My Ofis, My Review.

iQiyi International in collaboration with Longhouse Films debuted the first two episodes of their Malaysian workplace sitcom My Ofis a couple of weeks ago. The show has been described as Malaysia’s first office sitcom and follows Jasper (Kahoe Hon), a young man, who is forced to give up his dream of becoming a musician for working in an advertising office, My Ofis. The show features a multicultural cast of talented Malaysian actors from Aeril Zafrel, to Alvin Wong and Phraveen Arikiah. 

Over the last couple of years, there has been an emergence of many great workplace sitcoms. From the likes of Brooklyn Nine-NineSuperstoreTed Lasso, and more recently Mythic Quest. Then there are local workplace sitcoms like the reboot of KopitiamKopitiam: Double Shot. With this in mind, it has been really exciting to see what Malaysia has to offer to the genre. 

The first two episodes of My Ofis were a solid start to the show. The cast is great in their roles, with Alvin Wong and Phraveen Arikiah especially shining out for me. It was very cool to see iconic Malaysian landmarks peppered through the episodes and hear the characters speaking Manglish. This may or may not have to do with the fact that I live overseas and desperately miss home. 

Yet there were a few things that made it hard for me to truly connect to the show. For example, a lot of the humour, a huge aspect of most sitcoms, fell flat for me. There were many moments while I watched the show when I couldn’t tell if I was supposed to find the bits funny. This may have to do with the fact that the show relies on slapstick comedy at times, a form of comedy I am not overly fond of. 

The other issue that I had with the show was the fact that while I enjoyed the characters, I didn’t feel like I could particularly connect to them. I don’t know if I have been living overseas for too long, or perhaps if I am too much of a coconut, but none of the characters felt truly relatable. They all seemed way too over the top, with antics that were too overdramatic. The other thing that I couldn’t help but notice was the clear colourism in the show. Many Malaysians have darker skin, and yet that reality is not depicted in the show.

The characters also had me thinking and asking various questions. For example, Sherwyn Pang plays Lucy a social media influencer, who is depicted as sexy and slightly crazy. Lucy really reminded me of Seleb (Melissa Campbell) from Kopitiam: Double Shot, who was also depicted as a boy crazy, sexy, and a social media influencer.

Thus, I could not help but wonder if this was a common stereotype of young Chinese women, and what was the ramification of depicting/sexualising them as such was.

The other question I kept on asking was in terms of Pearly Chua’s characters. Do Malaysian offices hire cleaners to clean during office hours? And if so does that not disrupt the business and work hours of the company?

The other issue I had with the first few episodes was the editing of the videos. A huge part of the first couple of episodes is Jasper’s band and the song (The Odd One Out), yet the way that the scenes cut/transitioned to the songs felt stilted and awkward. 

On the subject of the song the Odd One Out, the press has talked a lot about the “a k-pop style” of the theme. Jasper’s band, BTX, is a clear reference to the K-Pop band BTS. So this begs the question of the show’s “All persons fictitious disclaimer” works in the show. Specifically due to the fact that BTX is a clear reference to BTS. So while the band may be fictitious, the resemblance to a person living or dead can’t be coincidental, since it was an intentional choice by the writers.

Lastly, the concept of My Ofis being incorporated with e-commerce via QR Code is an interesting evolution to product placement in media. It also is an interesting way to bring in capital seeing iQiyi is a free streaming service. However, we live in a capitalist world, so the inability to escape that in the show definitely soured the show for me.

Bola-Bola: Self-love or Fatphobia?

Before I start getting to the meat of this post, I wanted to clarify that I, myself, am not by any means fat. In terms of weight, I have more in common with Francine Diaz the actress, than I do with Thea Balderama the character. I will do my best to stay in my lane and will be referencing what various Plus-Size activists, influencers, and critics have said on the subject. I encourage everyone to read up on what they are saying. 

It has been a couple of months since iWantTFC released its newest release in their library of YA Dramas, Bola-Bola. Since its release, various publications have applauded the show for tackling the themes of body positivity and fatphobia. The young cast, made of notably new talent, have done press and have been applauded for their acting prowess. 

With all of this in mind, I have been debating if I truly wanted to write this post. Especially since I left this blog for all but dead. It also seems like the general public has turned their attention to the second season of He’s Into Her. Yet, I can’t help but go back to what I can only describe as the elephant in the room, the question that has been haunting me since I first watched the show. Does Bola-Bola truly spotlight the importance of self-love and tackle fatphobia? 

Bola-Bola follows teen protagonist Thea Balderama (Francine Diaz) a spirited foodie who is comfortable in her own body, as she navigates friendship, family, and food, all the while dealing with the negative treatment that she receives for her weight. All of this is put to a test when Thea’s long-time crush, Lucas (Akira Morishita), returns. When Thea bravely asks him out he tells her that he doesn’t date “Big Girls”, forcing Thea to question herself and her body.


When I first heard that iWantTFC was helming a TV show that centred on a plus-size protagonist and would tackle beauty standards in the Philipines, I was ecstatic. I am an advocate for body diversity in media and was excited to see a drama set in Southeast Asia that would tackle fatphobia. Especially since I am from Southeast Asia and am all too familiar with the harm of the beauty standards of the region.

I was hoping that Bola-Bola would feature a fat character who wasn’t just there to be on the receiving ends of jokes about their weight, or whose entire story arc didn’t centre around their weight. Needless to say, watching the trailer for Bola-Bola was incredibly disheartening. The two things that felt like a slap in the face of all the praise that the show had garnered is the fact that Francine Diaz is in fact not fat. Learning that this drama that ABS-CBN has marketed as an important conversation piece in terms of self-love, body positivity, and body diversity featured a petite woman in a fat suit was disappointing.

But perhaps the more disheartening thing was the ending of the trailer, as the voice-over from Thea narrates, “They say that people don’t change, I don’t believe that. We are all capable of amazing transformation. You just need to work for it and that’s what I did. The right person will come when you learn to love yourself”  revealing Francine Diaz sans fat suit, stunning onlookers with her “weight loss”.

Fat Suits & Fatphobia

It seemed pretty obvious to me why a show that put so much focus on discussing fatphobia yet featured a fat suit and a weight loss transformation was a bad thing. Dare I say it, a fatphobic thing. However, as I scoured the internet for others who may feel the same thing, all I found was praise for the show and the casting of Francine Diaz in the role.

So, to say it as clearly as I can, I believe that Francine Diaz, while a capable actress, was miscast in the role of Thea. This is very much because Francine is not fat. Her pretending to be fat does not show her acting skills nor is it a momentous move towards spotlighting self-love.

In an article written by Aubrey Gordon, of Your Fat Friend, Gordon boldly states, “Fat suits are never necessary.” I am inclined to agree. According to Gordon, the existence of fat suits in media propels two narratives:

  1. To show the fat character’s sad and miserable life, often as a teenager, before showing the contrast to the thin wonderful life. Gordon uses Courtney Cox in Friends and Ryan Reynolds in Just Friends as an example. 
  2. To have fatphobic jokes run rampant through the media. In Gordon’s own words, “a fat character is played by a thin person for a mocking, cruel kind of comic relief”.

While it may seem that Bola-Bola is progressive because the show depicts those who mock Thea as wrong, it is evident after watching Bola-Bola that Francine wearing a fat suit falls into the first narrative. 

Thea is an interesting character, with much to love about her, from her outspokenness to her love for food. However, the narrative still chooses to centre Thea’s fatness as something that causes her life to be miserable. This is after all the reason that she is bullied, the reason that Lucas rejects her, and ultimately, the reason that she loses all the weight. Like many fat characters who go through weight loss transformations in media, it is only when Thea loses weight that can she be happy and her life start. 

Gordon goes on to say:

“There is a cultural weight to fat suit narratives, and it pulls everyone down. These narratives are contrived by thin people for thin audiences, regularly taking a set of assertions for granted:

1) Becoming thin is a life accomplishment and the only way to start living a real, full, human life, 2) All fatness is a shameful moral failing, 3) Thinness is a naturally superior way of being, 4) Fat people who stay fat deserve to be mocked.

This is, ultimately, the reality of Bola-Bola. Because while iWantTFC and ABS-CBN may write countless articles and make cute videos discussing the “Importance of self-love” in Bola-Bola, they are still enabling and regurgitating the fatphobic narrative that thinness is superior.

If you have watched Bola-Bola, then you may have noted that it is only when Thea loses her weight that is she shown as happy. Her bullies have nothing to hold over her, her family and friends still are by her side, but perhaps most importantly Lucas has learned the error of his ways now that Thea is thin. This reinforces the idea that those who are petite and thin are healthier and deserve more respect and love. In comparison, those who remain fat are ignoring their responsibility to create a body that would earn them respect. 

The other problem with fatsuits is the way that it simplifies people’s weight loss journeys. In an article by the FluffyKittenParty, Linda, the author, states the harm of a fat suit is that it implies “that shedding a fat body, is as simple as removing a fat a suit.” 

The danger of narratives that surround fat suits is that it allows the weight loss journey to be simple and one that doesn’t involve any danger or loss. However, this is not true, as Linda points out, discussing the painful surgeries and operations that people must undergo to go from a “fat body” to a “thin body”. Linda lists the dangers of fat loss, from the various dangerous methods that people use to the pain that surrounds having excess skin once all the weight is lost.

Weight Loss as a Story Arc

As I pointed out earlier, ABS-CBN released an article and a video in the wake of Bola-Bola’s premiere called “6 lessons on young love and body positivity from Francine’s “Bola Bola“’”. 

The article points out that Thea’s weight and her desire to lose weight are tied to two things. Firstly, Thea uses food to cope, a habit that she picked up when her father (Lito Pimentel) abandoned their family. Secondly, Thea’s decision to lose weight is not just because of peer pressure, but because she wants to make healthier decisions.

I take issues with the way that the show depicts these realities. Firstly, it depicts Thea’s stress eating/emotional eating as the reason that she is fat. While I do appreciate and commend the writers for exploring different ways that people cope with anxiety and grief, I cannot feel like they still let their audience down. 

On one hand, I do appreciate that Thea comes to recognize that her coping mechanism may not be what is best or healthy for her. However, the show never truly digs into how Thea overcame this habit, depicts a healthier way to deal with grief/anxiety, or even healthier coping mechanisms. Instead, Thea is just shown as magically petite and well adjusted, and all her problems are resolved. The weight loss transformation is used as shorthand for character development without truly digging into the gritty details of Thea’s emotional wellbeing.

The other issue I have with the way that food is depicted. Food is both Thea’s love, as she is a foodie, and her greatest weakness, as it is the reason that she is fat. If you have watched the show, you may be able to recognize that as soon as Thea loses her weight and Francine sheds the fat suit, there are fewer depictions of Thea eating. This struck me as odd because the show depicts food as a way that Thea connects to her family. 

I believe that the choice to depict food as the sole reason for Thea’s weight is a shallow understanding of weight. Firstly, it reinforces the idea that fat people are fat due to their own bad life decisions. This narrative ignores how genetics plays into weight and puts the entire blame for Thea’s weight on her diet. An article written by Harvard University points out that genes contribute to the causes of obesity in many ways. 

“Research suggests that for some people, genes account for just 25% of the predisposition to be overweight, while for others the genetic influence is as high as 70% to 80%.” 

The article points out that individuals whose genetics may account for their weight if they have one or more of the following characteristics:

  • They have been overweight for much of their life.
  • Their family members big sized. The likelihood of developing obesity is as high as 80% if both parents are obese.
  • They can’t lose weight even after increasing physical activity and sticking to low-calorie diets for many months.

As seen in Bola-Bola Thea fits into all three categories. Thea talks about how she has been overweight for most of her life, Thea’s mom (Arlene Muhlach) as well as the rest of her family are depicted as being big sized, and when Thea starts exercising there doesn’t seem to be much of a loss of weight. It was especially sad to see the way that Thea’s relationship with food changes as her weight does. Fat people are often judged for their relationship with food, so it was so empowering to show Thea’s love of food so un-bashfully.

The show also attributes Thea’s decision to lose weight as one that is rooted in health reasons. An article written by CBC delved into the nuanced relationship between health and weight. The article interviews, Sarah Nutter a professor of counselling and psychology at the University of Victoria whose research focuses on weight stigma and eating disorders. 

Nutter argues that while society may believe that weight is an indicator of health, one’s weight is far more complex than that. Nutter believes that it is important to be able to separate weight and health and not stigmatize people who have higher weight, because doing so may cause more harm. Such harm could include unhealthy ways to lose weight such as eating disorders or body dysmorphia. 

The other issue I had was the belief that Bola-Bola is a show about self-love. The article from ABS-CBN states, The series highlights different types of love – puppy love, love for family and friends, and most importantly – self-love. After Lucas’ rejection, Thea vowed to love herself…” 

If the sentence had ended there, and Thea realized that she didn’t need Lucas’ acceptance to have value, I would have a completely different perspective on the show. However, the quote continues with, “…by losing weight and by prioritizing her happiness.

The implication of this, goes back to Gordon’s point, that the “Becoming thin is a life accomplishment and the only way to start living a real, full, human life”, as well as the idea that smaller bodies are seen as inherently healthier. 

I am not going to police what people do with their bodies, but in conversation with my friend, we discussed how we believed that to frame exercise as a form of self-love after a rejection isn’t self-love. If the writers of Bola-Bola cared about self-love, then the narrative’s sole focus should not have focused on how Thea needs to lose weight. To quote plus size Pinoy model, Kat Gumabao, “Your worth is not defined by a number on a scale or a label.” 

“Your worth is not defined by a number on a scale or a label.” 

Kat Gumabao

Conclusion

I read somewhere that fatphobia is the last accepted form of discrimination and I am inclined to agree. However, in my opinion, those who are discriminated and marginalized by society should not have to continuously change themselves to be accepted by society. If Bola-Bola truly wanted to tackle fatphobia and self-love then a more progressive narrative would have shown those around Thea accepting her for who she is, rather than her conforming to societal expectations of what a healthy and happy body looks like.

A question that I asked myself as I watched Bola-Bola was if Thea’s weight is such a pivotal part of the show, why didn’t they cast a fat actress to play the role? As I have learned from plus-size models like Kat Gumba, Trina Soledad, and Kimi Liu, too plus-size influencers like Teena Arches and Danah and Stacy Gutierrez, and actresses like Cai Cortez there is room is being made in the Philippines to showcase the talent and beauty of all Filipinos regardless of size. The only answer that I can think of why Diaz was hired instead of casting a fat actress is that iWantTFC and ABS-CBN don’t actually care about fatphobia in the Philippines. Instead, they care about reinforcing the idea that the only type of bodies that deserve respect and love are those who fit into a specific standard of beauty or those who are willing to do whatever it takes to fit into that standard.

References/Further Reading

  1. Finding My Personal Style Helped Me Embrace My Filipina Identity by Ann Pornel
  2. Why these women say it’s time to embrace fat bodies by Naheed Mustafa
  3. Pinay Plus-Size Models Powerfully Advocating Body Positivity and Self-Love by George
  4. Plus Us: Understanding The Fight Against — And For — Fat Suits by Gianluca Russo
  5. When Thin Actors Play Fat Characters by Your Fat Friend
  6. 4 plus-size women on the harsh reality of eating in public – and how they continue to overcome it by Leah Sinclair
  7. The Trouble with Fat Suits by fluffykittenparty
  8. Why people become overweight by Harvard Health Publishing
  9. Fat-Bias Nearly Cost Him His Life by Doctor Mike

A Maddening RomCom: Mad For Each Other Review


During the fall of 2020, a time fraught with racial unrest and fear/fatigue due to a global pandemic, Apple+ released their hit series, Ted Lasso. Caroline Framke of Variety reviewed Ted Lasso saying, “At a time when just about everything feels catastrophic, there’s something undeniably satisfying about spending some time with good people who are just trying to be the best they can.” On a similar note, Lea Palmieri from Decider praised Ted Lasso saying, “Every step of the way, Ted Lasso proves to be comforting and entertaining and somehow both a distraction and a reminder that kindness is out there, not just on this fictional show.” 

Ted Lasso was a show praised for the kindness and hope it brought and on a very similar note in the spring of 2021, KakaoTV and Netflix introduced audiences to Korea’s counterpart of a show brimming with kindness and hope, Mad For Each Other. The half an hour comedy follows Min-kyung and Hwi-oh, who unbeknownst to each other live next door to each other and share the same psychiatrist. Hwi-oh is a detective put on leave from work due to his anger issues, and Min-kyung is a woman trying to deal with the outcome of being in an abusive relationship. Much to each other’s chagrin, they keep on bumping into each other resulting in numerous hijinks as they try to navigate their respective lives and mental health. 

Mad For Each Other had a shaky start, relying on slapstick and physical comedy combined with little to no context about the characters or their lives. However, under a great script and direction, Oh Yeon-seo and Jung Woo quickly won audiences over with their natural chemistry. One of the great things about Mad For Each Other is the fact that Min-kyung and Hwi-oh feel like real people they are awkward and unsure of each other. Once they stop being ‘enemies’ and start trusting each other, Oh Yeon-seo and Jung Woo shine as they become fiercely caring and protective of each other. 

Jung Woo (left) and Oh Yeon-seo have great chemistry in Mad for Each Other.

While Ted Lasso was an incredibly earnest and kind character that saw the best and hope in every situation, Hwi-oh almost seems like his exact opposite. Incredibly, angry and frustrated at almost everyone Hwi-oh is a detective who is put on leave for his violent outbursts at work and forced to meet with a psychiatrist. In comparison to Min-kyung’s very real issues of PTSD, delusions, OCD, Hwi-oh’s have been seen as superficial and shallow. Yet, it is through Hwi-oh that we see the most earnest and hopeful of scenes. From the scenes where he defends Samantha, a character presumed to be a pervert because they are dressed as a woman, to the scenes where he encourages both Min-kyung and Min-kyung’s mother to trust and believe Min-kyung despite her mental health issues and insecurities.

Min-kyung on the other hand is a very troubled woman. Through Min-kyung, the show depicts the reality of victim-blaming and slut-shaming, as she is blamed as being a home-wrecker (though she was unaware of her ex’s marital state) and though he was the one who abused and beaten. As a result, she suffers from PTSD, delusions, OCD, trust issues and paranoia and has few allies. Min-kyung is just trying to live her life managing her illnesses, without drawing negative attention as a fallout of her past abuse.

Many fans of Mad For Each Other have noted the importance of K-Dramas like Mad For Each Other and Law School for depicting the reality of abusive relationships and misogyny as well as their trauma and red flags. According to a static released by the South Korean police from 2019, women accounted for 98 per cent of victims in the nearly 10,000 cases of crimes against intimate partners. According to a different estimate taken by Korea Women’s Hotline, a woman was killed or nearly killed every 1.8 days that year. Korean women account for more than half of all homicide victims, making it one of the highest rates of female murder in the world. Korea has been described as one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a woman, and shows like Mad For Each Other, Law School and even Nevertheless are bringing these realities to the forefront of the conversation.

Mad For Each Other depicts another stigmatised group of individuals in Korean society, those who are mentally ill. Research has shown that there was and continues to be a stigma against seeking help for mental health issues in Korean culture. Those who do are mentally ill are often thought of as weak. As a product, to keep their family’s face, many South Korean’s refuse to seek treatment or do so in secret to not have that stigma associated with them and on their records. According to research done in 2015, reports showed that only seven per cent of those affected by mental illness sought psychiatric help. 

However, Mad For Each Other has no qualms with depicting the reality of those who are mentally ill and the reality of their illness. Both Min-kyung and Hwi-oh meet with their psychiatrist regularly throughout the drama. The show delves into different elements of their mental health issues from showing scenes of Min-kyung obsessively worrying about things or repeating motions as her OCD surfaces. However, the show never condemns Min-kyung for her illness or depict it as a weakness. It is simply an element of her life, as seen in the scene where Min-kyung and Hwi-oh discuss her medication and the effects of it.

Min-kyung explaining her medication to Hwi-oh (Courtesy of Netflix)

The other thing that Mad For Each Other manages to accomplish is the idea that love is the cure to different mental health issues. While Hwi-oh and Min-kyung undoubtedly are a positive influence on each other’s lives, they still attend their sessions with their psychiatrist and still find themselves dealing with their respective mental illnesses by the end of the show. Their love doesn’t cure their mental health, it is just another aspect of their life.

At one point in the show, Hwi-oh tells Min-kyung that they are probably the sanest people who live in the building and that everyone else is crazy. This moment depicts the reality of its minor characters, showing that it’s not only the two leads who are learning to find healthy coping mechanisms. The elaborate and endearing cast of minor characters are also depicted to be dealing with their own issues and coping mechanisms. Hwi-oh mother deals with the uncertainty of her son’s future by visiting a psychic/shaman to find some form of reassurance (though she knows that the psychic/shaman is probably lying).

The ladies of the Neighbourhood Watch/Apartment Association are dealing with their issues in different ways. Lee Joo-Ri, a young mother, has taken to drinking since she feels like she has lost/sacrificed her purpose and identity when she became a wife and mother. Choi Sun-Young takes to trolling/gossiping on the Internet and Kim In-Ja is always a busy body in an attempt to find their purpose and deal with their issues. Min-kyung mother is depicted as a harsh woman, yet as the series goes on, the audience gets to see that she truly does love her daughter though she may not know how to shot it.

Kateknowsdramas on Tumblr pointed out another great aspect of the show and this group of older women, the fact that they are shown constantly learning. This is perhaps one of the better aspects of the show, that the trope of older, judgemental women, who want to keep the status quo, is flipped in Mad For Each Other. All of these older women though they initially may have started as incredibly judgemental, are allowed the time to learn and change their views about the people around them. 

However, the minor character that, in my personal opinion, deserve the most discussion is the character of Samantha. Samantha is a character that initially suspected of being a flasher in the neighbourhood and is almost arrested by the ladies of the neighbourhood watch because Samantha dresses as a woman. However, Hwi-oh is very quick to defend Samantha and as previously established the women of the Association learn from their mistakes. From then on Samantha is a character that is supported and treated with kindness and friendship, instead of being sidelined to being comic relief. The best part of Samantha’s character is that they have their own side-plot that has to do with their friendship with Su-Hyun, which was one of my favourite minor plots in the show. 

An Woo-Yeon and Lee Su-Hyun in Mad For Each Other

While I have much love for Mad For Each Other, as the show wound to an end, I found myself finding two faults in it. The first is the scene where Hwi-oh and Min-kyung has sex. The scene starts with Hwi-oh and Min-kyung getting drunk, before making their way home. Hwi-oh, inebriated and unable to take her medication, asks Min-kyung to stay with her while she tries to fall asleep, a thing she struggles with due to her PTSD. Min-kyung eventually does manages to fall asleep and, in a classic Asian drama move, Hwi-oh chooses that moment to lean in for a kiss. While I appreciate that Min-kyung wakes up before Hwi-oh kisses her, I still find the fact that this encounter leads to them kissing and eventually having sex an issue. There are many aspects of consent, and it is generally agreed that someone inebriated cannot consent.

My other issue with the show comes from the way that the show concludes its narrative and Hwi-oh and Min-kyung relationship. By the last episode of the show, Hwi-oh and Min-kyung have broken up twice. Firstly, when Hwi-oh doesn’t believe Min-kyung’s allegations that her ex attacked her dog. Secondly, when Min-kyung concludes that with her PTSD, paranoia, and history of intimate partner violence, she doesn’t believe that she can be in a healthy and loving relationship. 

Instead of trying to comfort Min-kyung’s very real fears or respect her wishes, the writers have Hwi-oh fall back into the way that he was characterised throughout the narrative, by being an angry man. He retorts by threatening her her by telling her if she leaves him, he will become an alcoholic and return to beating up people who anger him. In the following scenes, Hwi-oh follows through on his threat by beating up a random pedestrian who bumps into him.

Hwi-oh threatening to become an alcoholic when Min-kyung leaves him.

This leads to Min-kyung to run back to him and beg him to stop fighting, which inadvertently leads to her revealing her true feeling for him. While this scene is an attempt at the comedy aspect of the rom-com (seeing this moment sets up a joke, reveals that Hwi-oh is arresting a criminal from earlier in the season, and establishes the most absurd confession of love) it still enforces certain very redundant, ridiculous, and dangerous ideals.            

In a show that focused so much on mental health and intimate partner violence, I would have hoped that the main couple wouldn’t have stayed together because one of the characters guilted the other into staying with them. In my opinion, this depiction of Hwi-oh shows very little character growth on his part. Up to this point the whole point of the show has been about Min-kyung and Hwi-oh learning to deal and find healthy coping mechanism for their respective struggles. By having Hwi-oh react in anger and have his anger lead to Min-kyung returning to him, affirms his angry reactions as beneficial and even good, which completely undoes all of his previous characterisation and progress.

Hwi-oh’s anger issues also wind up helping him and others around him, so that, as far as mental health is concerned, his aggressive male personality is ultimately painted in a positive light. 

Pierce Conran, South Morning China Post, K-drama review: Mad for Each Other

An even more damaging aspect of his threat is the fact that Min-kyung’s ex was abusive and manipulative, a thing that she has just told Hwi-oh before he threatens her. The show goes to great extents to show how Min-kyung’s ex abused her and gas-lit her in an attempt to control her. By having Hwi-oh threaten Min-kyung to keep her by his side, we see the same acts of violence done by Min-kyung’s ex acted out by and reinforced as a positive thing through Hwi-oh. This either shows that Hwi-oh is either not listening to what Min-kyung is saying (the thing that led to their initial break up, in the first place) or shows that the writers are affirming acts of guilt-tripping and manipulation as a healthy aspect of relationships. To add salt to the wound, Hwi-oh only stops beating up the criminal because Min-kyung acknowledged her feelings for him.

Ultimately, Min-kyung is not responsible for Hwi-oh actions. If Hwi-oh decides to react in anger and assault people because Min-kyung left him, he can blame no one but himself. Guilt trips are often carefully crafted forms of psychological manipulation and abuse. Though the scene ended up being a moment of comedy, it still affirmed the guilt trip and had Hwi-oh depict an act of manipulation and abuse found in Min-kyung abuser ( a thing that the entire season seemed to depict as wrong). 

All of this being said, I enjoyed Mad For Each Other slapstick humour and all. I felt like the show may have suffered from the shorter episode (30 mins runtime) and shorter season (13 episodes), which led to a rushed conclusion and many missed opportunities. For example, I would have loved to see Min-kyung and Hwi-oh’s mother’s meet, knowing who each other is. Yet, these issues didn’t stop me from enjoying the show and I cannot wait to see what other shows the writer of the show releases.

Additional Aspects of Mad For Each Other that Deserves a Shout-Out

  • Samantha and Su-Hyun serving that fake dating trope
  • The fact that there isn’t a secondary love interest
  • The comedy of this show is honestly so funny, I cannot
  • Hwi-Oh and Min-kyung’s mothers are so funny/lovely and I love them dearly
  • The fact that Hwi-Oh and Min-kyung are lowkey destined/made for each other
  • The fact that the show never tries to redeem Min-kyung’s ex
  • The way that Hwi-Oh and Min-kyung’s relationship progressed from enemies, to friends, to lovers

The Tragedy of İrem Muzaffer

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last wrote a blog post about diziland and to everyone that has been waiting at the edge of their seat for me to say something about it… I’m sorry? Life has been hectic and every time I try to convince myself to watch a Dizi I remember an awful truth: that the episodes are two and half-hours long. It’s become more and more difficult to dedicate those two and a half hours of my life to watch a single episode of a dizi. However, that being said, I did recently finished re-watching Halka bölüm seven and I think it’s about time that we talked about feminism, Halka, and İrem Muzaffer.


İrem Muzaffer as the Nurturing Women

Halka is a dizi that has received a lot of proclaim in the last few years for being one of the best TV shows to have come from Turkey. With a talented cast, beautiful cinematography, and a complex and intriguing plot, the compliments are well deserved. Furthermore, the female characters in Halka are an impressive cast of complex, strong, and well-loved women.

Yet a name that is not often discussed in regards to strong female characters in Halka is İrem Muzaffer, Cihangir Tepeli’s fiancé. I know it might seem absolutely wild to discuss İrem in regards feminism especially when the general consensus in fandom spaces is that Müjde, Bahar, and Hümeyra are the strong female characters… and İrem is simply not. 

İrem is depicted as a docile and doting fiancé. This particular characterization of female characters is rampant in Turkish media. İrem İnceoğlu, a professor in the Faculty of Communication at Kadir Has University, wrote an article called “Gender Representation on Turkish TV”. In the article, she noted that female characters are often depicted as love interests or mothers. These women are often only depicted in relation to the home-life and marriage is often portrayed as the goal for them.1 With this in mind, it is not hard to see how İrem Muzaffer fits into this bleak representation of female characters, while characters like Müjde, Bahar, and Hümeyra subvert this expectation.

The dichotomy between İrem and the other female characters in Halka is very reminiscent to a dichotomy found in the noir genre. A prolific character type in a noir is the femme fatale. The femme fatale is a female character of “intrigue”, that has an active story arc, is seductive, and is usually linked to the criminal underworld. The femme fatale is often depicted as seducing the noir hero and leading him further into the criminal life.2

Her anti-thesis is “the nurturing woman” a passive female character, linked to a light and safety, who provides an “alternative landscape” of hope to that of “the corrupt world in which the male protagonist is ensnared in”. If the male protagonist is ever forced to choose between the femme fatale and the nurturing woman, he always chooses the femme fatale.2

The male protagonist usually ignores this hope [presented by the nurturing women], tempted by the femme fatale into the sleazy and entropic underworld instead. This alternative landscape, in essence, is not a matter of choice for the male protagonist at all as it indirectly contributes to noir’s determinism by intensifying the sense of inescapable entrapment in the underworld.

Jamaluddin Aziz, Transgressing Women: Space and The Body in Contemporary Noir Thrillers

This idea is rampant in Halka. While Müjde might not be a femme fatale in the traditional sense, she is a protagonist with an active story-arc. She is often depicted as having a hold on Cihangir due their romantic relationship, and is explicitly linked to the underworld.

In comparison İrem is a very passive character. Though İrem does find herself ensnared in the crime world, her involvement in the world is incidental. İrem very explicitly offers Cihangir an alternative to the criminal world when they plan to go to Italy together. But as the quote states Cihangir is inescapably trapped in the underworld and the promise of Italy was never a realistic option. The audience knows that nothing would come from this offer because of the hold that the mafia world has on Cihangir.

İrem Muzaffer vs. the World

Just as everyone knows to expect anything from the offer to move to Italy, the characters in Halka (and by proxy the audience) expect nothing from İrem other than the picture of a docile and doting fiancé. İrem is introduced to the audience through Gülay Tepeli, who reprimands her son for his fiancé foul mood. Gülay expects Cihangir to be able to control İrem’s emotions and thus is asking Cihangir to take İrem’s agency away from her. Gülay is in constant conflict with İrem, since she expects İrem to perptually be a pleasant and agreeable fiancé.

Ilhan Tepeli acts similarly expecting Cihangir to placate İrem instead of trying to understand her.

Müjde continuously makes condescending remarks about İrem, eventually going to the extent of dismissing her after İrem tries to involve herself in Cihangir’s world.

Cihangir though he does care about İrem’s well being, is never truly open with her, and keeps her at a distance.

Even İrem’s father, Halit Muzaffer, gaslights Cihangir when he brings up İrem, by brushes aside İrem’s concern and making it seem like İrem is incapable of rational thought.

The Subversion of İrem Muzaffer

However, to completely write İrem off because of her inability to properly navigate the criminal underworld is to do a disservice to her character. İrem is character that continuously goes against the expectation of her character’s stereotype and other character’s beliefs of her. İrem never truly conforms to the role of docile and doting fiancé. Though Gülay continuously tries to control İrem’s emotions and actions, she never submits to Gülay. She ignores the Tepeli’s attempt to placate and control her.

Though İrem doesn’t have the resources to exist in the criminal world like Bahar, Müjde, and Hümeyra, she is not a completely helpless character. She is quite resourceful and quick to think on her feet. When she initially learns about her father’s recordings of Cihangir’s sessions, İrem has enough intuition to know that something isn’t right. İrem goes against her father by trying to open the encrypted files. This makes İrem stand apart from the docile female character that she is expected because she acts against the family unit that she is so often tied to.

This in itself shows her resourcefulness, as she, even without mafia/police connections, can find a means to decode the recording files, through a mutual friend. However, this encounter leads to İrem being attacked. We again see İrem go against the expectations that are put on her, when she can fight off her attacker, which eventually leads to his death. After killing her attacker İrem knows to wipe the crime scene of fingerprints as to not get caught. She also has enough intuition to suspect her father of foul play, a thing that even Cihangir does not immediately do. This eventually leads to her death when she tries to uncover more of Halit’s secrets in an attempt to protect Cihangir.

Halka, Feminism, & Masculinity

Though İrem is quite an accomplished and resourceful character this is still not enough. Most fans don’t acknowledge İrem’s accomplishments maintaining that she is a boring character. This could be because the “strong female characters” in Halka are capable of comfortably navigate traditionally masculine spaces. 

Comparing the response given to İrem’s to that of Müjde exemplifies this idea. When Müjde’s enters the crime world she is initially facing some resistance from İskender Akay and Ilhan Tepeli, who disapprove and are dismissive of Müjde actions. However, she eventually receives the support and respect from both of them, a thing that İrem never does. While Gülay is never truly a pleasant character, she does not seem agitated by Müjde’s presence by the end of the show. Cihangir seems unperturbed with doing business with Müjde and her involvement in his world.

Any attempt that İrem makes to exist in the criminal world is immediately undermined or seen as cringey. In comparison, Müjde fits in the criminal underworld in a way that İrem cannot. (A similar dichotomy is seen between Hümeyra Karabulut and Gülay Tepeli.)


Characters like Bahar, Hümeyra, and Müjde are important to see on Turkish TV because they go against dated gender norms depicted. However, it is important to note that they are only strong because of their proximity to the masculine world. Bahar is a competent policewoman and both Hümeyra and Müjde are part of the chauvinist criminal underworld.

In comparison, İrem, and characters like Gülay and Nurten, exist in traditionally feminine spaces, the home. Both Gülay and İrem are emotional women who spend large amounts of their time worrying about their family and being jealous, catty, and vindictive, making them particularly annoying characters.

While it may seem like great feminism to depict strong female characters as “masculine”, this idea undermines feminism because these “strong female characters” come at the expense of femininity.

These badass characters are intended to be a rebellion against traditional gender roles, yet they have become characters that shame other women who don’t rebel. They fall into traps of wanting them to ‘man up’ and suggest that, because they are not like other girls, they are stronger or better. The idea that rejecting femininity makes you strong creates an antithesis in which other, more feminine, characters are presented as weak

Felicity Gardner, The ‘Strong Female Character’ Paradox

This idea implies the feminine is inherently weak and that the only type of strength that exists is masculine. This further perpetuates ideas that are commonly found toxic masculinity, the patriarchy, and traditional gender norms that would depict women as weak and in need and men as strong and providers.

Femininity is not a weakness. There is nothing inherently wrong or bad about being feminine, needing help, or being in touch with one’s emotions. The other issue with this line of thinking is that it is detrimental to feminist ideals because women are pitted against each other because the strong or remarkable women are “not like other girls”.4

A strong character shouldn’t be strong due to ideas about gender roles but because they are developed and multifaceted characters… and İrem is certainly not that. Her entire character arc exists to support a male character, in this case, Cihangir and by proxy Kaan. İrem entire purpose within the narrative is to introduce the idea that Cihangir has changed, leading to the reveal that he has been brainwashed. Since İrem’s entire identity is tied to Cihangir and she no independent plot.5

İrem does not pass the Mako Mori test, a set of requirements designed to measure the level of gender equality within a fictional work.

The Tragedy of İrem Muzaffer

This is the tragedy of İrem Muzaffer. The characters, their actions, and the narrative of Halka all force İrem to be nothing more than “the nurturing woman”, docile fiancé, and a passive character who isn’t supposed to exist in the same sphere as the men in the show. Yet she goes against this image again and again. She is resourceful and smart, willing to risk her familial relationships for her beliefs, morals, and love… But ultimately this is still not enough due to the gendered expectation of what it means to be strong and the weak story arc by the writers.

Further Reading

  1. İrem İnceoğlu, “Gender Representation on Turkish TV”, in The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication (eds K. Ross, I. Bachmann, V. Cardo, S. Moorti and M. Scarcelli).
  2. Jamaluddin Aziz, Transgressing Women: Space and The Body in Contemporary Noir Thrillers, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.
  3. F. J. M. Gardner, The ‘strong female character’ paradox. Epigram.
  4. A. Valdovinos, The Failure of Strong Female Characters. Impacting Culture Blog.
  5. Aja Romano, “The Mako Mori Test: “Pacific Rim” inspires a Bechdel Test alternative”, The Daily Dot.

Best Shows Watched in 2020

Let’s be honest, 2020 was a crazy year. If we were being extremely honest with ourselves we would admit that all we did was watch a lot of TV shows and films. Some of this media was amazing, while others were… less than exciting!

Thus I decided to list my favourite TV shows that I watched in the past years.

(It is important to note this list is not in order according to my favourites and not all of these are 2020 releases, they are shows that I watched in 2020).


The Best in 2020


Dark Series 3

If you follow me on Tumblr you might be aware of the fact that I am simply obsessed with this Deutsch television. The third and final season of this mind-bending show was released in June of this year and let me tell you, it blew my mind! I’m inclined to be somewhat hesitant towards certain shows especially when the new seasons drop because I have such high expectation and feel like my expectations might not be met. Yet, Dark is a show that has met those expectations again and again and the final season was honestly so crazy (in the best way). So, if you are intrigued by watching a show about the mystery of two children who go missing in a small German town, please watch Dark. (Also, it’s not the German Stranger Things, it’s way better!).

Halka

I am going to start by saying this once (and probably a billion times afterwards), Halka is the best Turkish Dizi that I have ever watched. It is super easy to dismiss Halka due to the fact that it is a Turkish Dizi and one that is a mafia one at that. Perhaps you might not like the cast. However, the writers of Halka were able to create such a wonderful world and constantly had me at the edge of my seat as they unravelled the story. Every aspect of Halka is enjoyable from the characters to the plot to the cinematography. All of the characters (including the villains) had such interesting story arcs and captured my attention. The plot of the dizi was simply amazing and the cinematography was truly breathtaking. If you like the action/thriller genre, I highly suggest Halka, because it is well worth the watch. 

ted lasso

Ted Lasso was another show that seemed easy to dismiss. It’s a comedy about a bumbling American (with no knowledge of football) who becomes the coach of an English football team. However, Ted Lasso is a show that is filled with so much empathy and heart. The show is brimming with such caring and heart-warming characters. Every member of the cast was so funny, quirky, and charming and that was a large part of Ted Lasso’s success. If you want to watch a show that is kind to your heart, I highly suggest Ted Lasso

churails

Churails is a Pakistani TV series that dropped on ZEE5. It was written and directed by the award-winning British-Pakistani director Asim Abbasi. I have loved Abbasi’s work ever since I watched his debut feature-length film Cake, so I was beyond excited to watch Churails. Churails follows four women from different classes and sector of Pakistani society who come together to form a detective agency to expose philandering husbands. As their work at the agency expands they find themselves involved in a conspiracy. The show utilised the exciting and thrilling plot to discuss various issues in regards that women face in Pakistan every day. It was honestly such a good show.

Giri/Haji

Giri/Haji is a Japanese/British crime drama that follows a detective from Tokyo who finds himself in England while chasing down his missing brother. His brother, a member of the Yakuza, has been accused of murder and is wanted by the Japanese and English poilice, as well as the Yakuza. This is another show that had all around tremendous talent involved from the acting, directing, art direction, and cinematography. The show does a lovely job of delving into juxtaposition, such as the juxtaposition between duty and shame, good and bad, and Japanese and English culture. The explorations of these ideas are amazing and show the writer has the ability to understand the ideas that they are talking about. The show is an interesting insight into the popular “mafia” genre. If you are a fan of Halka or the mafia genre, I highly suggest this watch. The female characters own my heart and the found family trope is so heart-warming.

Doom patrol Season 2

Though the production had setbacks, the second season of Doom Patrol dropped earlier this year. Doom Patrol is probably my favourite superhero media that I dived into this year. The show is simply wild, wonderful, with a sense that the writers were allowed to do anything creating a feeling of wild abandon. However, the show is also filled with such heartwarming moments as the characters become closer and deal with their internal struggle. It’s hard to talk about Doom Patrol without giving away major spoilers but know that the show continues to be the wildest and heartwarming piece of superhero media that I have watched.

Trickster

Trickster is a Canadian TV series that dropped on CBC during the fall of 2020. Based on Eden Robinson’s best-selling novels, it tells the story of Jared, an indigenous teen struggling to keep his family afloat. Jared’s life changes when he meets a mysterious stranger, and finds himself becoming aware of the magical events that seem to follow him, as well as his heritage. Even though the recent news about the director and showrunner of the show has soured Trickster for me, it still worth the mention because of the many other people who worked on the show. The show featured a heavy First Nations crew in front of and behind the scene and it was such a treat to watch. I would highly recommend the show to anyone who is a fan of the Percy Jackson series and books along those lines.

Miracle workers Season 1

The first season of Miracle Workers was honestly such a delight. The show stars Daniel Radcliffe, Karan Soni, Steve Buscemi, and Geraldine Viswanathan and is about two low level angels who have to convince God not to destroy the earth. Thus, they make a bet with him that they’ll be able to pull off an impossible miracle, causing two humans to fall in love with each other. Daniel Radcliffe is so endearing as the socially awkward angel Craig and Geraldine Viswanathan is simply delightful in the role of his partner in crime Eliza. The show is so heartwarming and I adored it. It was also a pretty timely watch, seeing I watched it Pre-Covid.


Honorary Mentions


  • The Good Place: The Good Place came to an end earlier this year and it is a show that I truly adore. There was something so endearing about the group of misfits coming together to try to save humanity, and I will miss the show. 
  • Babylon Berlin (Series 3): Babylon Berlin is a Deutsch neo-noir television series that follows Gereon Rath, a police inspector and Charlotte Ritter an aspiring police inspector as they find themselves involved in a conspiracy. I adore Volker Bruch in the role of Gereon and Liv Lisa Fries as Charlotte Ritter. Their chemistry is unmatched and the story is fascinating.
  • Good Trouble: Good Trouble is spin-off of the Freeform show The Fosters, though I have never watched The Fosters, I loved Good Trouble. Some of the characters are so endearing and their struggle is something that is so real. The show does a good job in balancing social commentary and entertainment.
  • Zone Blanche: is a French-Belgian television supernatural thriller. The series focuses on a police chief, Laurène Weiss, and an eccentric new prosecutor, Franck Siriani, as they investigate a string of grisly crimes and eerie phenomena in an isolated town at the edge of a forest. The show is filled with beautiful cinematography and eerie shots that caught my interest.
  • Schitt’s Creek (Season 6): The final season of the beloved Canadian sitcom dropped at the start the year 2020. I love and am going to miss the show so much! The comedy is so funny and endearing filled with hilarious and heart-warming moments. Every episode causes me to laugh and the characters are so lovely and heart-warming.
  • Menajerima Ara (Episodes 1 – 8 + Honorary Mention to episode 18): If you’ve been paying any form of attention to my Blog/Twitter, you may know that I absolutely loved the first eight episodes of the dizi. Menajerima Ara, which is a remake of theFrench series Dix Pour Cent and follows the lives of acting agents. Deniz Can and Ahsen Eroğlu chemistry are simply electric. The show’s commentary on social issues and feminism was splendid. It is one of my favourite dizis that I watched in 2020.
Amie and Elias from SVT’s Eagles
  • Eagles: is Swedish Teen drama that revolves around the lives of a few teenagers living in the Swedish ice hockey town Oskarshamn. The show depicts their struggles, friendships, loves, and rivalries. I simply adore terrible teen dramas, and this particular show reminded me a lot of One Tree Hill (a personal guilty pleasure of mine). In particular, I have much love for Elias and Amie.
  • SkamDuring the summer of 2020 I decided to allow the Internet to peer pressure me into watching the hit Norwegian TV series Skam (as well as its remakes). Ultimately, my favourite season and character in the original series remain Sana and Youssef. There was something super iconic about watching two young brown Muslim(ish) navigates life, love, and faith in Norway. The fourth season remains my favourite and the best.
Amira and Mohammed from Druck
  • DruckDruck is the German remake of the hit Norwegian TV series Skam. By far it is my favourite of the remakes of the show. The cast and art direction was superb. I adore the interruption of the Sana, Amira as well as her love interest Mohammed. The lengths they went to properly cast the character was truly quite amazing. Additionally, the fifth season involving an original cast of characters specific to the German remake dropped in the fall of 2020. I adore the new group of characters, and the main character of Season 5, Nora. The exploration of mental health issues through her season was truly poignant. 

Guilty Pleasures


Sex Education Season 2:
THEY ARE THE ONLY PART OF SEX EDUCATION I CARE ABOUT!

Let me be brutally honest: I don’t care about Sex Education as a show. I mostly watch it because my friends and siblings love it. However, in Season 2 they introduced the Viv, who ended up being Jackson’s tutor and friend. They have it all; enemies to friends, fake dating, respect and care for each other. I adore them. I adore their friendship. They live rent-free in my head.

Le Bazar de la Charité

Le Bazar de la Charité is a French drama miniseries based on the real event of the fire at the Bazar de la Charité in Paris. The show follows three women whose lives are turned upside down by the fire. I adored the show, in particular the characters of Alice and Victor. What can I say; I am a hoe for the rich girl falls for the poor boy plot.

Hunters

Hunters is Amazon Prime’s highly controversial series about a group of people who decide to hunt down Nazis following WWII. Though the show received a lot of backlashes, I adored because Logan Lerman is adorable, and because I want whatever Roxy and Joe have.

The Baby Sitters’ Club

The Baby Sitters Club is a TV series based on the children’s novel of the same name by Ann M. Martin. When I was younger I watched the 1995 film read the books and generally enjoyed the series. Watching the show as an adult was definitely different, but still enjoyable.

Çarpışma
THEY ARE SO HOT! I DON’T CARE WHAT PEOPLE SAY!

Çarpışma is a Turkish action drama that focused on the lives of four individuals who find themselves in a car crash. Let me be brutally honest: I didn’t love care Çarpışma. I found the plot mostly entertaining. However, there was something about Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ as Kadir Adalı that caused my flight or fight response to engage. That being said, I love Melisa and Alperen in the roles of Kerem and Cemre. They had it all; rich girl/poor boy, enemies to lovers, communication skills, and respect and care for each other. I adore them.

Get Even

Get Even is a BBC Drama based on a book series by Gretchen McNeil. It was compared by my sister to Pretty Little Liars, and focuses on a group of schoolgirls who form a group to expose bullies at their school. However, they soon find themselves involved in a murder investigation when that they are framed for. What can I say; sometime you just need a dramatic BBC drama to get your mind off a global pandemic.


Worth the Rewatch


Watchmen

Watchmen is definitely one of the best super-hero TV shows I have ever watched. The show acts as a sequel to the comic of the same name that was released in 1986. The show is a fascinating take on the superhero genre and talked about racial violence, White supremacists, and police brutality. It used the Tulsa race massacre as a backdrop and really delved into it.

It retrospect re-watching Watchmen was extremely timely, especially in regards to the riots that happened in America earlier this year.

Altered Carbon (Season 1)

The first season of Altered Carbon is my guilty pleasure show (though I feel absolutely no guilt from watching and loving it). It is a tech-noir about a former soldier turned investigator, Takeshi Kovacs who lives in a world where consciousness can be transferred to different bodies.

There is something about Joel Kinnaman in the role of Takeshi that honestly is too much. He and Martha Higareda have crazy chemistry and I love the show and the world that it is set in.

The OA

The OA is one of those strange and unforgettable shows. Many fans of Dark have recommended The OA as a show to watch. It is a mind-bending show that tells the story of a young woman, Prairie Johnson, who resurfaces after having been missing for seven years. The show is part mystery, part drama, part sci-fi, part supernatural, and part fantasy. It has one of the most compelling and mind-boggling plots and I adore it.

Cloak and Dagger

Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger is a superhero series based on the Marvel Comics characters of the same name. It too is one of the best superhero TV shows, as far as I am concerned. The series is set in New Orleans and tells the story of two teenagers from different backgrounds that acquired super-powers due to the same life-changing event.  The show discussed assault, police brutality, racial profiling and human trafficking through the superhero genre. It had the best slow burn and established wonderful enemies to friends to what could have been presumed as lovers if the show had not been cancelled.

Sanditon

Sanditon is a Period drama based Jane Austen’s unfinished manuscript of the same name. It stars Rose Williams and Theo James in the lead roles and follows the plot of a young woman who finds herself in a new seaside resort of Sanditon.

The show has everything: wonderful costuming, Jane Austen’s wit, a beautiful cast, the most lovely height difference as well as enemies to lovers slow burn. The show is a simple delight and I suggest it to any fan of Brigerton.

Emerald City

Emerald City is a reimagining of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz books. Directed by the acclaimed visionary director Tarsem Singh, the show is honestly breath taking. It features the ever-beautiful Adria Arjona alongside the Internet’s heartthrob Oliver Jackson-Cohen.

The show is simply beautiful and such a fun re-imagining of the popular and beloved story. It has absouletly gorgeous costumes and Adria Arjona and Oliver Jackson-Cohen have electric chemistry.

Still-Starcrossed

Still-Starcrossed is a period drama based on a book by Melinda Taub and produced by Shonda Rhimes. The show is pretty much an elaborate fanfic that is set after the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. To keep the peace between the Houses Montague and Capulet, Rosaline Capulet is betrothed against her will to Benvolio Montague. The two, though they hate each other, must prevent their marriage from going through and uncover a sinister plot as they do.

To be completely honest, Still Starcrossed has everything Brigerton wanted. It has people of colour in Period Drama, has that simply delicious enemies-to-lovers relationship, as well as hints of the fake relationship plot. It stars Lashana Lynch as the main character, which as far as I am concerned is everything one needs to know about the show.


A Love So Beautiful

A Love So Beautiful is a Chinese series based on the novel To Our Pure Little Beauty by Zhao Qianqian. A Love So Beautiful tells the story of Chen Xiaoxi who has been in love with her neighbour and schoolmate Jiang Chen for a long time. The show depicts the ups and downs of school, family and growing up. It is a personal guilty pleasure of mine, though I feel like I only love it becomes it reminds me of my favourite Taiwanese film, Our Times.

Community

Community is a sitcom about a study group at a community college. The group of misfits and the hijinks that they got up to was too funny. I watched this show during the height of the pandemic and it was the perfect show to take my mind off all the pressing issues of the world.

The Nanny

The Nanny is a sitcom starring Fran Drescher as Fran Fine, a Jewish fashionista who becomes the nanny of three children from the New York-British high society. The show was one of my mom and I’s favourite’s when I was younger, and I rewatched it recently. Fran Drescher as Fran Fine is honestly so endearing and hilarious. The humour is hilarious, and Fran and her boss Mr Sheffield have the most funny will they won’t they. And of course a special shout out to the king of sass, Niles!



Saygı: Respect or Exploitation?

This post features heavy discussions of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

When BluTV first released the trailer to their Original Series Saygı, I was beyond excited about it. Saygı is a spin-off of the well-loved and acclaimed dizi, Behzat Ç, and saw the return of Behzat’s writer, Ercan Mehmet Erdem. Though I hadn’t watched Behzat Ç, I was fascinated by the premise of Saygı and the promise of a revenge story that spoke about social issues, such as violence against women in Turkey.

The issue of violence against women, femicide, and mobbing are critical conversation in Turkish culture. In the summer of 2020, thousands of Turkish women took to the streets to protest against gender-based violence and demand that the Turkish government keep the Istanbul Convention in place. So it comes as no surprise that discussion of violence against women has come up again and again in dizilands. From dizis like Yeni Hayat and Menajerim Ara (which addressed the problem in various episodes), to fans who take to social media to protest against scenes that perpetuate the violence, Turkish media is filled with this discussion.

Saygı primarily focuses on Helen and Savaş, a couple, who both are victims of sexual assault. Having killed their abusers, they decide to become vigilantes and take justice into their own hands. Along the way, their paths cross with Ercüment Çözer, a sociopath, who is obsessed with respect. As Savaş, Helen, and Ercüment’s lives become more entwined with each other danger looms. The dizi explores the ramifications of their decisions.  

After watching all of the episodes, it is very clear that Saygı is not your average dizi. When I say that Saygı is a beautiful show I genuinely mean that. The cinematography of the show is honestly quite breathtaking and the actors are great in their roles. However, what made Saygı stand out is the writing. The writers are clearly skilled in their craft. The eight-episode season really allowed the writers to pay attention to the details of the story and characters. The product is a thought-provoking, daring, and truly meaningful series that is filled with symbolism and philosophical discussions. 

Savaş vs. Toxic Masculinity

In a review of the first episode of Saygı, the Youtuber Safé broke down different ideas and discussed the way patriarchy is so ingrained in Turkish culture that it enforces certain gender roles and expectations. Women are expected to be chaste and men exist in a position of authority and dominance. This idea is immediately subverted through the introduction of Helen and Savaş. 

Savaş, unlike the majority of the male characters introduced in the dizi, acts as a foil against toxic masculinity. He respects Helen and her desires. He never assumes that just because he feels affection for her, he has a right to assert dominance over her. This is especially true in their first date where he doesn’t presume he has a right to force himself upon her, kiss her, or have sex with her. Instead Helen initiates their connection.

Savaş is also the first victim of assault between the two, showing the cruel reality that men, no matter how strong, can also be victims of assault. The show never frames Savaş’s assault or his struggle with it as something that he should be ashamed. He instead continuously displays a range of emotions subverting ideas of toxic masculinity that would label him weak.

Helen, on the other hand, is covered in tattoos, speaks her mind, and doesn’t put up with shit from anyone. She is the one that initiates the majority of their relationship and is the one that suggests and enforces their lives as vigilantes. Unlike Savaş, Helen is unaffected by the murders. In fact, she is almost narcissistic, believing that their form of justice is the only form out there.

This goes against the common perception that women are chaste and the more emotional of the genders. The show goes through great lengths to depict Helen and Savaş’s relationship as one that goes against common stereotypical ideas of gender roles.

Savaş, Helen, and The Bard

As Safé states in her review, the Dizi uses a lot of imagery and symbolism. An instance of symbolism (that was clear to me) had to do with the plays that Helen’s Theatre club performs.

Helen as Miranda in Saygı 1.01

The first play is Shakespeare’s The Tempest where Helen plays the part of Miranda, the daughter to Prospero. Helen re-enacts Act 1 Scene 2 of The Tempest where Miranda insults Caliban, Prospero’s “demon” slave. Miranda tells him that though she taught him to talk and tried to teach him to be good there was something bad in his blood. This is the reason that he is enslaved and was locked in a cave. If you know The Tempest you might be aware that Caliban’s enslavement is punishment for trying to rape Miranda.

This speech works in two parts. Firstly, it alludes to Ercüment “Rehabilitation Facility”. Ercüment seems to be trying to teach his prisoners’ respect, but ultimately kills them because teaching them good is meaningless. They are bad to the bone. The other thing that the scene foreshadows is Helen’s path. Hints of this are shown when Savaş tells Helen that he believes Helen and Miranda are the same people.

Ercüment “Rehabilitation Facility”

In the play, Miranda is a naïve character that can see the beauty in the world and is a “slave” to her dad’s games. However, she is brave of heart and is spirited. Helen depicts all of these traits, but the most obvious parallel (and an instance of foreshadowing) comes because when Helen and Miranda both victims of rape attempts. Furthermore, Miranda’s speech to Caliban could show Helen’s eventual relationship with Ercüment, seeing that Prospero and Miranda, like Ercüment and Helen, believe that men cannot be taught to be good and must be punished.

Macbeth is the other play featured in Saygı and is another huge influence on the narrative. Macbeth is a play about a Scottish general, Macbeth, who is told by three witches that he will become King of Scotland. This motivates him to kill the King. However, Macbeth is plagued by worry and is only capable of the murder because his wife, Lady Macbeth, persuades him to do it. When the murder is done Macbeth takes the crown but is filled with paranoia and becomes tyrannical, killing all of those who would stand in his way. Macbeth is also filled with guilt and is haunted by the ghost of Banquo, his closest friend who he killed to keep the Crown. In contrast, Lady Macbeth becomes more hesitant towards murder and tries to talk Macbeth out of it. She becomes consumed by guilt and eventually loses her mind, taking her own life. At the end of the play due to his tyranny, Macbeth has the throne taken from him, and he dies.

Lady Macbeth is often described as Shakespeare’s most bloodthirsty and infamous female character. She plots to murder the king, and is more ruthless and ambitious than her husband, having to manipulate him to commit the murder.

Helen finds herself in a very similar position, being the bloodthirsty one between the two and has to convince Savaş to continue their vigilantism. Savaş, on the other hand, parallels Macbeth and is filled with paranoia and guilt about his actions. Throughout the Dizi, Savaş sees a doe, which could parallel Macbeth’s hallucination of Banquo. 

Miray Daner as the character of Lady Macbeth in Saygı

An interesting thing to note is the character of Banquo in Macbeth. Banquo could be described as Macbeth’s “frenemy” and is the first character to suspect Macbeth of killing the King. When Macbeth decides to kill Banquo to keep the crown, he doesn’t consult his wife, which affects their marriage. In the scenes that follow Lady Macbeth grapples with her guilt.

Similarly, the character that suspects Helen and Savaş is Aybars, Helen’s ex. Savaş decides to confront Aybars without consulting Helen, which adds to the tension in their relationship. Their relationship troubles grow when it is revealed that Savaş killed Aybars. His death is the first time we see Helen be remorseful about murder, really causes a rift in Helen and Savaş love, and asks the question of whether the couple has gone too far.

Reality or Exploitation?

Though Saygı is a deeply ambitious show that wanted to discuss social issues and use philosophical theories and literary allusions to do so, there was something off-putting about the show. As I watched Saygı, it became very evident to me that Saygı somewhat fit into the structure of the exploitation film, in particular the rape-revenge film. 

An exploitation film is a film genre that emerged in the 1920s but was popularised in the 60s-70s due to the relaxing of censorship laws in the U.S. and Europe. An exploitation film is a film that attempted to capitalize on exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content.

The rape-revenge film is sub-genre of the exploitation film. It commonly depicts a character who is raped, recovers from their assault, and exacts a cruel and graphic revenge. Women are most commonly the victim and protagonists of such films. The genre has received much praise by feminists due to the reversal of traditional gender roles and the agency the female character gains through the act of revenge. 

Saygı fits into the story structure of a rape-revenge film by having both Helen and Savaş be assaulted early in the show before following their exploits as they seek revenge. However, it subverts expectations by having Savaş be a victim of sexual assault, going against the image that women are the only victims of such violence. Yet that doesn’t deter from the gross way that Saygı plays into the negative expectations of the genre.

In recent years the genre has come under fire from various critics in regards to the way that the sexual assault is depicted. The violence and the assault is generally graphic and prolonged, turning a story about women rising out of trauma, into something of torture porn. 

Both Savaş and Helen’s assault is depicted in a very graphic and explicit way. While I was somewhat okay with watching the graphic nature of Savaş’s assault (because it took me off guard and subverted my expectations), I hated Helen’s assault. The fact that Helen’s assault is filmed so explicitly and is prolonged, in comparison to Savaş’s assault, left me uncomfortable. Great detail was taken into framing the scenes of Helen’s vulnerable unconscious body, her abuser unclothing himself and her, and Helen’s helpless state as she tried to escape. 

I remember the first time watching the episode and not being able to finish watching the episode after that scene. I remember feeling so uncomfortable by the explicit nature of the scene and remember wondering why it existed. Especially since we had just gotten a scene of an assault in the previous episode. I do not believe that Helen’s assault was necessary to construct a plausible motivation for her revenge. With Savaş’s assault already established, with various scenes depicting how women are mistreated in Turkey, and by showing Helen to be aware of these issues was enough for me. In my opinion, all of these things could have bubbled up in her life creating a motive, especially since Helen is depicted as a volatile character. 

Various forms of media have depicted disturbing and explicit scenes of rape and assault. Books like the A Song of Ice and Fire series (the books that Game of Thrones is based on), TV-like Thirteen Reasons Why, and films like The Nightingale have depicted it. When asked about the decision to add these scenes the writers, directors, and show runners all answered with the same thing: that it is something that happens in reality and so it is important to depict it.

Perhaps this is the reason that the scenes of assault in Saygı are depicted so graphically and gratuitously, because it is a Turkish reality. Yet, by trying to drive home a message about the reality of sexual assault, the show’s disturbing and graphic scenes become something of torture porn, which does more damage than good.

The other reason that I was very critical is that it becomes a black and white motive without depicting the reality of the effects that assault has on people. The assault of the protagonist in a rape-revenge film is generally used as a plot device that is a short cut for character development. It allows the audience to see the character go from a state of being a happy-go-lucky/naïve/innocent/helpless to one that is heartless/cruel/a badass without truly developing the change. Sansa’s character in Game of Thrones is a perfect example of this. The plot of the rape-revenge film, while it may seem to empower, does not depict the reality of sexual assault on its victims or the after-effects of it. 

In an interview with the showrunner of Hannibal, Bryan Fuller, he discussed different reasons why he refuses to write scenes of rape and assault in his shows. One thing that he mentions is that he feels like:

TV inadequately addresses the aftermath of something like sexual assault, trying to wrap up the events for the character who experienced them “in 42 minutes.”

Bryan Fuller, “TV Showrunners Talk Rape-As-Character-Development and What Needs to Happen to Stop the Lazy Use of This Trope”

This is exactly what we see happen in Saygı with little of the aftermath of Savaş and Helen’s sexual assault explored. Neither Savaş nor Helen depict any form of PTSD or change to who they are as a result of the assault. The only thing that the assault does is fuel their need for revenge. The show never truly tries to understand the vulnerable position that victims of sexual assault find themselves in. 

It is important to note, that victims of sexual assault react to their assault in different ways. While being assaulted, some may fight back, freeze, or flee. The Counselling Centre at Loyola University lists various ways in which people react to assault, from becoming scared of everything to having flashbacks and reliving the moment again and again, to being depressed or blaming one’s self for the assault.

Savaş and Helen react the same way under duress, fighting back. After that, there are little scenes that address the aftermath of their assault. Though it may seem like we see instances of it when Savaş locks himself in his room, acts out on the bus, or has flashbacks, the writers tie these experiences more to to Savaş’s guilt for killing the taxi driver rather than to his sexual assault.

The other issue that I had in regards to Savaş’s assault was the fact that the taxi driver that assaults him is written as a gay coded man. In her review, Safé points out that the scene may be used to discuss social hypocrisy in Turkish culture and the way that homophobia and the patriarchy are enforced.

While this may be true, I could not help but notice that the taxi driver is the only character that is written as being gay coded. In a Youtube video called “Sexual Assault of Men Played for Laughs”, the Youtuber, Popular Culture Detective explains that if the assault is conducted by a gay coded men it enforces the idea that gay men are predatory and a danger.

If the perpetrator is coded as a gay man, or a character of ambiguous sexual identity then sexual assault is usually framed as a product of some uncontrollable sexual desire, which then works to demonize gay men by directly linking them to predatory behaviour. It’s made worse if, as is often the case, the rapist is the only gay coded character in the whole production.

Pop Culture Detective, Sexual Assault of Men Played for Laughs – Part 1 Male Perpetrators

 A Violent Contradiction.

The other issue I had when it came to the conversations of sexual assault had to do with the various instances of contradiction. For example, in the first episode, Ercüment meets a woman in a bar who tells him about one of her colleagues who has been harassing her. In the scenes that follow we see what Ercüment believes should happen to men who mob women, he imprisons the man in his rehabilitation facility. Through this, it is clear that the act of mobbing and harassment is bad.

Immediately following the scene Savaş is introduced, and it is revealed that he has been attending Helen’s play for eight days straight. He has been doing so in hopes of seeing her, though she is not aware of his presence. He has been doing exactly what Ercüment condemned earlier and yet here it is framed as an act of romance. Savaş and Helen’s relationship is depicted as this great romantic love story, yet it is one that starts with the act of stalking.

Another example of this stark contrast comes in the form of the scene where Savaş is assaulted. In the scene, Savaş is talking to the taxi driver who is discussing things that make Savaş uncomfortable. Though Savaş tries to get the driver to stop talking, the driver ignores him. This is exasperated when the driver reaches over and grabs Savaş. Savaş tries to fight off the taxi driver and eventually kills him in an act of self-defence. We are supposed to empathise with Savaş, seeing he is the victim, and the taxi driver is in the wrong. This is why the scene where Helen confronts Aybars about Savaş falls flat to me.

In the scene in question, Helen is agitated by the fact that Aybars got Savaş fired. Aybars confesses to Helen that he was worried about her safety. (In a previous episode Helen has a bruise on her face from her acts of vigilantism and Aybars assumed Savaş hit her). Helen reacts aggressively by pushing Aybars before grabbing him by the groin. She tells him that she can defend herself and demands that he quit the play. Aybars is clearly in pain and doesn’t want Helen touching him, which he articulates by asking her to stop. He eventually gives in to her demands and she leaves.

Helen confronting her ex-boyfriend Aybars

In essence, Helen is enacting the same form of violence that Savaş was a victim to in the first episode, yet here it is framed differently. Here the camera immediately pans towards Helen and Aybars and the music picks up in a way that makes this scene seem thrilling. Aybars’ pleas are ignored and even though he finds himself in Savaş’s place, the narrative does not ask the audience to empathise with him. Here Helen is the character that the narrative depicts empathetically and the scene is almost framed as an act of “girl power” with Helen being the one to assert authority and dominance.

While Helen’s confrontation with Aybars could be used to create similarities between Ercüment and Helen or to show Helen’s loss of humanity, it still is a very horrible scene. This is especially true seeing the show takes such lengths to condemn acts of sexual violence. In the same video essay by the Popular Culture Detective they state:

“When media depicts the sexual assault of a man, even a bad man as ‘getting what they deserve’, it perpetuates rape acceptance.”

The fact that this is the message in a show that seems to be condemning sexual assault is very upsetting and normalises assault in a country that already has such a huge problem with it.

Enter: the Nazis

As previously established, another marker of the exploitation film is the fact that it exploits current trends, which is apparent in the depiction of sexual assault. However, the more I watched Saygı the more apparent it became that the writers of the dizi were appealing to the rise of films and TV that depict alternative Nazi history or neo-Nazis. From TV shows like Hunters, Watchmen, The Plot Against America, The Man in High Castle to films like Jojo Rabbit, Resistance, BlacKkKlansman and even superhero media like Captain America, media is being saturated by such stories. 

Within the Turkish context of Saygı, the introduction of Ercüment’s grandmother as a Nazi sympathiser and Hitler’s mistress was confusing. From what I can tell, Turkey did not play a huge part during WWII and there were little ties between Turkey and Nazi Germany. However, that being said, Turkey could currently have an issue with neo-Nazis and Hitler sympathisers, and the writers of Saygı could be depicting that reality. Whatever the reason for the introduction of Ercüment’s grandmother, the fact that her character was tied to Nazi Germany left me confused. 

I didn’t understand the importance that was placed on her being a Nazi and how it added to Ercüment’s character arc. Most people I have talked to about it have attributed it as a way to explain Ercüment’s character, that perhaps Ercüment’s actions reflect his upraising under the care of a cruel and unloving Nazi. Perhaps there was supposed to be a connection made between Hitler killing his dogs to the senseless acts of violence that occur every day in Turkey, including to animals. Another reason that has been suggested is that it adds depth and darkness to the story, as well as giving a fresh twist to the evil grandmother trope. 

Meghan O’Keefe, at “Decider”, wrote an article about popular culture and the reimagining of Nazi History. She argued that shows like Hunters, The Plot Against America and The Man in High Castle often depict Nazis as cartoon-like villains. This showed the fractured understanding that writers have of Nazis and the threat they posed (and still pose). 

When Hunters was released it received a lot of criticism for its depiction of the Holocaust and Nazis. One of these criticisms came from the Auschwitz Memorial, who stated that the show was historically inaccurate, dangerous, and made the Nazis into a caricature.

The show’s creator David Weil responded by stating that the show was a dramatic series with fictional characters and not a documentary. Thus it didn’t have to remain historically accurate.

To this, the Auschwitz Memorial replied by reaffirming that this attitude was disrespectful and dangerous.

The superhero genre is one that is rift with alternative Nazi history. The most popular character that has entered popular culture when it comes to this discussion is probably Steve Rogers, Captain America. However, it is important to note that the  Captain America comics was created by two Jewish men, Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. Captain America was first introduced during WWII. Thus, his interaction with Hitler was the deliberate choice of two Jewish men who wanted to see a super-hero punch Hitler as well as encourage the war efforts during WWII.

Seeing I am neither Jewish nor do I have any family who was involved in WWII, I don’t feel like I am in the position to truly state if Saygı’s re-imagining of Nazi History is disrespectful. However, I will say that while watching the show I was very confused about its importance to the story. I firmly believe that the same point could have been made without the addition of Ercüment’s grandmother being a Nazi sympathiser and Hitler’s mistress.

Much like how assault is depicted in Saygı, we see the introduction of Hitler used as a plot device and a short cut for Ercüment’s character development. Ultimately for me, this deterred from a very good show, added nothing to the story, and could potentially be deemed disrespectful to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust. 

The Ending (or Lack of One Therefore)

All of this ties to my final issue with Saygı: the ending and the presence of Savaş’s doe. Various folks have questioned what the doe symbolised in the narrative. Was it supposed to be an allusion to Shakespeare? A representation of Savaş’s deteriorating mental health? Perhaps a symbol of innocence, justice, or hope?

The way that the doe functions in the narrative and is framed within various scenes is very reminiscent to the popular American TV series Hannibal. One could argue that the writers of Saygı were paying a homage to Hannibal or that they were inspired by it.

Hannibal 1.06 / Saygı 1.02

However, others still could make an argument that through the doe we see another element of exploitation, plagiarism. All of this ultimately doesn’t matter. Though it is funny when you take into consideration what Bryan Fuller said about assault and how Saygı, a show seemingly inspired in part by Fuller’s work, depicted it.

Whatever the doe symbolises, it ultimately didn’t work for me, especially in regards to the end of the show. At the end of the show, Helen has decided to side with Ercüment and leave Savaş. Savaş finds himself captured in Ercüment’s rehabilitation facility, with only a window to the outside world for company. He looks out his window and sees the doe finding a moment of reprieve before Helen is somehow able to kill the deer.

Savaş watching Helen kill the doe.

This is pivotal because it shows the change in Helen and Savaş’s character. Helen is now depicted as a character that has sided with Ercüment and has lost her humanity. Savaş, the most moral and “normal” character between the trio is in prison, with no hope of escape. We see allusions to The Tempest, with Ercüment and Helen almost playing the father-daughter duo of Prospero and Helen, and Savaş in the role of Caliban. 

Yet, it didn’t work for me here because while the message in The Tempest may be that demonic creatures like Caliban cannot become good through education, this is not the reality when it comes to equality and human rights. For a patriarchal and violent society to reach a point where equality exists, education is vital. 

Truth be told humans are not inherently bad. The ideology of the patriarchy is not something that people are born with, it is something that people are born into. It is something that is taught every day. It is taught when boys are told not to cry or seem weak, when girls are taught that their place is the domestic sphere, when men aren’t held accountable for their actions, and when women are expected to put up with violence.

People need to be educated on different elements of human rights and feminism so that they might be able to unpack it, unlearn it, and do away with it. In doing so they will be able to raise a generation of children who aren’t victims to the cruelty of the patriarchy.

It is only through education that equality can truly be found. 

Additionally, I feel like the way that writers of Saygı toed the line in making dizi edgy left me disappointed. Saygı ends on a note that would make it seem like a tragedy. In fact, the dizi utilises most of the nine elements of Shakespearean Tragedy. 

I read once that the great appeal of a tragedy is seeing a character go through something horrific that the audience can empathise, even if they don’t succeed. Yet, catharsis can still be found. The catharsis comes from the writer telling the audience that though terrible things happened, the story is still important and has meaning.

For me, Saygı felt like the opposite. It felt like the writers were saying that the world sucks and nothing matters. It doesn’t matter if you pursue something good or bad, your actions are meaningless. It felt like the show was a huge fuck you to the audience, which is pretty apt way to feel considering the ending.

Ercüment in the final shot of Saygı.

While I commend the writers, directors, and creators of Saygı for attempting to discuss such an important issue of violence against women in Turkey, I can’t help but be critical of the way it was depicted in Saygı. For a show named “Respect” the show seemed deeply disrespectful to various individuals, exploiting their plights for the sake of storytelling. The explicit scenes of assault, the homophobia, and the use of Nazi imagery made me feel like the show was exploiting the topic rather than speaking into it in a nuanced way. I believe that Saygı (and media in general) still has a long way to go in depicting the reality of assault and gendered violence.

Further Readings:

Netflix and the Lost Diasporic Identity

Netflix has a problem when it comes to depicting the diasporic identity. This statement may seem highly controversial when you take into consideration the multitudes of films and television that Netflix has produced that deal with the issue specifically. From the likes of To All The Boys I Ever Loved to the Masters of None television series to the countless stand up specials about this issue, Netflix is brimming with content about the issue. However that being said, Netflix still has a problem when it comes to depicting the diasporic identity. No better example to mind other than the choice to adapt two novels, Yangsze Choo’s The Ghost Bride and Sandhya Menon’s When Dimple Met Rishi, as a television series.

When Dimple Met Rishi and the Lost Indian – American Experience

When I heard that When Dimple Met Rishi was to be adapted into a television series, I was fascinated. The book is about two Indian-American teens whose parents attempt to arrange their marriage even though they are completely opposite to each other. While I am not a huge fan of the book, I know that many love the book and was keen to see what Netflix would do. What caught my interest even more about the Netflix adaption was the fact that it was announced when Netflix India unveiled 17 new original productions. When Dimple Met Rishi got a new title Mismatched and was set to be released on November 20, 2020. You see the thing is When Dimple Met Rishi, though it is about Indian characters and is written by an Indian woman, is set in California and is about the being Indian-American identity. 

In an interview with Bustle, Sandhya Menon, the author, said that she wrote the book so that, “brown teens need to see themselves falling in love, making mistakes, dabbling in art, and being happy.” She continued to explain that there is not much good representation for young Indian-American people, and she wanted to write a novel where the main characters Indian heritage is central and depicted in a positive light.

The Indian – American identity is vastly different from the Indian one. 

A study was conducted by Meenakshi Gigi Durham to understand how South Asian female teens negotiated their cultural identity and the impact of media on it. In her study, Durham noted that the participants of the study consumed both American and India media. However, her participants found that American and Indian media were fantastical because they did not reflect the reality of the Indian-American experience. This was large because the girls saw themselves as outsiders to the White American experience presented in Hollywood films as well as the Indian one presented in Bollywood. 

However, when movies about the South Asian diaspora (movies like Bend it Like Beckham, Mississippi Masala, or American Desi) were discussed the participants found they had an emotional connection with these films. These types of narratives were important to the participant’s lives because it reflected ideas of hybridization that the participants negotiated in their everyday lives. 

Rather than attempting to find a place in both cultural spheres, they recognized the need to assert a new identity position that, in a sense, rejected the options offered by Indian as well as American media texts.

Meenakshi Gigi Durham, Constructing the “New Ethnicities”: Media, Sexuality, and Diaspora Identity in the Lives of South Asian Immigrant Girls

This is why I was so fascinated by Netflix decision to adapt When Dimple Met Rishi is an Indian setting. When Dimple Met Rishi is about the Indian – American experience, that was the entire reason that Menon wrote the novel. Yet, Netflix was willing to disregard those ideas in their version of the story. However, I was willing to watch the show to see how the book was adapted for Indian audiences.

The summer program in San Francisco is relocated to Jaipur, Rishi’s decision to agree to the arranged marriage is less about appeasing his parents and more about not wanting to have divorce like his parents, and almost all negotiations of the Indian-American identity was (understandably) thrown out the window.

While I enjoyed some of the differences that the Mismatched brought (such as giving Rishi a friend or the introduction of Zeenath Karim a mature student in the program), it felt like the folks at Netflix wanted to use When Dimple Met Rishi as a foundation to build an Indian version of the teen show in the vein of Sex EducationNever Have I Ever, Julie and the Phantoms, Derry Girls, or even Aşk 101(Love 101). The show is filled with stereotypical characters and tropes that you would find in most teen dramas from the jock, bully/social media influencer, the token lesbian, the girl who is playing at being rich when she isn’t, a love triangle, the list continues.

Poulomi Das in her review of Mismatched argued that while the writers of Mismatched might have been trying to copy something of shows like Sex Education or Never Have I Ever, Mismatched does not have the same “emotional depth or narrative agility” as those showsThe lack could be attributed to the lack of episodes (Mismatched had 6 episodes in comparison to Never Have I Ever’s 10) or time restraint (Sex Education was about 45 minutes, and Mistmached was about 30 ). It could also be attributed to the writers being too ambitious and adding to many story arcs to carefully cover in the six episodes. Many things could be attributed to a lack of emotional depth and narrative agility.

However, I would argue the trouble began when the folks at Netflix decided to take When Dimple Met Rishi out of its original context and setting and transplant it into India. Based on various interviews, when Menon created her story she carefully thought about certain aspects of the narrative in orders bring proper thought, nuance, and emotional depth into the Indian-American identity. However, these elements are lost in the Indian setting and the emotional depth ceases to exist. For example, in both the show and the book, Rishi draws an original comic book character. In the book, he eventually cosplays as this character at a comic con.

The character, Aditya the Sungod, is a superhero that Rishi creates based on Hanuman, a Hindu GodRishi drawing the character and eventually cosplaying as him is important because it shows Rishi being proud of his culture and religion, depicting Menon’s desire to show the Indian culture in a positive light. However, in Mismatched Aditya the Sungod is replaced with a generic looking superhero and all meaning, depth, about navigating the Indian and American conversation is completely lost. Additionally, having Rishi be proud of his religion and culture makes little sense in the Indian context, because it is already an integral part of Indian culture.

In Das’s review, she described the Mismatched as a “wasted opportunity”. For me, this is largely due to Netflix’s decision to conflate the Indian identity with the diaspora. Mismatched could have been a show that was added to Netflix growing list of content that deals with the diasporic identity. By stripping the show of its Indian-American roots, a lot of emotional depth is lost and we are left with a show that is just a pale replicate of many other teen dramas that have come before it.

The Ghost Bride and the Lost Peranakan Culture           

The Ghost Bride is perhaps one of the most famous novels to come out of Malaysia. Written by Malaysian-Chinese author Yangsze Choo, the book is about a young woman living in colonial Malaysia who receives a proposal that would help her family rise out of poverty. She must become a ghost bride and marry the deceased son of a wealthy family. The young woman finds herself being drawn to another world, the Chinese afterlife, that she must escape before being lost in the ghost world forever.

The setting of The Ghost Bride, Malaysia, is very important and shapes the overall narrative and characters. Malaysia is a multi-cultural country that is “divided along local ethnic lines”. The largest of these ethnic groups is the Malay population, followed by the Chinese-Malaysian population and the Indian-Malaysian population. Due to the way that Malaysia is structured, there has been a certain lack of cultural assimilation of ethnic minorities, which have allowed Malaysia to grow to be a multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multilingual society. 

Specifically, the novel is set in Malacca, a port city in Malaysia that in the words of Choo has a “fascinating past, especially since it changed hands so often.” The main character in The Ghost Bride is Peranakan or Baba-Nyonya, a “historical immigrant group that assimilated with the indigenous culture of Malaya or Indonesia”. Most people that claim Peranakan culture in Malaysia are of Chinese descent who married local women and adopted their culture. The result is a Malay-Influenced Chinese identity that is distinct from other Chinese immigrants in Malaysia. 

Choo did not choose to set her story in Malacca or make her characters Peranakan on a whim. In various interviews, she has explained that she set the novel in Malacca because her Uncle lived there and that she visited the Peranakan Museum in Singapore for research. Furthermore, in her notes, Choo explains that the Chinese immigrants in Malacca at the time mostly spoke dialects like Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka and Hainanese. Thus, “Choo resisted using the pinyin Mandarin Romanisation system for their names”. 

However, the Netflix adaption of the series fails to depict this reality. The adaption of the book was rolled out when Netflix announced its first three Original Taiwanese Productions. These shows were all filmed in Mandarin Chinese. The Ghost-Bride is a Taiwanese-Malaysian Production. The casting decisions for the main characters reflect this because of four main characters in the show, two are Taiwanese, one is Chinese, with only of the actors being Malaysian-Chinese. 

When the directors of The Ghost Bride was asked about the choice to film the show in Mandarin (instead of English, seeing the book was written in English, or one of the other Chinese Dialects), they explained the decision was made to “cast a much wider net globally in terms of acceptance.” 

However, as Karim Raslan of the “South China Morning Post” points out “language is political and will be politicised”. He explains that while the choice to film the series in Mandarin might appeal commercially, the “homogenisation” of Chinese culture forces the show to suffer. The Ghost Bride is stripped of an authentic Malaysian narrative that is characterised by the uniqueness of the hybridity of culture, faith, and language found in colonial Malacca. As Raslan points out the Peranakan experience is to rebuke the idea the Chinese culture is monolithic, to film the show in Mandarin and to cast non – Malaysian actors are to against that idea completely.

Conclusion

Netflix is a mammoth of a streaming service that is constantly expanding its library of original content and the countries where content is produced. It is a streaming service that seems to understand the importance of representing certain underrepresented communities. Yet, these ideas are not present when it comes to their adaptations of The Ghost Bride and When Dimple Met Rishi. The choice to appeal to the wider audience/market as found in The Ghost Bride, to conflate the diasporic identity with the national one as found in Mismatched, to cast no Koreans actresses in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, shows that Netflix still has a long way to go in understanding the diaspora. 

Menajerimi Ara 10. Bölüm Review: or the End of an Era

Let me start by saying that I have been hesitant to watch Menajerimi Ara ever since the introduction of Emir and Ekin Atalar taking over as the screenwriter. I didn’t want to judge Menajerimi Ara due to these changes, seeing I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt.

However, being someone who watched Erkenci Kus and someone who is a huge fan of the DC superhero films, I know how new writers and directors can greatly change the original vision of a movie or show. Thus, though I wanted to enjoy the latest episode of Menajerimi Ara, I found it difficult to watch. In the words of @heviwillnot on Twitter, “the more I write [about episode 10], the more I’m realising they all end with “it doesn’t make sense”. 

Menajerimi Ara is a show that advertised itself as a look into the world of Diziland through the lens of a film agency. The first few episodes introduced and followed the lives of the various agents at Ego Agency all the while telling the story of Dicle and Barış (who some could argue were the main protagonists of the show). While it did all of this, Menajerimi Ara managed to have some pretty iconic Turkish talent guest star from the likes of Burçin Terzioğlu, Çağatay Ulusoy, and Gökçe Bahadır amongst many other huge names. From what I can tell, this is what drew audiences in and had them loving the dizi.

However, ever since the end of the 8th bölüm, the show has taken a turn that I cannot comprehend. The show seems to be revolving solely around Dicle, Beren, Emir and Barış (though he is being significantly side-lined in his own dizi).

We are seeing less and less of the rest of the agents at Ego Agency, unless their plots tie into Dicle, Beren, Emir and Barış’s lives. The guest stars aren’t as famous as the stars that came before the ninth bölüm, and they seem to mostly be written to advertise various products.

This has become more and more rampant in the dizi and makes me wonder if the show is having budgetary issues. The other issue that I had is that it felt like so many of the characters were caricatures of themselves.

Character Types & Menajerimi Ara

There are several character types in fiction. There are the protagonist and the antagonist. Some characters act as foils to other characters and other characters that are there to symbolise something. Two important character types groups include the dynamic and static character, and the round and flat character. 

A dynamic character is a character that goes through a significant internal change throughout the story. The change is typical because of the conflict the character faces. Typically this character is the main protagonist and their conflict is the conflict of the story. In comparison, a static character is a character that does not change or evolve. They maintain the same personality and outlook throughout the story and are usually secondary characters.

source : PlotBoilers

Then we have the round character versus the flat character. A round character is a character that is complex and layered. However, unlike the dynamic character, they do not go through any changes. A flat character, on the other hand, is a character that is one-dimensional and is often noted for having one or two traits that make up their whole personality. Flat characters are almost all static characters, but not all static characters are flat. 

source: flatriniami

While watching Menajerimi Ara the characters that I would expect to go through the most changes and be the epitome of a round character would potentially be Dicle, Barış, Kıraç, and maybe the other agents at Ego Agency. Meral and Emrah are some of the flat/static characters.

A great example of a round character in Menajerimi Ara is Dicle in the seventh episode. The episode plot shows the outcome of Dicle resigning from Ego Agency. By the end of that episode, due to her conflict with Kıraç, Dicle goes through her internal change and decides that she cannot prioritise the men in her life and must look after herself. We see Dicle grow and go through an internal change, that continues throughout the rest of the season. 

Watching the tenth bölüm of Menajerimi Ara felt like the complete opposite of that. It felt like seeing the definition of the phrase “one step forward two steps back” unfold in front of my very eyes. The writers establish one thing, before completely undermining it later, which left little space for any internal change. 

We see Barış, Feris, Kıraç all, rightfully, get upset at Beren for putting Dicle’s career and the agency at risk, only to later ask Beren for forgiveness.

We see Dicle stand up for herself against Beren, only to later ask everyone forgive Beren. We know that Barış has continuously prioritised Dicle’s opinion, yet in this episode, he listens to Beren instead of Dicle. 

So, to clarify, my apprehension about this episode is not about Emir, Dicle, Barış or my feelings about the lack of DicBar. It is not about a ship war for me, its about the fact that the story does not make sense because previously established plot points are being discarded to create drama.

I would also argue that one of the blunders of the tenth bölüm is how so many of the characters, including the previously established round characters, become flat characters. These characters who were previously written with nuance and layers are now written with one or two traits making up their entire personality. Dicle became a character that had strong moments but was sweet and kind to everyone. Barış lost his backbone and became a character that believed whatever others were saying. Beren and Gülin were depicted as just evil (with such strong sway over the plot). 

Beren the B*tch and Forgiveness

If there was one takeaway that various people I follow had about the 10th Bölüm of Menajerimi Ara it was that Beren’s character and plot largely overwhelmed the tenth bölüm… and that she is a bitch

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind if Beren is depicted as villainous. Do I think it’s overdone when it comes to dizi plots? Yes. Would I like to see her character do something else? Yes. However, how Beren was able to put Dicle’s life and work at risk and face no repercussions was exhausting. The fact that Beren was able to get forgiveness from her father, Barış and keep her job, in @heviwillnot’s words, “doesn’t make sense”. The fact that Beren used the good graces and forgiveness given to her to continue meddling in Dicle’s life was tedious. 

I would argue that Beren being forgiven by everyone points at mischaracterization of Dicle, seeing it is Dicle that asks them to forgive her. Dicle has been established as a layered and multifaceted character. She is sweet and kind and doesn’t want to cause trouble. Yet, she is also established as a character that is willing to do what it takes to grow in the sector. 

Thus, having Dicle ask everyone to forgive Beren, makes no sense for multiple reasons. Mostly because Beren has wronged Dicle and put her job at risk. It would be one thing if Dicle didn’t want to irritate Beren because she didn’t want Beren telling everyone that she is Kıraç’s daughter. However, it is Dicle’s selflessness led her to forgive Beren. As previously established, in previous episode Dicle goes through a journey where she realises that she can’t be as selfless as she is. By having her act so selflessly, we see Dicle regress instead of progress. 

When it comes to Beren’s forgiveness we also need to talk about Barış. Barış has confusing romantic feelings for Dicle. That was the whole point of him looking through his album of pictures of her, that’s why he broke up with Beren and that’s why he wanted to meet up with Dicle. 

Dicle telling Barış that he needs to talk to Beren is what causes him to reconcile with Beren. However, this decision makes no sense when you take into consideration Barış kicking his brother out for hurting Dicle. Even when Dicle talked to him about his brother, Barış still didn’t want to forgive him. So to have Barış be the one asking for forgiveness is really strange and doesn’t make sense. Barış has previously been depicted as a person who was Dicle’s love interest, a protagonist in the show, and someone who would defend Dicle. However, as the episodes continue we see less of that Barış.

Emir the Hero and Housing Issues

A key issue of conflict in this week’s episode was the fact that Dicle is having housing issues. In the episode with Burçin Terzioglu, we learn that Dicle and Meral are being kicked out of their house. I could not help but notice the way that the audience learns of this information. It is situated right after Burçin Terzioglu makes a speech about women being told that they don’t understand things, about violent thinking against women, and about women existing, working, and not keeping silent.       

Right after this powerful speech, Meral is told she needs to move out because the landlord’s son is coming back. Meral knows this is a lie, which is her literally depicting Burçin’s word by showing that women understand what is happening. She is able to learn that her landlord wants to kick them out because neighbours have seen Barış stay the night. The housing issue has carried on through the past two episodes, with Barış offering to help Dicle out, but her turning down his help because she wants to deal with it herself. In the latest episode, Emir is able to fix Dicle’s housing issues and I hated it. 

Part of the reason that I didn’t like the fact that it was Emir that came to Dicle’s rescue, is that the reason that the landlord was kicking Dicle and Meral out is so common in patriarchal societies and is rooted in the patriarchy.

It is rooted in a society that believes women must be kept pure (instead of teaching men how to treat women), in a society where everyone has to say on female autonomy beside the woman herself, and in a society that doesn’t listen to the female voices. With this and Burçin Terzioglu speech in mind, I thought the writers of Menajerimi Ara would use this plot point to discuss important issues. 

You might be aware that I originally presumed Barış was going to help Dicle with her housing issues.

However, after much thought, I came to the conclusion that based on the fact that they made Dicle so independent and reluctant to get his help, this was unlikely.

I then thought how powerful it would have been if Feris helped Dicle because we could have seen two powerful women come together to slowly chip away at dated and patriarchal ideas. 

Another idea would have been to have Kıraç help Dicle and Meral. This would have allowed us to see Kıraç and Dicle bond, as well as showing another way for men to interact with their daughters. It would have shown that daughters are people that can be trusted and that it not them that needs to change, but society. 

However, by having Emir be the one to save Dicle in her housing issues we seeing all of Dicle’s characterization are thrown away so Dicle can exist as a damsel in distress who needs to be saved. 

source : unknown (translated by heviwillnot on twitter)


Menajerimi Ara the End of an Era

With the focus of Menajerimi Ara shifting and focusing more on the drama between Dicle, Beren, Emir and Barış and focusing on Peri Masalı instead of the guest stars we are seeing a new era of storytellingWe are seeing old plot point being discarded (e.g. Barış’s issues with being a celebrity, Barış and Dicle’s relationship, the focus on feminist issues etc.) to focus on relationship drama. 

While there is nothing inherently wrong with these elements of storytelling… they are not for me. I was drawn to the world of Menajerimi Ara due to the promise of seeing this spunky and happy character played by Ahsen attempt to conquer diziland with wondrous guest stars being featured every week. I was promised to see Barış be some form of the main character. I was promised important conversations of feminism. What we have been getting in the past two episodes is not that. 

That being said, I’ve decided to stop watching Menajerimi Ara (and obviously will stop blogging and giffing it) because all I have is anger and frustration to the way the show is being handled. I would like to thank you to everyone who interacted with me on social media about Menajerimi Ara and DicBar. Than you to those who read my blog posts and those who stole my gifs. You have made this experience beautiful.

To the original writers of the show thank you for adapting such a beautiful world allowing us to enter it. 

To Ahsen Eroğlu, Happy Late Birthday! I hope your life is filled with success and the number 22. Thank you for bringing such joy to Dicle. 

To Deniz Can Aktaş I hope you eat as much healthy food as you want. Look after your hands, arms and hair they are a gift. Thank you for playing Barış.

           

           

           

Menajerimi Ara 9. Bölüm Review: or the Art of Adaptation

The newest episode of Menajerimi Ara was perhaps the most successful episode that has aired in a long time. The change in the broadcasting day caused the ratings to skyrocket and put it on the top 5 trending things on Twitter.

📈 Ratings: Star TV’s #MenajerimiAra scores big moving to Sundays! Originally tweeted by Dizilah 🇹🇷 (@dizilah) on October 19, 2020.

However, responses to the episode and the İzleme to the next episode were less than positive. Many fans, myself included, were unhappy. The reason that the episode was so lacklustre could be attributed to various things. It could be due to the fact there was a change in airdate with the episode airing two days earlier than it was supposed to. It could be that this episode is supposed to be a filler episode. It could because Ekin Atalar took over as writer of the show.    

Another reason could be that the latest episode and preview were a marketing strategy to boost viewership and engagement by adding drama. The newest episode certainly did that, causing the show to trend and the İzleme certainly left audiences riled up and in arms. 

There could be various reasons for why the writing of the newest episode of Menajerimi Ara was so uninspiring. However, I believe that the secret to the latest episode of Menajerimi Ara and the İzleme is because Menajerimi Ara is a remake of the French television series, Dix pour cent. 

The Art of Adaptation and Fidelity

We live in a world where there is an influx of global remakes. Turkey has taken remakes by the horn, accounting for countless success and failures. Yet, the art of adaptation is not as easy as one would make it seem. In an article called “A Crime Drama Between Fidelity and Cultural Specificity: Audiences’ Reception of Cinayet, the Turkish Remake of Forbrydelsen” author Yeşim Kaptan studied the failure of Cinayet the Turkish remake of the Swedish series Forbrydelsen. 

She noted that Cinayet followed the same style, form, and content of the original Swedish show. Cinayet was a word for word remake of Forbrydelsen, which garnered much criticism. The same criticism was made of Galip the Turkish remake of Monk, which critics argued was a “translated replica, rather than a localised remake”.

 

While studying the reception to Cinayet, Kaptan noted that the Turkish audience wanted a remake that represented the culture of Turkey while remaining a faithful adaption of Forbrydelsen.1

According to Kaptan, a remake is only successful if the production is faithful to the original text while Turkish specific norms, values, and issues are represented.

Yet, Kaptan explains that a remake of a show will undoubtedly because of the choices made by the local production team, in an attempt to localise it. The local production team has to keep in mind copyright law, as well as the local financial and filming laws. Thus, even if a show is a replica, there will be some differences. 

İrem İnceoğlu article, “Gender Representation in Turkish TV”, expanded on how Turkish television changed details when adapting shows. LGBT characters, characters who were involved in affairs, or female characters often went through extensive changes to strip away things that could be seen as abnormal or immoral by RTÜK or Turkish audiences.2

A large portion of İrem İnceoğlu article focused on the way that dizis, regardless of whether they were remakes or not, portrayed female characters. She argued that female characters were either love interest, mothers, or women who were co-dependent and related to the home life. Men, on the other hand, were written as emotionless fighters who were violent to some degree. İnceoğlu study found that four-fifths of roles depicting violence were written for men and two-thirds of roles depicting crying were written for women.

Marriage is often depicted as the goal, with emphasis put on relationships. However, İnceoğlu argued that there has been a shift to depicting women existing in the workplace, and men being caretakers. Yet, she noted that female characters in power and money related jobs were frowned upon.

The Localised Remake or A Replica?

All of these ideas are important while trying to understand the success or failure of Menajerimi Ara. Much like Cinayet, Galip, or many other Turkish remakes that exist, Menajerimi Ara may seem to be a word for word remake of its French counterpart. The plot points of 1 – 7 Bölüm follow faithfully the first seven episodes of Dix pour cent. Exceptions were made for the 8th Bölüm, which followed the 6th episode of season 2 of Dix pour cent. This change was probably made to coincide the 8th Bölüm airing with the Turkish International Film Festival. 

As İnceoğlu pointed out certain things were written out of Menajerimi Ara to abide by RTÜK laws and Turkish valuesIn Menajerimi Ara, both Feris and Emrah are depicted as heterosexual. Jülide is not Black and facing discrimination. Gülin is not a middle-aged woman who is in love with Kıraç. Beren is Mayda’s daughter from a previous marriage, unlike in the French show. Kıraç’s character is also re-written to not have an affair, with Dicle mother while Mayda is pregnant with Beren.

In Menajerimi Ara we see a character from Dix pour cent being split into two different characters, Beren and Barış.

The Adaption as a Good?

However, the writers of Menajerimi Ara are capable of adaption, telling nuanced stories, and discussing important feminist ideas. They are also capable of not holding themselves to the tropes and plots that are so common in dizis.

We see all of this through Dicle’s character. Menajerimi Ara follows Dicle’s life. Dicle is educated and a resourceful young woman who is so endearing, making her an easy protagonist to like. Camille, Dicle’s French counterpart, is one of the many characters that the Dix pour cent follows. Additionally, unlike Dicle, she is not educated and floated between interests before working at the agency.

By making Dicle educated women the writers managed to subvert the trope that constricts so many female characters in Dizis, seeing she is not associated to the house. Dicle being educated is especially interesting because, in comparison Barış, she is the more cultured one in the relationship. Additionally, Dicle chooses to work over her relationship with Barış, pushing aside the idea that female characters must be in a romantic relationship. Dicle goal and desires to work is such a powerful decision and has garnered a positive response by the fans. 

We also see the writers ability to balance adaption, feminism, and Turkish values, through the way that Feris and Burçin Terzioğlu. Through Feris we see the writers work to abide by RTÜK laws by not making Feris gay or philandering. Instead, they focus their attention on another issue in Turkey, by depicting as a work orientated woman and her struggles.

Through Burçin Terzioğlu’s we see the writers ability to adapt a feminist speech to fit issues that women face in Turkey. The writers are capable of balancing adaption, feminism, and Turkish values.

In Dix pour cent when Camille starts working at the agency, she starts a tentative relationship with Hippolyte, a young actor who is signed at the agency, only to realise that he is her half-brother. When she learns that Hippolyte is her brother, she calls off the relationship and tries to avoid him, unable to tell him the truth about their shared father. The truth is eventually revealed when Mathias is caught talking to Camille by his wife and son who assume he is having an affair.

Catherine leaves Mathias when she learns of his affair and opts to not buy the agency. However, it is important to know that she and Hippolyte do not hold anything against Camille, knowing it is Mathias who had the affair.

The decision to have Dicle not fall in love with her half-brother in Menajerimi Ara makes sense because of the family friendly values that RTÜK tries to uphold. I would argue that the introduction of Barış Havas is perhaps the best decision in regards to adapting the show. I love love stories, and Dicle and Barış have such strong chemistry. Their love is truly enjoyable to watch.

The Adaption as a Bad?

As İnceoğlu points out in Turkish TV there is an importance placed on characters falling in love. The introduction of Barış Havas as a love interest is unique to Menajerimi Ara, as is the introduction of Emir as a secondary love interest. Both of them reflect a Turkish sensibility. 

When I learnt that Emir was being introduced as a character, I released the deepest sigh of annoyance. I was also very apprehensive to watch the episode due to the drama that I foresaw coming by introducing Dicle to another love interest. However, I did not think that I would hate it as much as I did. 

 As leosfemme put it, the introduction of a secondary love interest in very commonplace in Dizis and media in general. It can allow the relationship or character to be tested or to make a characters understand their feelings.

Due to the way that the dizis are written and function, the secondary love interest is often introduced as a cheap way add drama to the show. This is another over-saturated dizi trope. However, the issue with adding drama for the sake of drama is that it can take away from established character arcs and character growth. 

To establish Emir as a potential love interest in Dicle’s life is bewildering when you take into consideration her decision to focus on work. The audience response to Emir seems to be that his character is invasive. By having Emir brag that he is going to see all the sides of Dicle, implies that he is there to change her, and shows that Emir might have some form of power over Dicle. That there is a power dynamic disparity in their relationship. He constantly puts Dicle in uncomfortable positions to see different sides of her. This is a sharp comparison to Barış who continuously offers listen to Dicle and generally doesn’t demand it of her.

Depicting Emir as a potential love interest and an invasive character is also super perplexing in regards to the episode that came before, where Burçin Terzioğlu’s makes a speech about consent and listening to female voices.

Additionally, when it comes to the jealousy trope in regards to Menajerimi Ara is the fact that we are already seeing it through Beren. Having Emir be the reason for jealousy brings no creativity to the table and is a cheap way to cause conflict between Barış and Dicle.

Barış Havas (or the Part Y’all Have Been Waiting For)

Finally, because this is a blog post that I am writing, I will be talking about the love of my life, Barış Havas. Maybe me writing about Barış will be ours always. As previously established the introduction of Barış Havas is perhaps my favourite aspect of the adaption. I love Dicle and Barış so much! However, I hated episode 9.

The way that Barış is written is wild, which is to say that I hate it and it makes no sense. 

In the last episode, we see Barış trying on suits with the help of Dicle. It is clear from this interaction that he is deeply attracted to her. The whole montage of him standing outside and thinking about Dicle shows that he likes her. Him wanting desperately to talk to Dicle at the end of the episode shows that he cares that they are on good terms and that she is okay. 

So, to see that Barış Havas in comparison to the one depicted in the 9th episode is frustrating. One could argue that Barış comforting Beren at the start of the episode because they are friends and colleagues. Okay, that’s cool. Barış thinking about sending Dicle a message saying that she is not being a good friend could also be excusable because he trusts her and maybe is hurt that she doesn’t feel the same about him.

We also see Barış on very friendly terms with Dicle. All of the pining and attraction and love that were depicted in the previous episode just mysteriously vanished replaced with platonic comradely. None of the music or longing gazes that filled the previous episodes is present. Which could make sense because they agreed to be friends. This could also explain why Barış kisses Beren.

The final and important scene in regards to the way that Barış is written is at the wedding shoot. To have Barış know that Beren is upset at Dicle and have him simply watch Beren hassle Dicle without intervening is strange.

Especially because it came from the same Barış Havas who cheered Dicle up when Beren yelled at her.

The same Barış Havas who defended Dicle against Beren and his brother. The same Barış Havas who has repeatedly prioritised Dicle over everyone else. To have that Barış Havas not intervene on Dicle behalf goes against the way that his character was written up to this point. 

The other reason that I was upset lies in the fact that in the 8th episode, Dicle admits that she wanted a serious relationship with him, but him being out with Beren changed her mind. She also mentions the night at his house.

If you remember Barış took Dicle leaving to imply that she didn’t like him. If he truly likes Dicle, than why didn’t this revelation affect him? Regardless of whether or not he’s trying to be a good friend, wouldn’t the admission by Dicle that she liked him have some form of effect on him? Wouldn’t it make him reconsider his closeness to Beren? Especially, because he started ‘dating’ Beren because he thought Dicle wasn’t interested.

The last straw for the fandom was not in regards to the episode but rather the İzleme. In the İzleme we see the fallout of Dicle being accused of leaking information at the agency. Barış approaches Dicle and asks her if it’s true, which offends her, as it should. 

This doesn’t make sense, seeing Barış stated multiple times that he trusts Dicle and that he doesn’t believe she is capable of doing anything bad. By having him question her about this, we see all the work that they’ve put into Barış and Dicle be disregarded for the sake of drama.

Find the difference. Originally tweeted by claudia 🍂 (@goldeniaz) on October 20, 2020.

Granted the introduction of Emir and making Barış like this could be explained. Through these two characters, we see Turkish television norms and value represented in the adaptation. As previously established, Barış’s French counterpart, Hippolyte and Camille also have a very important conversation where they decide to be friends.

This decision is brought on by the fact that they are related to each other and explains why they go from being romantically involved to platonically involved so quickly. Barış on the other hand has no reason to stop showing some form of romantic interest or trusting Dicle. If anything his interest should have been grown due to Dicle’s confession from the previous episode. 

The Adaption as a Ugly?

Through introduction of Mayda, Beren and even Gülin is where we see Menajerimi Ara incorporate the worst of Turkish television norms and values.

In my review for the previous episode of Menajerimi Ara, I argued that Beren and Mayda are such different characters to the other female characters in the show because their entire lives are tied to men.

Mayda, unlike her French counterpart is incredibly suspicious of Dicle, as is Beren. She becomes a key character in Menajerimi Ara and unlike Catherine doesn’t leave her husband or and does buy the agency. Her entire story arc is tied to the men.

Gülin’s French counter part is also suspicious of Camille because she loves Mathias. However, Gülin’s character is not jealous or vindictive to Camille. All of her suspicions toward Camille vanish as soon as she learn the truth of Camille’s parentage.

By the end of the first season, both women are on good terms with Camille.

As previously established, Beren doesn’t exist in Dix pour cent. Hippolyte and Camille are on good terms with each other when they find out that they are siblings. He is also quite busy with his film career and is not a central character in the agency, and we are not shown much of him. The character that Camille has the most tension with is Emrah’s character, because she gets promoted instead of him. 

A huge issue for me about Episode 9 is the fact that Beren, Mayda, and even Gülin are such an antagonistic force in Dicle’s life. All of them are suspicious of Dicle and want to get rid of her for various reasons. The decision to have these characters behave in such a way cannot be attributed to their French counterparts because they do not exist in the same capacity. It reveals an aspect of Turkish television norms, pitting women against each other.

Feminism in Dizis

The act of pitting women against each other is a staple of Turkish television. For as long as I have watched Dizis, the female protagonist is always on the receiving end hate from other women. It occurs in period dramas, in Mafia stories, in romantic comedies, and in family dramas and honestly, I am so tired of it!

TURKEY! PLEASE! STOP!

Famed feminist and social activist bell hooks wrote an article called “Sisterhood: Political Solidarity between Women”. bell hooks noted that women are taught that relationships between each other diminish rather than enrich their lives. women are taught to see other women as their natural enemies.

“we are taught that women are ‘natural’ enemies, that solidarity will never exist between [women] because [women] cannot, should not, and do not bond with one another”

bell hooks

Another important idea that bell hooks articulated is that sexism teaches women to be sex objects for men, which then causes women to feel superior when they are in a relationship. For bell hooks, sexism is what teaches women to hate each other. We see this idea of women being taught to hate each other over and over again in media and we see .3

The way in which women are pitted against each other usually comes down to two things a man and Freud’s idea of the “The Virgin-Whore Dichotomy.”

Freud theorised that women are deemed good when they were chaste and pure and bad because they are promiscuous and seductive. Men objectify sexy women to avoid emotional attachment, however, treat them with contempt. Chaste women, on the other hand, might not be seen as someone to objectify, however, are thought to be good long-term relationship material.4

However, the virgin-whore dichotomy manifests itself in many ways. One example found in media is the sacrificing, pure, naïve women vs. the scheming, selfish, vain one.5 These women are often pitted against each other, to justify one as more morally upright.3 

Dicle and Beren, like many women in dizis, embody this dichotomy. Dicle generally speaking wears more conservative clothing and is an earnest young woman who is trying her best to make it in the industry. On the other hand, Beren is dressed in more revealing clothing.

This is why I hate how the writers of Menajerimi Ara write Beren, Mayda, and even Gülin. They are all pitted against Dicle and are all women who are seen as scheming selfish, and vain. Dicle on the other hand is the embodiment of the sacrificing, pure, naïve women.

For me, Mayda and Gülin’s characters are so much more annoying then Beren’s because they are characters that were not originally written this way. There was a conscious choice by the writers to have Dicle come in conflict with Gülin instead of Emrah and to have Mayda take over the agency and to keep her around to stir up trouble for Dicle. There was a conscious decision to leave Mayda out of the loop about Dicle’s parentage to draw out drama. It was a conscious choice to pit these women against Dicle.

Beren, on the other hand, received much contempt from fans for scheming against Dicle. I am fans. Her reasoning for scheming and being jealous of Dicle makes sense narratively. Why would you not be jealous of the person who has your crushes attention and who you learn is your secret stepsister?

However, as previously established the decision to depict her this way was a conscious choice by the writers. The writers chose to make Beren an original character, chose to make her jealous of Dicle, chose to make Beren’s entire life revolve around Barış, and chose to pit her against Dicle. This disappointment is heightened by the fact that at the end of the episode, when Dicle is accused of leaking information to the press, not even Feris defends Dicle. Thus, we see more examples of women being pitted against each other.

Though it may make sense to a condemn people who are selfish, vain, and bitter, it is very harmful when it comes to the dichotomy and feminist issues. As bell hooks points out, hating on other women is an issue rooted in misogyny. The concept of the virgin and the whore and benefits only the patriarchy and men.

Women are taught to hate each other. We use the Virgin-Whore Dichotomy as a means to do so. However, all this does is uphold patriarchal ideas and allows men to get away with the violence they inflict on women. It tears apart a collective sisterhood.

You spend your life seeking the approval of men and then you suddenly realise that, actually, you could get a quite exciting and fulfilling relationship from being friends with another woman and that that might be more interesting,” 

Emily Mortimer, Belfast Telegraph

It allows men to say what type of women have worth and gives men an excuse to perpetrate and defend violence against women.

In a patriarchal society that enforces the Virgin-Whore dynamic, woman who are seen with contempt, are seen to be deserving of the violence against her. Slut shaming is then justified and so are more atrocious acts of violence and assault.

This is why I abhor when women are pitted against each other. It is just another means to engrain patriarchal values. It is especially underwhelming because I feel like the writers of the show have proved that they are capable of depicting strong feminist characters.

For them to write Beren, Mayda, and Gülin in this, even if it shows Turkish television norms and value represented, is very disappointing. I completely understand that pitting female characters against each other is a norm for most media; I just wish that every female character related to Beren or who were about Dicle’s age was not immediately seen as a threat to Dicle.

Conclusion

I would argue that the dizifictaion of Menajerimi Ara, though it has given us some truly beautiful moments (Deniz Can’s hands + Dicbar + Dicle), it also shows how dizis and Turkish media continuously depict and enforce sexist writing.

However, another idea of adding drama for the sake of drama, is not good storytelling… If anything it gets in the way of good storytelling, ostracises fans, and throws away all the hard work put by the cast and crew.

Though the writers were capable of adapting the story to show us strong female characters and seem to be aware of the importance of feminism, they have continuously enforced misogyny in their writing.

References:

  1. Kaptan, Yeşim. “A Crime Drama Between Fidelity and Cultural Specificity: Audiences’ Reception of Cinayet, the Turkish Remake of Forbrydelsen” from European Television Crime Drama and Beyond.
  2. İnceoğlu, İ. (2020). “Gender Representation on Turkish TV.” In The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication (eds K. Ross, I. Bachmann, V. Cardo, S. Moorti and M. Scarcelli).
  3. hooks, bell. “Sisterhood: Political Solidarity between Women.” Feminist Review.
  4. Bareket et al. “The Madonna-Whore Dichotomy: Men Who Perceive Women’s Nurturance and Sexuality as Mutually Exclusive Endorse Patriarchy and Show Lower Relationship Satisfaction”
  5. Monsters & Muses, “The Virgin-Whore Dichotomy and Why Women Cannot Destroy it”

Menajerimi Ara 7+8 Bölüm Recap : Or A Woman’s Compromise and A Man’s Growth

Earlier this week I watched the trailer to Tessa Thompson’s new film, Sylvie’s LoveThe film follows Tessa Thompson’s character, a young Black woman who has dreams of working in television and finds a job working as an Assistant Producer.

This job is not generally one given to a married woman, much less a Black Woman and it follows Sylvie, the titular character, as she attempts to live her dreams and struggles with her love life. In a scene, Sylvie’s dreams come into conflict with her husband, who wants her to be the perfect wife, so she tells him:

I can’t be the woman of your dreams while also trying to be the woman of my dreams.


This quote, I would argue, coincides with what the last two episodes of Menajerima Ara. In the seventh episode of Menajerima Ara we see Dicle giving up on her dream in order to make Kıraç’s life easier. As Dicle herself puts it, she is willing to risk her dreams to make Kıraç’s life easier, and yet he would not do the same for her.

Dicle’s Dream : 7. Bölüm

The seventh episode of Menajerima Ara was perhaps the most difficult to watch, and it largely has to do with the fact that Dicle gives up is giving up her dreams. She is hurt by her father, hurt by Barış choosing Beren over her, and hurt by Feris for not fighting to keep her at the agency. 

Yet, as the seventh episode unfolds we watch Dicle come to terms that her selflessness, though it is a great strength, is also causing her problems. We see Dicle establish boundaries and not compromise on her dreams. Firstly, she turns down Barış offers to be his assistant. As Dicle puts it her decision to turn down Barış’s offer didn’t come from a place of hating Barış, but rather because she wants to follow her dreams and establish herself in the sector.

The other moment that we see Dicle establish healthy boundaries comes from her decision to stay working at Ego Agency. This is a choice that Dicle makes because she realises that Kıraç would rather allow Mayda to believe that he and Dicle are having an affair than admit that Dicle is his daughter. While she was willing to give up on her dreams, Kıraç was not okay with being uncomfortable. Resigning and taking Barış’s job offer would be the selfless thing to do, however, we see Dicle grow and establish boundaries and think about herself to live her dreams.

Women & Compromise : 8. Bölüm

This idea of being the woman of one’s dream is carried to the next episode and is made prominent by the various women of the 8th episode. 

The entire episode focuses on the various women who exist in different areas of life who are all trying to live their dreams. There’s Dicle, who’s trying to establish herself in the sector, and Feris who is a very prominent manager who knows her place, and finally Burçin Terzioğlu who is a super famous actress. All of these women have different moments in the episode where they are put into a position where they are expected to compromise. 

For Feris, this comes through her work. Though Feris loves her work she feels like she needs to sacrifice it to be in a relationship with Nejat. She believes this so firmly that she thinks that Nejat would for her sure break up with her after her outburst at the restaurant when she tells him that she priorities her work. However, at the end of the episode, we see Nejat accept this aspect of 

Through Burçin Terzioğlu we see a different form of compromise, a compromise that would allow violence against women to continue to exist. As you can see from this powerful speech, women are expected to not speak up, to compromise their voices, which would allow the countless incidents of female violence to continue to exist. Though I hate to say it, it would have made sense if Burçin had compromised her voice to stay on good terms with the sponsor, because that is a thing that is so commonplace. However, she chose to speak up and not be silenced.

Lastly, we have the Dicle. As previously established, in the last episode we saw the fallout of Dicle compromising her dreams for men, and realising that she is not something that she is willing to do that. At the end of that episode, we also see Dicle promise herself that she won’t let the sector change her and make her heartless. We see the outcome of those decisions throughout the episode. On one hand, Dicle chooses to stay working at Ego Agency, yet she chose to be kind to Kıraç by not outing him as her father to Mayda. 

We also see Dicle establish better boundaries in her relationship with Barış by not willing to compromise her dreams to be in a relationship with him. She confesses that she did want something romantic to happen between them, however, because she is hurt by his decision to engage in a relationship with Beren. She makes it known that she wants to focus on her work and establish himself in the industry and Barış accepts that decision. 

Like Mother, Like Daughter

On a side note, I would like to add that this is probably why Beren, Gülin, Mayda are such unlikeable female characters. We see Dicle, Feris, and even Jülide struggle to establish themselves in the industry and follow their dreams. While all the other women are attempting to live their dreams Beren and Mayda’s are making decisions as a result of the men in their life. Mayda only bought the Agency as a result of her falling out with Kıraç and Beren’s whole life revolves around being close to Barış. 

As Barış and many others have pointed out, Beren’s relationship with Barış is superficial seeing she doesn’t listen to him. She has an idealised picture of their relationship and their connection seems very dependent on their work and their lives as celebrities. In the scene where Beren makes him dinner, she gets distracted from this cooking because she is afraid of what could be happening between Barış and Dicle. As we see from Kıraç’s outburst, she risked her job and the quality of her cooking to spy on them, which is almost directly the opposite of what Dicle does this episode when she decides to not risk her career for Barış. 

Barış’s Journey

In comparison, Barış is going on a completely different journey. I know that within the fandom there is much debate about Barış as a character and the decisions that he makes… But if you have read my blog post, you know that I believe that his decisions make sense and he is not “bipolar”.

Let me say that again for the people in the back, Barış is not bipolar, so stop labelling him as such.

I would argue that the quote that explains Barış’s actions and character arc is Dicle mother’s “Motherly Advice”. 

Dicle’s mother advises to Dicle to not to find someone who she loves, but rather someone who loves her. Someone who will love and appreciate her and who will carry her in their arms. Someone who won’t leave her behind in the same way that Kıraç left them. 

I know, I know, your thinking Erica, this is absurd advice when it comes to Barış. Barış is so selfish, he only thinks of himself. He has repeatedly thought about himself, completely disregarding Dicle’s (and even Beren’s) feelings. He says so himself in the club scene from the episode 7, he sometimes is insensitive and uncaring.

A Relationship Built on Lies (Not Really, But Still) : 7. Bölüm

However, before we start talking about Barış we need to establish something of Dicle and Barış’s relationship: it is one that is uneven and filled with miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Dicle entered the relationship expecting something romantic to grow out of it. Barış on the other hand, though he is attracted to Dicle, seems to see her more as a form of comfort. This all comes to head when Barış asks Dicle to stay the night, which changes their relationship, adding so much miscommunication. Their decision to forget about the night and move on is since Barış took Dicle not staying the night to mean she wasn’t interested in him, and Dicle took him saying that he was drunk and wanted to forget about the night to mean the same thing. However, neither character spoke to the other about their intentions and read meaning into the actions of the other without the other saying it explicitly. 

Another huge area of unevenness in their relationship comes from how they see each other. There is another aspect to their uneven relationship that comes from Dicle side. While Barış may feel like Dicle is the only person that he can be himself around, Dicle does not feel that way because she is hiding her feelings from him, as well as her secret about her father. Dicle is unable to be herself around Barış.

Yet, another area of complete miscommunication comes from the way that Barış sees Dicle. We know that he sees her as the only person in his life that understands him. This could explain him saying “I don’t want another, I want you” remark, especially because he has pushed away his brother and by his admission, Beren doesn’t understand him. However, in the club scene, we see more of this miscommunication. Barış laments the fact that he is being “insensitive and selfish” towards others (which is what caused Beren to be upset at the club), however, he tells Dicle that she would never do something like this.

Through this, we see an example of Menajerima Ara subverting tropes. When I suggested that my friend watch the dizi she explained that though she was enjoying the dizi, she found it made her anxious especially in regards to Dicle and Barış’s relationship.

She explained how she hated the status difference between Dicle and Barış and explained how exhausting she would find it if the drama revolved around Dicle not feeling good enough for Barış because of his fame. This is a common trope in stories where a celebrity falls for a normal person. Another common trope is that the normal person might have a romantised version of the celebrity that doesn’t reflect reality. Yet, in Menajerima Ara it is Barış who feels like he is inferior to Dicle and puts Dicle on a pedestal. He has a very idealised idea of Dicle, thinking that she is completely selfless.

In Dicle and Barış last interactions in the 7th episode, we see Barış’s insensitive nature furthered when he offers Dicle a job as his assistant. We see Barış impulsive nature through this offer and Dicle rightly turns down the offer leaving a confused Barış at the sidewalk. Later in the episode, Barış goes and apologies to Dicle for making the offer and she explains her reasoning. 

Barış Havas and a Journey of Growth : 8. Bölüm

In the 8th Bölüm, we see Barış is going on his journey and many of the scenes in this episode parallel ones that have come before in previous episodes and show Barış’s growth. 

The most obvious example comes from the scene where Barış is trying on clothes, which is a direct parallel to their first encounter, a thing that Barış brings up.

How it started. How is going

Originally tweeted by selo shelby (@gigiibebe) on October 10, 2020.

On one hand, I love this call back because it’s so cute and I love Dicle and Barış together. I think there is another element to it because as @heviwillnot, points out, the scene where Dicle is helping Barış with his clothes is such a call back to their relationship earlier where they laughed, joked, and there was warmth between them before all of the drama in episode occurred.

Dicle notices that Barış has been calling her by her name, instead of “Assistant Kiz”. While this may seem like a tiny step (and it is) it shows growth on Barış’s part it is a direct call back to the previous episode where Barış sees Dicle exclusively as an Assistant Girl without taking into consideration her dreams or desires. Here, however, we finally see Barış accept Dicle as she is. We see him further prioritise Dicle feelings by asking her if there is something wrong. 

The other important scene that occurs comes when Beren tries to cook Barış’s favourite meal. This is Beren’s attempt to romance Barış, and it backfires and is lowkey the stuff of horror movies and a complete waste of food.

However, the Barış we see in this scene is the complete opposite of the Barış in the previous episode. In the previous episode, we see Barış go to the club, think insensitively about his words to Beren, and allows her to stay the night. We see him listen to the fans, his producers, and even Dicle who have all pushed him towards being in a relationship with Beren. 

Episode 7 vs. Episode 8

In this episode Barış makes it clear that though he will eat dinner with Beren he doesn’t want to go to the club nor does he want her to come back to his house with him. He is establishing some boundaries in their relationship and distancing himself from Beren. Much like Dicle, he is choosing to prioritise his work (reading his script) instead of focusing on relationships. Ultimately Barış does get distracted by a relationship just not his relationship with Beren, but with Dicle.

Originally tweeted by alara (@saudadeshipper) on October 16, 2020.

All of this leads to the final scene of the episode where Dicle tells Barış that she just wants them to remain friends with him and nothing more. While I understand that some might be upset by this decision, when it comes to the overall theme of the episode and Barış’s character arc, his decision to remain friends with her is important. 

Firstly, we get a parallel to the scene where Barış tells Dicle that he wants to forget about the night that he asked her to stay over and just remain friends with her. 

Most importantly though by having Barış accept Dicle request to remain, friends, we see him follow through with both Dicle’s mother and Burçin Terzioğl’s speeches. Burçin Terzioğl speech was about the importance of the women’s voices, Dicle mother’s advice was about the importance of finding a man who would prioritise Dicle. By listening to Dicle request to stay friends, Barış is prioritising Dicle, her voice, and her dreams, regardless of how it impacts his feelings. He is finally sacrificing for her and not thinking about himself.

However, throughout this episode we see something else occurring between Dicle and Barış clearer communication. Barış sees Dicle not think and say whatever was on her mind about Burçin Terzioğl dress. We also see better communication. Dicle tells Barış that she wants to be friends with him, not due to some hidden expectation she had of him, but due to her desires. She lays it out as it is and they are both on the same level as each other.

Furthermore, from the synopsis and fragman of the next episode, it seems like Barış might learn about Dicle’s secret, which would create even more clarity between them.

From the Episode 9 Summary: Learning that Dicle is Kıraç’s daughter, Beren decides to remove Dicle from their lives…. Barış, on the other hand, tries to stand by Dicle and stop Beren

Additional Thoughts/Questions:

  • I absouletly adore the way that the guest stars were integrated into the eighth episode. If you are unaware, Filmekimi and Istanbul Film Festival, two of the biggest film festivals in Turkey, were happening when the 8 Bölüm aired. Having Burçin Terzioğlu be preparing to present at the Istanbul Film Festival is very topical and shows the writers ability to integrate the very real aspects of the film sector in this very fictional show. The other guest star is Hazal Kaya, who much like the episode depicts, has recently signed on to be the ambassador of Cif Türkiye.
  • I really need Barış to admit his feelings for Dicle make a move. Up until this point, he has been a bit passive in their relationship… Additionally, if we are robbed of Dicle and Barış scenes because of the new dude… I will riot!
  • Lastly, I need Barış and Dicle to hug.