Censorship Mechanisms for Religious Films: The Case of Film Censorship Decision Registers

The origin of the censorship structures can be traced back to early pioneers of cinema, particularly in countries like the United States. In case of Türkiye, the task of controlling and intervening in cinematic content was initially handled by local governing bodies in the 1910s, and in the following years transitioned to commissions. In this study, the decisions taken for religious films and scenes in the source work titled "The History of Cinema Censorship in Türkiye: A review of film-censorship registers, 1932–1988", which examines the history of cinema censorship in Türkiye through the decisions taken between 1932 and 1988, were analyzed. Utilizing Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts of habitus and social space, as well as the lens of structural functionalism theory, the study will shed light on the censorship decisions applies to both foreign and Turkish films during the production and screening stages. The study shows that the censorship mechanism was particularly sensitive when it came to filmes with religious content. Another main finding suggest that the board’s opinions were often geared towards reinforcing the generally accepted social beliefs and collective memory, political attitudes, and eliminating content perceived as “deviation”.