The Spectacle of Politics and Religion in the Contemporary Turkish Cinema, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2018

This book explores how politics, religion and cinema encounter and re-invent each other in contemporary Turkish cinema. It investigates their common origin?the spectacle, which each field views as an instrument of governmentality. The book analyses six recent, some of which are internationally known Turkish films: The Messenger (Ulak), A Man?s Fear of God (Takva), Let?s Sin (?tiraz?m Var), SixtyOne Days (?ftarl?k Gazoz), The Imam and The Shadowless (Gölgesizler). Thwaites discusses how the cinematic nature of politics and religion unfold amidst the increasing media visibility of religion in contemporary Turkey. The chapters explore the relationship between art and religion, and compare religion and philosophy in their relation to truth, belief, and economy. Through close examination of these films, the author highlights the role of cinema in contemporary Turkey and at the heart of the religious paradigm.

Ebru Çiğdem Thwaites Diken is Assistant Professor of Sociology at İstinye University, Turkey. 

Presents a timely discussion of religion and politics in Turkish cinema

Explores complex relationships between politics, religion and the spectacle in contemporary Turkey

Critically analyses new Turkish cinema from a sociological and film studies perspective