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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
- Sexual Assault of Men Played for Laughs: the video essay by Pop Culture Detective that I referenced that discusses sexual assault of men in popular culture.
- Stalking for Love: Another video by Pop Culture Detective where they unpack the trope of stalking for love where “invasive stalker-like behaviour is presented as an endearing or harmless part of romantic courtship.”
- Saygi Review: Justice or Chaos: Safé’s review of the first episode of Saygı where she discusses philosophy, the patriarchy, and other elements of the show.
- Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas: A book that delves into the genre of the rape-revenge and explores the “diverse and often contradictory treatments of sexual violence can exist simultaneously.”
- “Kill Bill’ and Our Troubled Relationship with Rape Revenge Movies“: An article that depicts the negative aspects of the rape revenge film, in particular Kill Bill.
- “TV Showrunners Talk Rape-As-Character-Development and What Needs to Happen to Stop the Lazy Use of This Trope“: An article by The Mary Sue where various show-runners were interviewed about the way that rape is used in popular culture.
- “Common Reactions to Sexual Assault“: Information from the Counselling Centre at Loyola University about common reaction to assault.
- There Are Too Many Alt History Nazi Stories on TV Right Now: The article in Decider that delves into the trend of Alt History Nazi Stories.
ERICA TALKS SH*T 