Comparative Analysis of Theses on Hollywood and Turkish Cinema (2019-2023): Trends, Gender Inequalities and Cinematic Focus

Abstract

In this study, a systematic approach was carried out to evaluate the scientific outputs on Hollywood cinema and Turkish cinema based on the literature in the YÖK Thesis Center database from 2019 to 2023, to find out which type of cinema theses were published between these years, what their characteristics were, and what their subject distribution was. To do this, a search was conducted in the YÖK Thesis Centre using the keywords “Hollywood Cinema” and “Turkish Cinema”. As a result of the search, 670 theses on Turkish Cinema and 56 theses on Hollywood Cinema were found. The theses found were limited between the years 2019-2023 and art proficiency theses were excluded. The sampled 41 theses on Hollywood cinema and 222 theses on Turkish cinema were analyzed according to universities, authors, advisors, topics, keywords, and years of publication to identify relevant trends. It was observed that most theses on Hollywood cinema were published in 2022, while most theses on Turkish cinema were published in 2019. More male researchers showed interest in Hollywood cinema, while female researchers showed interest in Turkish cinema. There was a higher proportion of men writing doctoral theses and more research was conducted on Turkish cinema (n=50). The theses were written in Turkish (n=248) and English (n=15). Istanbul University, Selçuk University, and Ege University were more interested in Turkish cinema, while Marmara University and Hacı Bayram Veli University were more interested in Hollywood cinema. In both cinemas, the most common topics were representation and women’s studies, and the most sampled films were Recep İvedik and Toz Bezi. In the director sample, the names Onur Ünlü and Nuri Bilge Ceylan stood out. In the theses where the qualitative method was predominant, content analysis came to the fore as a data collection technique.