Beyond Entertainment: Examining The Affective Impacts Of The Magnificent Century

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b3403592

This thesis aims to examine the affective bond established between the audience and the series Magnificent Century, which aired from 2011 to 2014, and to explore the repercussions of this bond on Turkish politics. In this regard, drawing upon affect theory, I will investigate how the narrative within the storyline of the series interacts with the political understanding of the period in which it was broadcasted and with the contemporary political landscape. Magnificent Century narrates the life of Suleiman the Magnificent, through themes such as palace dynamics, love, father-son relationships, and friendship. As asserted by affect theory, I contend that emotions are not detached from rationality but, on the contrary, contribute to establishing social relations and politics along a temporal continuum, a perspective vividly represented in the series. In this context, I argue that the primary reason for the series’ impact, both during its original broadcast and its enduring memorability today, lies in the affective bond it establishes with the audience. Within this framework, I will analyze how characters’ societal positions are rendered visible through emotions within the representations established by the narrative flow of the series. Additionally, I will analyze the traces of how the neo-Ottoman political ideology in Turkey, in the context of the national and international impact created by Magnificent Century, is portrayed in the media both during and after the series.