Semiotic Analysis of Table and Food Representation in Turkish Cinema in the Context of Migration Phenomenon: The Migration Trilogy Example

Art, in its many forms, corresponds to a phenomenon that reflects, reinterprets and represents social events. Cinema, as an art form, fulfills these functions and is inspired by the events or processes experienced by societies. Inspired by the social, cinema conveys the social, political and cultural contexts of current or past events through films. Thus, an obligatory relationship between cinema and society emerges, social issues feed the creative processes of the art of cinema and find the opportunity to be represented in cinema. Wars, epidemics, conflicts, social movements, economic crises and migrations are among the social issues that feed the creative processes of cinema and find opportunities for representation. As a concrete example of this, the food and table culture in the films Gelin (1973), Düğün (1973) and Diyet (1974), known as the “Migration Trilogy” in Turkish cinema, was used as a cinematographic element to reflect the adaptation processes of new immigrants to modern urban life, social identities and traditional values. Thus, a cinematic narrative and representation was created through food and table culture. This study aims to analyze how the rural-urban migration in Turkey is reflected in the representation of food and tableware in Turkish cinema. In this direction, Ömer Lütfi Akad's films Gelin, Düğün and Diyet, which deal with the theme of rural-urban migration, are analyzed with Roland Barthes' semiotic approach.