Abstract:

As humanity evolved towards civilized communities over centuries, they have worked towards self recognition and positioning. Westeners have evaluated Eastern societies from an orientalist point of view, while Easteners have used an occidentalist approch to interpret Western societies. These definitions have been built over offensives and fears throughout history. However, evolving definitions are being more effectively introduced into our symbolic World using cultural industries. Series featured on television are probably the liveliest example in this sense, the televison being the most powerful among medias of mass communication. Characters fantasized in stories told on TV series could serve as a measure of how societies view and define others. In this context, the aim of this study is to analyze the way an Easterner would structure and code for a Westerner over an occidentalist view point, using Turkish TV series as a media. In accordance with this aim, certain Westerner characters featured on Turkish TV Series, namely Filinta, Erkenci Kuş and İsimsizler, have been analyzed using their functionality in the narrative structures as well as their fictious characteristics. The most important finding attained as the result of the analysis is that the Westerner characters are usually trouble makers who try to hurt the traditional attitudes in the lands that they newly arrive. In the above mentioned series, the Western characters are fictionalized over evil acts through their dark sides. In the context, the occidentalist point of view presents the Westerners as evil, obstructive and dark personalities. Therefore, Western characters are stereotyped as negative personalities.

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