Didn’t it strike you that in Turkish novels like Eda and Serkan there are no alcohol, sex, tattoos or adultery scenes? Well, if you realized that thanks to this article, we confirm that nothing is a coincidence.
The body that “protects” the morality of young people and, according to the medium Al-Monitor, induces foreign companies to pay Turkish taxes through countless censorships is the RTÜKthe Supreme Council of Radio and Television which controls the media in Turkey.
Since the aforementioned topics are not well regarded in that country, they are fined, not admitted or, if something passes the filter, it is obfuscated in post production.
No adultery, no LGBT, no sex
Starting from the beginning: adultery. Infidelity in Turkish soap operas is considered a bad example, according to RTÜK, for the creation of “role models that can negatively affect young people and children”.
The Series Infidel Türkiye He fell victim to this rule: the body fined him for having “normalized” extramarital affairs.
The same thing happens with sex.. Eda and Serkan hit a breaking point when she showed their leads sharing a hot tub.
The Council deemed the scene too sexual and forced the production to pay a fine. For this reason, from the very beginning, the soap opera does not go beyond the occasional kiss…
And if there’s no sex scene and adultery isn’t allowed, there is also no room for representation of the LGBTIQ+ community.
The rights of the Turkish collective have not advanced enough for RTÜK to accept non-heterosexual characters.
This is a talking point in Turkey, as members of the community consistently protest these decisions, considering them discriminatory or hate crimes.
There are two clear examples: 1) If only, a Netflix series that was supposed to contain a homosexual character who in the end, due to censorship, had to take place in Spain and change the title and protagonist; 2) The Bottom 3: Tales of Arcadiaanimated series also on Netflix which included a kiss between two girls and which forced the Turkish authorities to blur the scene to broadcast it in the country.
alcohol and tattoos
Leaving what is related to emotional relationships, let’s delve into the theme of alcohol and tattoos.
At the beginning of Eda and Serkan the characters make a toast and surprisingly clink glasses that contain water instead of champagne. This because the alcoholas well as sex, adultery and LGBT+ representation, it cannot be broadcast on TV.
if it is condition sine qua non for the storyline where the character has to drink alcohol, the drink used is nuanced in post-production. This happened in Behzat C, a production starring a disorganized policeman who was a regular consumer…
The tattoos, on the other hand, they are not strictly prohibited on Turkish TV, but, as with many other western productions, they are often hidden with makeup. Those of Kerem Bürsin and Hande Erçel, protagonists of Eda and Serkan, are covered up because their characters are too naive – or conservative – to wear tattoos.
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.