul - Anatolia, and it is seen that they struggle with the awareness of the difference between Istanbul and Anatolia with great sacrifices on the way to the goal. In the first quarter of the Republic, two groups of teachers are described in the representation of the idealist teacher who went from Istanbul to Anatolia. In one group, “Çalıkuşu” (1966) is depicted as those who went to Anatolia and became integrated with the people due to coincidences arising from individual or family problems, and in the other group, “Vurun Kahpeye” (1949) who went to Anatolia voluntarily and could not penetrate the public. Those who went to Anatolia by chance to escape from their personal and family problems were CINEJ Cinema Journal: Representation of Teachers in Turkish Cinema Between 1940 and 1980 Volume 11.2 (2023) | ISSN 2158-8724 (online) | DOI 10.5195/cinej.2023.566 | http://cinej.pitt.edu 495 successful in approaching the people, while those who went to Anatolia consciously by setting the goal of enlightening the people directly failed in this regard. The most important common point between them is that they had to struggle with education problems as soon as they took office. Therefore, it is up to them to make up for the deficiencies in every subject, from the school building to the educational materials. It is possible to see that Turkish cinema has undertaken the mission of an educational tool, a school in its tradition since the beginning. A significant majority of the productions produced in the cinema appeared before the audience as an educational institution that made the society, the reality, accuracy and analysis of the problems and mistakes, confronted and informed the society with these facts in accordance with the political and socio-cultural structure of the period. Moreover, with the stimulating effect of the visual, auditory, and cinematic language, the results can be seen on the society and its effects can be noticed, and its reflection is an accepted fact. With this mission, many cinema works are censored, banned, and even prosecuted by the political authorities. This shows how important the effect of cinema on society is, and it also means that the society that this effect will enlighten, educate, and develop is feared. Cinema teaches, informs, raises awareness while entertaining, and more importantly, it criticizes and directs correction while criticizing. 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