Masculinity in German-Turkish Films
Onur Kemal BazarkayaSince the mid-1990s, in social and cultural sciences it has been discussed to which extend masculinity is in crisis and how this is reflected in social processes as well as artistic works. Raewyn Connell’s concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’, which has meanwhile become a theoretical classic, is central in this context. Regarding the German-Turkish film, the thesis of masculinity in crisis can be located particularly to the 2000s and 2010s. For this period, the (self)conscious reflection of transcultural positions and the naturalness, with which multicultural identity attributions are made, has a special significance; the second and third generation of immigrants doesn’t appear to have an essential understanding of culture. What drives their representatives is rather the individual search for their own lifestyle. It can be assumed that such searching movements are also extended to the negotiations of gender roles. The article will deal with the question of what this concretely means in terms of masculinity varieties implied in German-Turkish films – a subject that has so far been largely ignored in research. This will be realized on the basis of a serial of (subjectively) selected films, whose analysis is presenting a structural overview of the topic. The focus lies on four mutually impacting points: 1. state vs. milieu, 2. father vs. son, 3. Cain vs. Abel (the rivalry between brothers), and 4. man vs. woman. For the theoretical perspectivation of these oppositions various hypotheses from the Men’s Studies, which are attached to Connell’s concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’, are applied.
Männlichkeit im deutsch-türkischen Film
Onur Kemal BazarkayaSeit Mitte der 1990er-Jahre wird in den Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften darüber diskutiert, inwiefern sich die Männlichkeit in der Krise befindet und auf welche Weise sich dies in gesellschaftlichen Vorgängen und künstlerischen Produkten widerspiegelt. Zentral in diesem Zusammenhang ist Raewyn Connells mittlerweile klassisch gewordenes Konzept der ‚hegemonialen Männlichkeit‘. In Hinsicht auf den deutsch-türkischen Film lässt sich die These von der Krise der Männlichkeit wohl besonders für die 2000er- und 2010er-Jahre in Anschlag bringen. Besonders signifikant für diese Periode sind die (selbst)bewusste Reflexion transkultureller Positionen und die Selbstverständlichkeit, mit der mehrfachkulturelle Identitätszuschreibungen vorgenommen werden. Ein essentialistisches Kulturverständnis ist den auf die erste Einwanderergeneration folgenden Generationen fremd. Was ihre Repräsentant/innen umtreibt, ist vielmehr die individuelle Suche nach einer eigenen Lebenskultur. Es ist anzunehmen, dass sich derartige Suchbewegungen auch und vor allem auf die Verhandlungen der Geschlechterrollen erstrecken. Im Beitrag wird der Frage nachzugehen sein, was dies konkret für die Männlichkeitsdarstellung im deutsch-türkischen Film bedeutet. Dabei handelt es sich um einen Gegenstand, der in der Forschung bislang nahezu unberücksichtigt blieb. Die Grundlage der Untersuchung bildet eine (freilich subjektive) Auswahl an Filmen, durch deren Behandlung ein struktureller Überblick über die Männlichkeitsthematik dargeboten werden soll. Der Fokus liegt auf vier sich wechselseitig bedingenden Punkten: 1. Staat vs. Milieu, 2. Vater vs. Sohn, 3. Kain vs. Abel (die Rivalität unter Brüdern), und 4. Mann vs. Frau. Zur theoretischen Perspektivierung dieser im Einzelnen (und in der genannten Reihenfolge) herauszuarbeitenden Oppositionen werden diverse Thesen aus der Kritischen Männerforschung, die an Connells Konzept der ,hegemonialen Männlichkeit‘ anknüpfen, heranzuziehen sein.
Since the mid-1990s, social and cultural sciences have been discussing to which extend masculinity is in crisis and how this is reflected in social processes as well as artistic products – the crisis itself is largely taken as a fact. Raewyn Connell’s concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’, which has meanwhile become a theoretical classic, is central in this context. With regard to the German-Turkish film, the crisis of masculinity can be attributed to the 2000s and 2010s in particular. What drives the relevant protagonists, who are mostly representatives of the second and third generation, is rather the individual search for their own lifestyle. It can be assumed that such searching movements also extend to the negotiations of gender roles. The article examines what this concretely means in terms of masculinity varieties implied in German-Turkish films – a subject that has so far been largely ignored in research. This will be realized on the basis of a serial of (subjectively) selected films, whose analysis is presenting a structural overview of the subject. The focus lies on four mutually impacting points: 1. state vs. milieu, 2. father vs. son, 3. Cain vs. Abel (the rivalry between brothers) and 4. man vs. woman. For the theoretical perspectivation of these oppositions, which are worked out in detail, various hypotheses from the Men’s Studies, which are attached to Connell’s concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’, are applied. On 1.: In the life of young men with a migration background, the clique, peer group or gang is of central importance. For membership, in addition to immigrant or districtrelated origin, the criterion of gender is also decisive. To a certain extent, this is linked to the obligation of ‘doing masculinity’, which is expressed in the staging of (hyper)masculine physicality and the devaluation of homosexuality or femininity as well as in the exercise of violence. The masculinity practiced in such groups shows a more or less close relationship to violence or crime in general. In this sense, crime also appears in German Turkish films of the 2000s and 2010s, particularly in contexts in which the contrast between state and milieu is striking. This fact is illustrated in the first chapter with the help of the films Kanak Attack by Lars Becker, Asphaltgorillas by Detlev Buck and Wut by Züli Aladağ. On 2.: The main characters in German-Turkish films of the 2000s and 2010s, whether men or women, mostly come from the younger generation and thus tend to embody the phenomenon of transculturality. In contrast, the strict fathers usually represent the tradition of the country of origin. From the view of social science, their morally rigid behaviour is primarily due to their marginalized position as a man. If one reads the exaggerated and aggressive portrayals of masculinity by young people of Turkish origin against this background, they appear as a turning away from the father or as a helpless attempt to rehabilitate his devalued masculinity. Regarding the German-Turkish film, one could think of numerous male characters, although it goes without saying that the paths taken by the protagonists in their alternative conception of masculinity are not always lined with toxic masculinity and/or criminality. An example of this would be Nejat Aksu in Auf der anderen Seite by Fatih Akın; his relationship to his father forms the subject of the second chapter. On 3.: In addition to the father-son conflict, the motive of the fraternal feud is also to be mentioned. What characterizes this compared to the first variant is that the brothers are mostly at almost the same age – and thus de facto equal – with the older one always tending to be the “bad” of the two. Considered that rivalries are fought hardest where resources are particularly scarce or exclusive, it is not surprising that two prominent examples of the fraternal feud motive are Solino by Fatih Akın and Almanya – Willkommen in Deutschland by Yasemin Şamdereli, i.e. films which tell stories about the first generation of immigrants; they form the subject the third chapter is addressing to. On 4.: The dominance among men is of such central importance in German-Turkish films of the 2000s and 2010s that the question of its function on the heterosocial level inevitably arises. How are man-woman relationships staged here and which image of women is shown? Somebody who pursues this question will quickly realize that in the relevant films, women are mostly portrayed as self-confident, sometimes tough, and that they have a strong influence on heterosocial relationships, even dominating them quite often – a circumstance that is illustrated in the last part of the article including the examples of Einmal Hans mit scharfer Soße by Buket Alakuş and Asphaltgorillas by Detlev Buck.
