When I initially watched the sixth episode of Menajerimi Ara, I watched it without English subtitles. Needles to say, I was pretty upset with Barış. The accusation that he is using Dicle and leading her own seemed relevant and Dicle’s belief that Barış goes from being hot to cold, seemed truthful AF. However, now that I have watched the episode in its entirety (with English subtitles) I cannot help but feel for Barış. However, that being said I do not forgive him or the writers for the repeated offence of him leading Dicle only to break her heart.
Barış has a lot on his plate. Though he wants to be the type of actor who cares about his craft rather than money (an admirable trait in the world of capitalism), this decision does not come without problems. His choice to turn down the film offer is tested in this episode because his Dizi’s ratings are goings down, and anyone who is an avid dizi watcher knows that could mean a sudden cancellation. Bay Yanlış anyone?
If he had taken the film role, he would have some certainty of a job and income. Additionally, a lot of people in his life are pushing him towards Beren from the fans of the show to his brother to Mr Jalal.
With all of this uncertainty, Beren promises some form of certainty. Due Beren and him have such strong chemistry, their dizi is popular and has the ability to continue airing. As you might have noticed from the show, or my previous post, Barış is being pressured to be in a relationship with Beren for the sake of dizi ratings.
His brother also keeps on pushing them together. This idea is seen through the fact that when because when Barış tries to talk to his brother about Dicle, his brother doesn’t seem to understand. Instead he point out all of the fans that love Barış, and and points out Beren and Barış’s chemistry, ignoring the fact that Barış denies it saying its an act. Instead, Barış’s brother insists that Barış should give up Dicle and instead focus on Beren.
This is what could be happening when Barış and Beren kiss on the beach. When Beren admits her feelings for Barış, Barış doesn’t really react. It is only when Beren name drops Dicle that something seems to overcome Barış and he goes for the kiss. However, the kiss seems to confuse him more than entice him. It is almost like he is testing the waters to see if there is really something there.
I think that all of the voices in his head have confused him. However, I feel like he is not a complete idiot and is aware of his feelings for Dicle as well as her feelings for him. Yet, to me, it seems like he is afraid to act on these feelings for various reasons. We see this early on during the phone call, when he is hesitant to ask her about the night before.
Barış does thinks highly of Dicle, though, and wants her in his life. As he has told her multiple times, the fans expect to see the actor Barış, and not the person. His brother, to some degree expects the same. As far as Barış is concerned, Dicle doesn’t care about his fame, beside the way in which it affects her work, and that’s why he’s so drawn to her. So maybe, Barış is hesitant and doesn’t want to ruin this “good thing they have” by acting on their feelings.
However, another area of the frustration fans have seems to come from the fact that Barış went to Dicle house, told her how important she is to him, before breaking her heart by telling her that they wouldn’t work, because she’s too good for him.
At this revelation, I completely understand fans frustrations. However, I want to add that I have a love/hate relationship with Barış thinking he’s not good enough for Dicle. On one hand, it is such an overrated trope, and if Barış truly believes that Dicle deserves better than he should be better instead of giving up.
And though I hate this trope, I also love it (blame it on my One Tree Hill days, Naley anyone?). The reason that I love it in regards to Menajerimi Ara it kind of subverts a common dizi trope. In Dizi-Land it is not uncommon to find narratives where the rich, successful, cultured man falls for a woman who does not come from the same means. Erkenci Kus is a perfect example of this, with Can being the rich, cultured and successful man and Sanem being significantly more disadvantaged and less cultured than him.
In Menajerimi Ara we see this parallel on a surface level. Barış is the epitome of that rich and cultured man, and Dicle is clearly poorer and works for him. However, unlike the Can Divit and Serkan Bolat’s of the world Barış isn’t born into money and probably doesn’t have a university education. Instead, he worked menial jobs as a construction and factory worker and a mover. With his dizi ratings going down, his job may not be as successful as it seems.
On the other hand, Dicle is the character that went to university. She is cultured one of the duo. While we still see a power structure at play, we still see some subversion of this trope. Though her job at the agency is not perfect, job security is not something she needs to be worried about, and by all accounts, she is successful in her jobs.
I would argue, because Barış is so rich and confident, his insecurity in pursuing Dicle romantically is probably hard to watch. However, it has the ability to be understandable, because of everything he is going through.
It is also important to note, that Barış does seem to like Dicle and be willing to make exceptions and do nice things for her. I made a gif set if anyone needs references to the moments I speak of. One of these examples, comes from the fact that Barış is described as a character that cares about his work, and yet turned down work because of Dicle.
Another example comes from his relationship with his brother. As everyone knows, Barış and Aydın relationship is rocky. The brothers disagree on certain things with Aydın having certain ideas the decisions Barış should be making in regards to his fame, and Barış being frustrated by Aydın monetising on said fame. Barış, it seems to me, feels like his brother doesn’t understand him.
As I explained it in the previous blog post, the episode is filled with accumulated screams. This comes to fruition in Barış’s relationship with Aydın, when Aydın reveals he confronted Dicle. For Barış this is the tipping point. While he was able to live with his brother when his brother was pushing him towards Beren, or monetising on his fame, he can’t condone the idea of Aydın verbally abusing Dicle. The idea that his brother verbally abused her is what sets off Barış accumulated scream. Yet, his scream doesn’t manifest in yelling or fighting, as it has done in the past. Instead, Barış calmly kicks Aydın out.
Through this, we see Barış involuntarily admit something that we’ve wanted him to admit this entire time, the importance of Dicle in his life. We have seen that he is willing to lose work opportunity because of her advice (as seen by the fact that he rejected the movie). However, here we see him choosing her over even that of familial ties. Both brothers are clearly hurt by this decision, and it seems that Barış regrets it, yet he ultimately allows his brother to leave.
With this being said, Barış’s reaction when he thinks Dicle is coming to set makes sense. He, has on some level isolated himself because of the way that people are treating her. However, that being said Barış should know its okay to have friends beyond your love interest. In fact its healthy.
It is will also be interesting to see how the rest of the show will deal with this decision… What else would Barış risk to keep Dicle in his life and her happy? How will he react when he learns of Beren’s mother’s campaign to get Dicle fired, or when his job is at stake because of whatever relationship he might have with Dicle? Or when it is revealed who her father is?
ERICA TALKS SH*T 
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