CULTURAL ROOTS OF EPISODIC/PARTIAL STRUCTURE IN THE NARRATIVE TRADITION OF THE EASTERN CULTURAL DISTRICT AND ITS REFLECTION IN CINEMA

DOĞU KÜLTÜR DAİRESİ ANLATI GELENEĞİ ve SİNEMA

Abstract

The geography of the Middle East has a unique form of tragedy due to Islamic and non-Islamic cultural transmission. Contrary to the mimetic understanding in the Western tradition, episodic narrative can be based on anthropological reasons that are still affecting artistic forms in the East. The fact that the origin of drama is based on functional reasons, that it is transferred as a result of a practical benefit and forms a pattern, is considered the initiator of the narrative tradition of the Eastern Cultural Circle. The films of directors such as Kiyerustemi from Iranian cinema, Nacer Khemir from Tunisian cinema and Memduh Ün from Yeşilçam cinema adapt to the fragmented narrative tradition with different interpretations. A stereotyped ritual lies at the root of the episodic structure of the Thousand and One Nights, which influenced the narrative tradition of the West as well as the East through cultural transmission, is rooted in a stereotyped ritual that is not widely known. The Hâzar-Afsan “sacrifice of the king”, which dates back to the Sudan, was compiled by Iranian storytellers and popularized by Arab translators.  It is an example of the early cultures' tradition of offering gifts to God. This form, which can be explained as exchange, gift-giving and displacement, is based on rituals and a mentality that gave the first shape to drama and episodic structure. The Iranian nakkals change the course of the narrative in exchange for gifts, the linear flow is interrupted by the method of presenting gifts, laments for the deceased at condolences, ordeal rituals are interrupted by banquets, and a fragmented structure is reached with the eating and drinking ceremony. Within these episodic distinctions, there are examples in which the frame story is inspired by shamanistic rituals and opens with a special episode “praising” the creator and the sultan. In Yeşilçam Cinema, this approach, which breaks the classical structure in its reduced form in Kısmetin En Güzeli, was perfected in Iran by Kiyerüstemi. In Khemir's Desert Trilogy, a co-production involving Iran, the magical world of eastern fairy tales and storytelling is reached through a cyclical, episodic and fantastic narrative structure. In this study, three examples of the fragmented structure within the scope of the Eastern Culture Department Narrative Tradition are analyzed in terms of their philosophical, mystical, cultural, traditional and commercial/popular aspects, both in of their contribution to the language of cinema and the creation of reductionist clichés.