Resur(e)recting a Spectacular Hero: Diriliş Ertuǧrul, Necropolitics, and Popular Culture in Turkey

Abstract

The hugely popular proto-Ottoman television serial Resurrection Ertuǧrul (Diriliş Ertuǧrul, 2014-) is the culmination of a series of attempts by Turkish government broadcaster TRT to produce a historical drama in line with the values of the governing AKP. Far from being confined to the television screen, Resurrection is called upon by the government for multiple extra-textual engagements with the public. This essay traces some of the ways in which the serial has been used instrumentally by the AKP, blurring traditional distinctions between entertainment and official (state sanctioned) history, and intervening in political discourse. It first introduces the notion of prescriptive activation to describe the extra-textual use of media texts by those in power for political ends. Next, it examines the trappings of death that surround Resurrection, suggesting that the serial partakes in a representational necropolitics that fetishizes death for the nation. Finally, it explores the stakes of such representation, turning to a case in which text-inspired and literal necropolitics converge. © Middle East Studies Association of North America, Inc. 2018.