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xenophanatic · 5 years

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In Depth Analysis of ‘Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne?’

Romantic narratives usually hinge upon a love hurdle, hurdles which are the reasons the couple are not together and causes angst between them. Whether the hurdle or obstacle comes from rival families, social standing, or past actions. These stories are also seen as forbidden love. However, as years go by these particular hurdles seem trivia and writers are trying to up the ante. This gave way to new hurdles such as:

I’m a human and you’re a vampire, werewolf, alien, robot, angel, fish or Cthulhu.

I’m a cop, you’re a killer.

And other questionable new hurdles of forbidden love.

We may be siblings or related.

I’m in love with my kidnapper

And there was a Pakistani show, Woh Aik Pak (That One Moment) in which the hero accidentally shot a guy and then leaves him for dead. He feels guilty and decided to marry dead guy’s widow and adopt their son, without her knowledge that he killed her late husband. It’s like a darker version of the American film Bounce. All these new hurdles are quite problematic.

They are questionable as they put a romantic light on dark and real social issues - incest, abusive and manipulative relationships. So, it isn’t surprising that when I heard of the premise of a Turkish show, Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne? (What is Fatmagul’s fault?), I refused to watch it.

The premise was told to me as such:

Fatamgul is engaged to her childhood sweetheart Mustafa and is looking forward to their marriage. One night, four young men grab her and start to play around with her. They never think that the joke will turn into a rape at first. But later, they begin to rape her, one by one. The sun of her life is shadowed after that night; it's not only Fatmagul's body which was raped, but also her life. Mustafa breaks off their engagement and even worse - in order to save the honour of her family she is forced to marry one of the rapists.

So here the hurdle which they couple have to overcome is… marrying her rapist. Oh no.

I never really critically thought about the impact of depicting rape or sexual violence on television before. Not until I heard that Hannibal’s showrunner Bryan Fuller had a ban on rape scenes in his procedural series.

To Enterment Weekly, Fuller stated,

“A character gets raped” is a very easy story to pitch for a drama. And it comes with a stable of tropes that are infrequently elevated dramatically, or emotionally. I find that it’s not necessarily thought through in the more common crime procedurals. You’re reduced to using shorthand, and I don’t think there can be a shorthand for that violation— it’s an incredibly personal and intimate betrayal of something that should be so positive and healthy. And it’s frequently so thinly explored because you don’t have the real estate in 42 minutes to dig deep into what it is to be a victim of rape.”

This had me look critically at the narratives and tropes that surround rape. Three I found interesting tropes that occur.

1) The rape of a woman used to justify her own cruelty. I’ve seen this a lot in American show where they have a mature aged woman who is powerful, ruthless, and seen as antagonist to the younger female protagonist. However, it is revealed that the woman was raped in the past and her ruthlessness is caused by the rape.

2) The rape is seen as a who dunnit, where characters that are not the victim are searching for the rapist. The rapist is usually revealed with a twist with it either being a relative or family friend. This is used for dramatic effect and shock value. The woman is either dead or in other ways incapacitated

3) The rape of a woman is usually the Hero’s ‘call to adventure’ or catalyst for revenge. The woman is raped and it is the hero’s job to avenge her. The hero can either be a grieving father or mourning lover. This is done from Shakespeare’s play to the recent Bollywood film Kaabil. The women are presented as objects and motivation for the hero to extract revenge for his honour or seek justice for his lose, while the women are either dead or literally mutilated.

This one is also semi-related to the trope of a man saving a woman from rape and her instantly forgetting the traumatic experience and giving herself to her rescuer as thank you. Again, this shows the woman’s lack of agency on her own sexuality and body.

Therefore, with the premise that I found of Fatmagul I was scared that the show will redeem the rapist and make him a likeable character who Fatmagul would fall for. I found out from other plot summaries that it turned out that her husband didn’t actually participate in the rape, but that had no effect on me. It would be like that Pakistani drama which the guy ‘accidentally killed’ the husband. He too would be a victim and absolved from his crimes.

There were so many reasons why I couldn’t stand a love story between these two characters. She was raped and forced to marry her rapist, even though it may not be the case in Turkey now, in some countries there are still the ‘marry your rapist’ law. The trauma of being ganged rape could not be overcome with love, especially if that love is coming from a man who was there when it happened.

Anyway, I tried to stay away from this show - just on principles - but then, hearing everyone raving about it and telling me to watch it, I gave in and watched the series and... I enjoyed it immensely and here is why.

1. The treatment of rape

When television has a woman who has been raped, it is either to create drama or to provide a backstory of why she is the way she is. Narrative about rape, when done wrong, is contained in a single episode or storyline. However, ‘What’s Fatmagul’s fault’ does not consist of one episode about rape as the whole show is revolved around Fatmagül - how she is coping after being raped and her search for justice.

The rape scene itself is quite uncomfortable and unsettling, never going beyond into tantalising or sensationalising territory. During the first few episodes it seemed that each of the three rapists would be a representation of different motives of rape. Erdoğan, having been humiliated and emasculated by his family, he dominates over Fatmagul’s body as pathetic grasp for power. He rapes Fatmagul in an attempt to gain control and portray masculinity to overcome his lack of dominance in the business or powerless role in the family. Vural, is the last of the three to rape Fatmagul and is seemed to join in as part of a commodity of sort. The nature of gang rape is said to be a sadistic way the men bond and form commodity. Vural seems to be ashamed of his action during and after it is over. Vural is depicted though the series as a coward – who is unable to admit to his actions nor is able to overcome them. He’s constantly in a depression of his guilt, but is selfish and such a coward that he is unable to confess to his crime. However, this theory of mine could never live up to its potential. I couldn’t understand Selim and his character motivation. At first, he seemed to dislike committing to one woman, his fiancé, but then can’t stand the idea of losing her. I thought his violence towards Fatmagul was to do with his unwillingness to commit to one sexual partner or be dominated by a woman, but that wasn’t the case from his interaction with his fiancé and later wife after the rape. Erdoğan, who I assumed, after escaping punishment for raping Fatmagul, would continue to assault women in order to have some sort of dominance – but again that never come up and I disliked his romance with the doctor. It seemed like in the end, they could just blame it on drugs. The rapist could have been explored, but I guess they weren’t due to it not being their story nor a justification for their action. The story is about Fatmagul.

2. Fatmagul and her agency and growth.

Famagul, the character and the actress’s performance, were amazing. After her rape she wants justice and the support of her fiancé. After her fiancé rejects her and her family pressurise her to marry Kerim, she – releasing no one is supporting her, loses her trust on the justice system and accepts society’s dictation on what should happen to her. Every action Fatmagul made, I understood. From waiting for her fiancé Mustafa, to wanting to kill herself, to attempting to kill Kerim. Every action made sense.

What was important was Kerim wasn’t shown as her saviour. The series never claimed that Kerim’s love was what Fatmagul needed to be whole again. Nor was it a male figure that ignited venges or sense of self-preservation in her. It was a woman. Kerim’s sister aka Abla becomes a confident to Fatmagul. She doesn’t show much tells Fatmagul what to do, but let’s Fatmagul know she has options and opportunities. Abla introduces two concepts which are extremely important. Education and therapy.

Fatmagul completes her education, giving her opportunities to find employment, become a business owner, and later confidence to obtain a driving licence. This demonstrates Fatmagul’s agency and her ability to be self-sufficient. Abla also suggests therapy to Fatmagul, who at first reject it but later asks for help. I like that they didn’t force it on her and that Fatmagul actively sort out mental help. Even the obligatory make-over scene of the female character isn’t from the courtesy of the male character, but through the bond of Abla and Fatmagul. Women helping women. It was nice to see this in contrast to Fatmagul’s sister-in-law’s character. The saying that there is a special place in hell for women who don’t help women, it’s filled with people like her.

The thing I disliked was Fatmagul’s love for Mustafa after he rejected her. But the series did a good job explaining that she wasn’t yearning for him, but a life before she was raped. He represented a life she could have had. She was holding on to that idea, but let it go knowing that she could never go back to a time where that was possible. And later she rejects Mustafa when he pleads that he was mistaken and wants her back. She rightfully addresses that he should have believed her and that when she needed him the most, he made it about himself and left her.

I also like the relationship she has with Kerim. She rejects him at every corner – and I agree with her at every step of the way. He doesn’t leave the country and declares he loves her. I disliked him, just as she did for that. He buys them rings and gets happy when she wears it- but really, she wears it to avoid unwanted attention from men. Again, I rolled by eyes at him for being happy at that but loved that Abla was feeling the same and asked Kerim to give Fatmagul space. He sees her letting go of the scarf Mustafa gave her, as a sign that she is letting go of Mustafa. I just hated when he had hope that she would fall for him. Dude, she’s going through some shit. Again, loved that she corrected him stating that she let go of the scarf because it used to remind her of her love for Mustafa but now it’s the thing that his friends used to muffle her screams.

No matter what Kerim did, I could not root from him. He would keep telling Fatmagul that he is innocent and didn’t do anything, which I believe doesn’t change anything cos he was there when it happened. He drew the other men’s attention to her, he grabbed her first, and he didn’t stop it. He was part of the nightmare.

However, as the show went Kerim realised his part in the rape. Him confronting Mustafa and explaining the true events of that night. Saying that Fatmagul was raped by those men, and even though he didn’t rape her – he also didn’t stop it from happening. Kerim claims it’s the fault of those men and his fault. But it is not her fault. I loved this scene as Kerim was finally focusing the narrative on Fatmagul. As mentioned earlier, rape narrative on occasion focuses on the male character. His quest for vengeance or justice. Though I haven’t read it, apparently in the original novel the story was focused on Kerim and his struggles of marrying a victim of rape. Yeah… poor guy. Thankfully, the show doesn’t do that. Kerim in the first few episodes make it about him but later recognises that it is about Fatmagul and what she has gone through because of him.

There is a lovely scene, which I kind of wish was explored more. After Kerim confesses and tells the police about the night – he asks Fatmagul if she’s angry at him for filling in a report. Fatmagul denies it. And plainly states she’s angry at herself for not telling the police first and thereby making this his victory.

Again, I liked this scene because Fatmagul addresses that she should have been the one to go to the police. She should have agency, instead Kerim took that and made it about him. What a poorer series would have made into an epic romantic gesture, ‘Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne?’ questions and addresses the male discourses.

Though by the end, Fatmagul forgives Kerim – I was glad that she did after the audience was allowed to forgive him. I had forgiven and fell in love with Kerim before Fatmagul and that was crucial part of the series. And what I loved was that when Fatmagul’s harpy of sister-in-law wants to take credit for making Fatmagul marry Kerim, Fatmagul breaks down and reveals to Kerim’s half-sister that though she loves Kerim and her life with him, she would give it all up to go back before that night. She would rather never have known him than have been a victim of rape. It is a touching scene that reminds us that while Fatmagul is moving on with life; being a business owner, living in a nice house, and in love with Kerim, none of it is worth having what had happen to her.

3. Kerim and his search for redemption and forgiving himself.

Like I said before, it took a long while for me to like Kerim. Even by then end his tendency to lose his temper – due to the rapists - in front of Fatmagul annoyed the hell out of me. It is obvious that Fatmagul is uncomfortable with two things Kerim being angry and him drinking alcohol. So again, I wished this was address. Other than that, Kerim’s arch was well handed.

Though I was on Kerim’s side by the end of Season 1, it wasn’t until Season 2 that I truly liked him. In the first season we are given glimpses of Kerim’s past. After his father abandoned him, his mother committed suicide. Kerim was the one who found her body. This is why Kerim doesn’t want to abandon Fatmagul, as he doesn’t want to give the same pain his father did. He hates his father and refuses to read the letters he sends.

However, father and son reconnect. It is revealed that Kerim’s mother was in love with another man, but her family made her marry Kerim’s father. Even years after their marriage, she couldn’t forget her love. After giving birth to Kerim, the mother’s ex kills himself. Kerim’s father leaves the house, knowing that the mother can love no one ever again. Not being able to live in a world without her ex, she kills herself. This information informs Kerim’s growth as a character. He realises that he wasn’t enough for his mother and that she didn’t love him as much as her ex. Believing that Fatmagul is still in love with Mustafa and he is just someone she was forced to marry – Kerim identifies with his father and thinks that Fatmagul could never love him. He decided to let Fatmagul leave this force relationship.

I liked this as it was a change of character, as Kerim was always trying to make Fatmagul love him – he realised that he couldn’t force her feelings onto him. Fatmagul says she wants to work things out with him. This made their relationship an active choice of Fatmagul.

The knowledge of his past made Kerim a more self-aware character. Even though Fatmagul forgives him, he can’t. And I like that while Fatmagul wants to begin a relationship with him, he’s the one that is now haunted by the night of the rape.

Kerim also joins Fatmagul in her therapy sessions and two talk about their relationship and issues they have in themselves. And the show does a good job depicting the characters feelings towards physical intimacy.

There is a powerful scene where after Kerim and Fatmagul have their first kiss, they each go to their separate bedrooms. Fatmagul has a nightmare in which is on the bed in her wedding dress and Erdoğan and Selim are looking over her. Kerim is there also, and watches helplessly. Fatmagul silently screams for Kerim, but he doesn’t move as Erdoğan touches her wedding dress. She wakes up with a concern Kerim walking into her room, and she screams, frighted of him.

It is scenes like these that explore the characters’ fears and motivations that made Fatmagul a great show. However, there are some flaws with it. Like, I don’t care about rapist family business. I feel like every 20 episodes the business is bankrupt but nothing happiness. The patriarchy head yells about this rape affecting his business and how they are going to run their business. By the end, I just didn’t care anymore and skipped the scenes dealing with the families of the rapists. Erdoğan and Selim on the run was annoying and so was their romances with other women – especially after the women found out they were rapists. And the court case was filled with soap opera moments and rarely any actual legal stuff. Like a great example would be the Vurat parent testified that he was with them that night, but they weren’t even in the country at the time. But atlas half of the witness either die or are brought off.

I have to mention my favourite episode. The last episode. I could do a whole review of that episode, but for now I’ll keep it short. The episode cuts between the court case and the events of the day of the rape. As audience we get see scenes from Episode 1, old characters that have left or died, and additional scenes that flesh out character and give a final closure to their arcs. However, the best part is the ending of the flashback. We are taken back to the night of the rape, as Fatmagul goes to see Mustafa and Kerim spots her. However, he doesn’t draw attention to her. She sees them and continues on her way. The rape never occurs. This is a powerful scene, on of many. Kerim later on catches up with Fatmagul who has missed Mustafa’s boat. He talks to her but she rejects him and walks back home.

This seems to be a wishful ending of the flashback from Kerim and Fatmagul. Of how they wish that night had went. The ending alludes to Kerim maybe going to see her the next day and maybe in another world they would have met and fell in love without that night having to happen.

Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne? is an excellent show and has 80 episodes to explore characters and the aftermath of sexual violence. I give it 4/5.

If you haven’t seen it, check it out - if you have, what did you think of it?

#Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne?#Beren Saat #engin akyürek #fatmagul #fatmagül #turkish series #xenophanatic

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dangermousie · 7 years

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All the Turkish shows I have not finished so far and why

(I am excluding currently airing shows because duh and also Icerde, which I am currently actively watching.)

But yes, I have a short attention span and my ratio of finished to started is pretty small so I wanted to list all the ones I’ve started but have not finished (yet.) Some of these I plan to get to (after all, I finished Cesur ve Guzel even if it took a year) and some no way. Ones I plan to go back to have an asterisk.

1001 Nights - Love the OTP, hate everything else. If someone gave me a cut of just their scenes (which take 10 minutes per ep ugh), I’d be much happier. As it is, I do not have the patience for this tbh.

*Adini Feriha Koydum - OK, confession time, I made it through a few eps and was bored. And now that I know the ending, my desire to check it out is not great. But since watching this for the first time, I realized I liked the leading pair elsewhere and the writer is the writer for my current obsession Fazilet, so I plan on giving it another chance.

*Ask-i Memnu - I really loved it and binged but, 80 eps OMG. I had to take a break for my sanity, got sidetracked and never went back. I definitely plan to because I haven’t even gotten to the OTP smooches yet.

Ask ve Ceza - on netflix! Pretty people! Cool set-up! Story that is slower than molasses in January! Aside from one fateful meeting, the OTP doesn’t meet again forever and ever and ever!!! Instead I have to watch business dealings of hero and issues of heroine, both of which are so exciting, I want a nap! I actually, despite my ranting, may go back to it at some point with extreme forwarding thus not on netflix, but not any time soon.

*Bizim Hikaye - I actually really liked this, even if it was a little OTT for me. But I can only have so many airing shows and one had to be temporarily dropped so it was this one. I promise to get back to you!

Bu Sehit Arkandan Gelecek - I was so excited to watch this because it starred Kerem Bursin whom I’ve adored in Gunesi Beklerken and the first ep and the love story set in it were so delicious. But then the show really lost the plot and put the love story beyond the back burner and just wasn’t my thing any more. I still considered maybe going back to it some day with some fast forwarding but then I checked out the ending, and nope nope nope.

Calikusu - the 1980s version was my very first Turkish show when I was a teeny kid. The new version has good actors, much better budget but it’s like pulling teeth. They basically left very little of the novel in the story, problem n1. Problem n2 is that it’s slow and problem n3 is that Feride’s sharper, less cool edges are demonstrated more in romantic relationships and less when she’s being an amazing rural teacher. By not allowing her the latter, the show leaves her bad qualities and not allows her, her best ones. I finally gave up when I realized I was ffing whole eps and checking out.

*Fatmagul’un Sucu Ne? - I do plan to get back to this one! In fact, it’s one of the best shows I’ve seen from any country. It’s just it’s 80 eps and with my attention span, I cannot binge an 80 ep show in one sitting. I got to 50-something through an insane binge and then wandered off to something else. But I really must go back because I remember loving it so.

Filinta - I checked this out because it was on netflix, and it looks like a million bucks, but I almost never like mystery shows and this was yet another one that failed for me. I just find police procedurals, even ones set in Ottoman Turkey, BORING. Also the hero didn’t interest me and I think fez hats are up there with Qing hairstyles as some of the ugliest men’s fashions out there.

*Gecenin Kralicesi - I checked it out when it aired and liked the dysfunctional set up (heroine is ditched by hero who wanted a divorce from his insane wife to be with heroine but his mob FIL said he’d kill heroine if that happened, so hero lied and dumped her awfully. Heroine marries the FIL. Hahahahahaha) but didn’t have the energy to keep up with it airing. I keep meaning to go back and watch it properly though because it’s not very long and has a happy ending.

*Kara Para Ask - OK, it should probably not be on this list because I just started it, but whatever, it’s my list and I will do what I want. And what I want is to watch another ep tonight!

Kurt Seyit ve Sura - I was here for Kurt Seyit and Sura so when it switched to Kurt Seyit and Murka, I bailed. I don’t care if it’s historical, don’t switch my OTPs on me in the middle of the show, show!

*Kuzey Guney - I think it was my first Turkish show when I got back into them as an adult! And I really liked it a lot! (Obviously, since I sought out more.) But one of the things I loved the most was Kuzey’s hopeless love for his bro’s girlfriend Cemre so when the show suddenly started showing him having an angsty thing for the redhead girl, I got super annoyed and bailed. Like! How can he love the redhead, he’s supposed to love Cemre! I was fine with him having a wife since there was no love there but a genuine love interest! I felt betrayed. And I walked. I’ve since been informed that Kuzey realizes he wasn’t really in love with redhead but using her to deflect his forbidden feelings, so I am gonna go back to it. 80 eps doesn’t seem so scary any more, unlike when I first discovered Turkish shows. I do think the bulk of s1 he chases the redhead so extreme ffing will be implemented.

Magnificent Century Kosem: Murad - I liked the original MC and MCK. However when MCK got into its second season and reigns of Kosem’s children Murad and Ibrahim - ooooh boy. I liked it at the start but the more the season went on, the more I lost interest - they never were able to explain how Murad went from an A+ bro/ruler/person to a homicidal and fratricidal lunatic and Kosem herself went from a fascinating character to a very pretty cypher.

Mehmetcik Kutul Amara - I love period things but this one did not work for me. It was hard enough to get used to seeing WWI as a glorious enterprise, but the characters didn’t talk, they declaimed! Nor could I tell most of them apart from the other. It’s like Vatanim Sensin but without people for me to care about, thus not like Vatanim Sensin at all!

Olene Kadar - the premise! Engin in the lead role! I was so happy. And I was so happy with the first few eps. But then they switched writers and did weird things and I drifted away. And then I found out about the ending. I am used to Turkish tragic endings but this seemed so patently unjust and horrible, I am never watching this unless someone pays me serious $$$ for pain and suffering.

*Sila - Loved this insane mess of a show, loved it! Short attention span won again after 40 eps and I wandered off. But I am about to restart this crazy, delicious, guilty (only I refuse to be guilty) pleasure.

*Soz - watched first ep, rolled my eyes at the fridging of hero’s unfortunate fiancee, decided I had no room for another airing show. I will probably go back with some major ff because the OTP looks delicious and ff will allow me to skip military bits that bore me.

#soz #sila #olene kadar #mehmetcik kutul amara #magnificent century kosem #kuzey guney #1001 night #ask ve ceza #filinta #kurt seyit ve sura #kara para ask #gecenin kralicesi #calikusu #fatmagül'ün suçu ne #fatmagul'un sucu ne #fatmagul #ask-i memnu #Bu Sehit Arkandan Gelecek #Adini Feriha Koydum

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