Silent films have been contested for various reasons. Within late Ottoman society, early cinema created concerns in relation to films’ political content, obscenity and exhibition venues and practices, among other issues.
Based upon her Ph.D. research, Özde Çeliktemel-Thomen will share her new findings regarding the discourses and practices of the Ottoman dominant class (bureaucrats, elite and intellectuals) over children and women audiences. The talk will rely on a number of silent films and visual materials, documents from state archives and periodicals that portray the concerns of ‘immorality’ regarding the silent cinema years.