Abstract:

The Western genre appeared in the early days of the cinema and has come to the forefront of popular species that have shown great interest to the audience for a long period of time. Therefore, the genre has been dealt with in the framework of different academic approaches within the framework of film studies. For example, in the 1950s, the approaches to the type were formed in a mythical framework. In the end, the evolution of the Auteur theory to an effective position in the film studies has led to the westerns to be in the framework of this theory. With the 1970s, the audience’s interest in the genre decreased, the academic interest in the genre increased. It was the first time that the approach was the structural approach that Will Wright took over. Wright, who studied the westerns drawn between 1931 and 1972, tried to reveal the modern myths of America found in the westerns. Wright claims that the westerns follow four different narrative structures and that the film structure consists of some contradictions. In this study, Will Wright’s structural approach was applied to the film Yahşi West (2009) which is the only western/comedy film that has been filmed in the Turkish cinema in the last period. The film was found to be in line with Wright's structural approach. Thus it is revealed that the structural structure that Wright revealed about the westerns in the 1970s retained its validity in a relatively recently drawn Turkish western outside the United States.

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Abstract:

The western genre emerged in the early days of cinema and became one of the most popular genres for decades. Therefore, the genre has been examined through the framework of different academic approaches within the scope of film studies. For instance, in the 1950s, approaches to the genre were mostly within the mythical framework. Subsequently, westerns were at that time examined in the context of Auteur theory due to the prominence of the theory. In the 1970s, audience’s interest in the genre decreased while academic interest increased. The prominent approach in this period was the structuralist approach that was mostly pioneered by Will Wright. Wright examined the westerns of 40 years with the structuralist approach and tried to unveil the modern myths of America in the westerns. Not only Wright argued that four different narrative structures were followed in the westerns but also they consisted of binary oppositions. In our study, Wright’s structuralist approach was applied to Turkish western/comedy Yahşi Batı (Ottoman Cowboys, 2009). In conclusion, our study demonstrated that Wright’s structuralist approach regarding the westerns was applicable to a fairly recent film that was produced outside the USA.