Cultural proximity and gender representation: Why Italian women are drawn to Turkish TV serials

Abstract

This study investigates why women in Southern Italy are attracted to Turkish TV serials, which may seem culturally distant at first glance. By conducting semi-structured interviews with 30 women, the research aims to uncover the specific elements of Turkish serials that resonate with these women. The findings reveal that participants appreciate the portrayal of strong, independent female characters in Turkish serials, which challenge their preconceptions about Muslim women and foster a sense of shared human experiences across cultures. The romantic ideals depicted, without overt sexualization, and the subtle reinforcement of traditional gender roles, align with the viewers’ cultural values, offering a comforting blend of familiarity and novelty. Additionally, the high production values and aesthetically pleasing depiction of Turkish settings and lifestyles enhance the appeal. These serials not only entertain but also prompt audiences to reflect on their own cultural and feminist issues. This study highlights the intricate dynamics of cross-cultural media consumption and its impact on cultural perceptions and viewer engagement.

Keywords

Turkish television serials Italian women viewers cultural similarities aesthetic of the exotic cross-cultural media consumption female character portrayals audience reception South Italy

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agkoc

(2021) “Sektör çalışanlarının gözünden: Türk dizileri neden bu kadar uzun?” T24, 2021. Available at: https://t24.com.tr/haber/sektor-calisanlarinin-gozunden-turk-dizileri-neden-bu-kadar-uzun,953151 (accessed 2 June, 2021).

Alonso

Ciccia

Lombardo

(2023) A Southern European model? Gender regime change in Italy and Spain. Women's Studies International Forum 98(3): 1–9.

Andreotti

Mingione

Pratschke

(2013) Female employment and the economic crisis: Social change in Northern and Southern Italy. European Societies 15(4): 617–635.

Ang

(1985) Watching Dallas: Soap opera and the melodramatic imagination. London: Routledge.

Arda

Aslan

Mujica

(eds) (2021) Transnationalization of Turkish Television Series. Istanbul: Istanbul University Press.

Athique

(2014) Transnational audiences: Geocultural approaches. Continuum 28(1): 4–17.

Beck

Sznaider

(2006) Unpacking cosmopolitanism for the social sciences: A research agenda. The British Journal of Sociology 57(1): 1–23.

Berg

(2017) The importance of cultural proximity in the success of Turkish dramas in Qatar. International Journal of Communication 11: 16.

Berg

(2022) The interplay between authenticity, realism and cultural proximity in the reception of Turkish drama serials among Qatari audiences. The Journal of Popular Television 10(1): 21–40.

10.

Berg

(2023a) TURKISH DRAMA SERIALS: The Importance and Influence of a Globally Popular Television… Phenomenon. Exeter: University of Exeter Press.

11.

Berg

(2023b) Turkish television serials’ reception among women viewers in rural Türkiye: Gendered and generational readings between younger and older women. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics 19(1): 79–99.

12.

Bertollini

(2023) Benevento, Can Yaman aggredito e strattonato dalle fan: il video che indigna il web. Tag24, 2023. Available at: https://www.tag24.it/678837-can-yaman-a-benevento-strattonato-e-aggredito-dalle-fan-il-video-che-indigna-il-web/.

13.

Bozzano

(2014, January) Assessing gender inequality among Italian regions: The Italian gender gap index. Rivista di Politica Economica Issue 1. SIPI Spa, 255–300.

14.

Braun

Clarke

(2019) Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health 11(4): 589–597.

15.

Brown

(1994) Soap Opera and Women’s Talk: The Pleasure of Resistance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

16.

Brunsdon

(1981) ‘Crossroads’ notes on soap opera. Screen 22(4): 32–37.

17.

Brunsdon

(2000) The Feminist, the Housewife, and the Soap Opera. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

18.

Carluccio

(2023) I muscoli di Can Yaman sul BCT: l’assalto delle fan è implacabile. Anteprima24, 2023. Available at: https://www.anteprima24.it/benevento/muscoli-yaman-bct-fan-implacabile-assalto-can/.

19.

Chalaby

(2023) Television in the Streaming Era. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

20.

De Almeida

(1996) The Hegemonic Male: Masculinity in a Portuguese Town, vol. 4. London: Berghahn Books.

21.

Deloitte (2014) “Dünyanın En Renkli Ekranı: Türkiye’de Dizi Sektörü.” [The Most Colourful Screen of the World: TV Industry in Turkey]. Deloitte. Available at: http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/tr/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/tr-media-tv-report.pdf (accessed 14 November, 2016).

22.

Donnemagazine (2020, September 7) Migliori serie tv turche: quali sono i titoli da non perdere? Donne Magazine.

23.

E-BC (2024) What media mix in Italy in 2023?. Available at: https://www.e-businessconsulting.it/en/news-details/news/what-media-in-italy/#:∼:text=Television%20remains%20a%20stronghold%20with,3.3%25%20in%20one%20year (accessed 10 April 2024).

24.

Eichner

(2020) Life-world relevance and ‘practical sense making’–audience engagement with Danish TV drama series. In: Jensen PM and Jacobsen UC (eds) Reconsidering Audience Proximities: The Global Travel of Danish Television Drama. Gothenburg: Nordicom, pp. 107–123.

25.

EIGE (2023) Gender Equality Index. Available at: https://eige.europa.eu/gender-equality-index/2023/country/IT.

26.

Eleonora (2023) Chi è Can Yaman. Team World, 2023. Available at: https://www.teamworld.it/spettacolo-tv/chi-e-can-yaman/.

27.

Esser

Jensen

Keinonen

, et al (2016) The duality of banal transnationalism and banal nationalism: Television audiences and the musical talent competition genre. In: Aveyard K, Jensen PM and Moran A (eds) New Patterns in Global Television Formats. Bristol: Intellect, 295–309.

28.

Ferreira

(2022) A Turkish drama in the land of telenovelas. The reception of ‘Fatmagul’in Brazil. Series-International Journal of TV Serial Narratives 8(2): 73–85.

29.

Gagliarducci

(2022) What does Giorgia Meloni’s victory mean for Catholics in Italy? Catholic News Agency , 2022. Available at: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252420/what-does-giorgia-melonis-victory-mean-for-catholics-in-italy

30.

Garelli

(2016) Religion Italian Style: Continuities and Changes in a Catholic Country. Oxfordshire: Routledge.

31.

Geraghty

(1991) Women and Soap Opera Cambridge. Cambridge: Polity Press.

32.

Grasso

(2024) Storie d’amore e drammi storici: il trionfo delle serie turche. Corriere Della Sera, 2024. Available at: https://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/cinema-serie-tv/24_febbraio_23/storie-d-amore-drammi-storici-trionfo-serie-turche-8f1df1e4-d25a-11ee-986e-4fbc6ecbbba1.shtml.

33.

Hoskins

Mirus

(1988) Reasons for the US dominance of the international trade in television programmes. Media, Culture & Society 10(4): 499–515.

34.

Iwabuchi

(2001) Becoming “culturally proximate”: The ascent of Japanese idol dramas in Taiwan. In: Moeran

(ed) Asian media productions. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 54–74.

35.

Iwabuchi

(2004) Feeling Asian Modernities: Transnational Consumption of Japanese TV Dramas, vol. 1. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

36.

Jacobsen

Jensen

(2020) Unfolding the global travel of Danish television drama series. In: Jensen PM and Jacobsen UC (eds) The global audiences of Danish television drama. Gothenburg, Sweden: Nordicom.

37.

Jensen

McCutcheon

(2020) Othering the self and same-ing the other: Australians watching Nordic Noir. In: Jensen PM and Jacobsen UC (eds) The global audiences of Danish television drama. Göteborg, Sweden: Nordicom, 21–37.

38.

Kalviknes Bore

I-L

(2011) Transnational TV comedy audiences. Television & New Media 12(4): 347–369.

39.

Katz

(1993) The Export of Meaning: Cross-Cultural Readings of Dallas. Cambridge: Polity Press.

40.

Katz

Liebes

(1990) Interacting with Dallas: Cross-cultural readings of American TV. Canadian Journal of Communication 15(1): 45–65.

41.

Keane

Moran

(2007) Television Across Asia: Television Industries, Programme Formats and Globalization. London: Routledge.

42.

Keskin

(2023) Turkish TV series ‘Kurt Seyit ve Şura’ strikes chord with Italian viewers. Daily Sabah, 2023. Available at: https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/turkish-tv-series-kurt-seyit-ve-sura-strikes-chord-with-italian-viewers/news.

43.

Kraidy

(2006) Hybridity, or The Cultural Logic of Globalization. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

44.

Ksiazek

Webster

(2008) Cultural proximity and audience behavior: The role of language in patterns of polarization and multicultural fluency. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 52(3): 485–503.

45.

La Pastina

(2004) Telenovela reception in rural Brazil: Gendered readings and sexual mores. Critical Studies in Media Communication 21(2): 162–181.

46.

Lomazzi

(2017) Gender role attitudes in Italy: 1988–2008. A path-dependency story of traditionalism. European Societies 19: 370–3955. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2017.1318330.

47.

La Pastina

Straubhaar

(2005) Multiple proximities between television genres and audiences: The schism between telenovelas’ global distribution and local consumption. Gazette (Leiden, Netherlands) 67(3): 271–288.

48.

Livingstone

(1992) Audience reception: The role of the viewer in retelling romantic drama. In: Curran J and Gurevitch M (eds) Mass media and society. New York, NY: Edward Arnold, 285–306.

49.

Livingstone

(1988) Why people watch soap opera: An analysis of the explanations of British viewers. European Journal of Communication 3(1): 55–80.

50.

Luciano

Sampogna

Del Vecchio

, et al. (2012) The family in Italy: Cultural changes and implications for treatment. International Review of Psychiatry 24(2): 149–156.

51.

Marcus

Weigelt

Hergert

, et al. (2017) The use of snowball sampling for multi source organizational research: Some cause for concern. Personnel Psychology 70(3): 635–673.

52.

Mark

(2003) Culture and competition: Homophily and distancing explanations for cultural niches. American Sociological Review 68(3): 319–345.

53.

Mathijs

(2008) Watching the Lord of the Rings: Tolkien's world audiences, vol. 3. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

54.

McCabe

Akass

(2012) TV's Betty Goes Global: From Telenovela to International Brand. London, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.

55.

MIA (2017) The Turkish soap opera has seduced Italy: Luca Rochira, Fox Life:” perfect fiction for our audience. Available at: https://www.miamarket.it/en/the-turkish-soap-opera-has-seduced-italy-luca-rochira-fox-life-perfect-fiction-for-our-audience/

56.

Mikos

Eichner

Prommer

, et al. (2007) Die "Herr der Ringe“-Trilogie: Attraktion und Faszination eines populärkulturellen Phänomens .Konstanz, Germany: UVK.c.

57.

Modleski

(1982) Loving with a Vengeance: Mass-Produced Fantasies for Women. Hamden, CT: Archon Books.

58.

Mumford

(1995) Love and ideology in the afternoon: Soap opera, women and television genre. Indiana: Indiana University Press.

59.

Murphy

(1999) Doing audience ethnography: A narrative account of establishing ethnographic identity and locating interpretive communities in fieldwork. Qualitative Inquiry 5(4): 479–504.

60.

Musa

Ulrike

(2020) Transnationalization, exportation, and capitalization of Turkish television and its impact on the audience of the Egypt and Pakistan. European Journal of Social Sciences 59(2): 123–137.

61.

PrensarioInternacional (2024) Tim&B Productions’ Bitter Lands dominates Italian television. Available at: https://www.prensario.net/TimB-Productions-emBitter-Landsem-dominates-Italian-television-44532.note.aspx

62.

Raffi

(2020) The impact of Italian dubbing on viewers’ immersive experience: an audience reception study. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies 10(3): e202019.

63.

Reich

(2004) Beyond the Latin Lover: Marcello Mastroianni, Masculinity, and Italian Cinema. Indiana: Indiana University Press.

64.

Righi

(2022) The Origins of Italy’s North-South Divide. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/economichistory/2022/09/30/the-origins-of-italys-north-south-divide/

65.

Rungi

Biancalani

(2019) Heterogeneous firms and the north–south divide in Italy. Italian Economic Journal 5(3): 325–347.

66.

Sinclair

(2009) Latin America’s impact on world television markets. In: Turner

Tay

(eds) Television Studies After TV: Understanding Television in the Post-Broadcast Era. London: Routledge, 141–148.

67.

Singhal

Udornpim

(1997) Cultural shareability, archetypes and television soaps: Oshindrome'in Thailand. Gazette (Leiden, Netherlands) 59(3): 171–188.

68.

Spence

(2005) Watching Daytime Soap Operas: The Power of Pleasure. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press.

69.

Statista (2021) Religion in Italy. Available at: https://www.statista.com/study/40326/religion-in-italy/

70.

Statista (2023) Divorced female population in Italy in 2023, by region. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/569918/divorced-female-resident-population-in-italy-by-region/#:∼:text=As%20of%20January%201st%2C%202023,as%20Italy's%20most%20populated%20region

71.

Statista (2024) Television industry in Italy - statistics & facts. Available at: https://www.statista.com/topics/8630/television-industry-in-italy/#topicOverview

72.

Straubhaar

(1991) Beyond media imperialism: Asymmetrical interdependence and cultural proximity. Critical Studies in Media Communication 8(1): 39–59.

73.

Straubhaar

(2007) World television: From global to local. London: Sage Publications.

74.

Thomas

(2023) Italians’ family size and formation are changing. Available at: https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/italy/family-marriage-gender-roles

75.

Vivarelli

(2017a) OTT Brings Creative Freedoms to Turkish TV Market. Available at: https://variety.com/2017/digital/global/turkish-drama-ott-phi-masum-1202019978/

76.

Vivarelli

(2017b) Turkish TV Dramas Continue to Sell Despite Local Turmoil. Variety .

77.

Vivarelli

(2021) Turkish TV Dramas Take Edgier Turn in Aim for Bigger Global Sales. Variety , 2021. Available at: https://variety.com/2021/tv/spotlight/turkish-tv-drama-1234948467/.

78.

Wagner

Kraidy

(2023) Watching Turkish television dramas in Argentina: Entangled proximities and resigned agency in global media flows. Journal of Communication 73(4): 304–327. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad001.

79.

Yesil

(2015) Transnationalization of Turkish dramas: Exploring the convergence of local and global market imperatives. Global Media and Communication 11(1): 43–60.