Studies on women identity in the context of gender yields significant results, especially when considering the practice of cinema. Mainstream cinema is an essential area of indicators for handling women's identity. Susuz Yaz and Yılanların Öcü films are two important films in which Metin Erksan dealt with the concept of property within his filmography. These two films, which address the concept of property through the ownership of land and water, also represented the social existence of women's identity with the rural lifestyle in particular, making the social structure in which women are perceived as property visible. In this context, the study evaluates the image of the woman in cinema on the concepts of body, property and rights. The method approach shaped its roots from the foundations of sociology, communication and cultural theories. The subject was presented by analyzing it within the perspective of interpretive social science. It was concluded that the debate on whose property the land and water are also raised the discussion of the property of women's identity.
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Deleuze (2003a, 2003b) emphasizes that each form of art is defined by the diversity of human thought. In this respect, he perceives cinema not only as a kind of storytelling and transfer of information but also as a state of the possibilities of imagination and thought converted into cinematic indicators. Thus, this whole process is also functionalized in the representation of a philosophy. This final and transformative approach, which Deleuze refers to in the specific concept of philosophy for cinema, is dealt with in this study in the specific context of gender discourse, property and cinema.
The intense relationship between the concept of gender and the concepts of power and authority also include the concept of property into this whole context, and the relation of property right with “power” (erk) makes the issue of where women's identity stands in this equation controversial. It should not be overlooked that the authority holding power also has a role in determining the boundaries and drawing the lines of gender. The view of women in the masculine world is quite decisive when entering into the gender-specific layers. It should be noted that the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural production was influential on the formation of gender patterns. Also, the ongoing traditional cultural system in the context of gender has been carried this kind of deeply internalized knowledge, and experience that is unable to verbalized from generation to generation (Aytekin and Rızvanoğlu, 2018). In these contexts, the article primarily discusses the changing position of women in the social field and especially in the field of production. Therefore, the transformation of the concept of property, and simultaneous change on this subject with the transition to patriarchal order is fundamental as one of the points that will form the center of the study.
While the transformation of women's identity within the economic production areas is the main subject of women's studies, the determinism of gender in this subject serves guidance. In this respect, the discussion will also focus on how authority and power affect the separation between sexes within the boundaries of gender. The study will discuss how the concept of property is transformed and what it is; how this concept can be evaluated under the headings of power and sovereign power, and then which point this subject corresponds to regarding separation between sexes. What is important here is to reveal the dominant and ideological structure that is effective in the formation of gender roles.
Based on the orientation of this whole conceptual framework, two critical examples of Turkish cinema, Yılanların Öcü (1962) and Susuz Yaz (1963) directed by Metin Erksan will be analyzed as samples. Both films offer important indicators for addressing the discussion both concerning placing the concept of property in the center and as films that make the property discussion through the representation of women. The role of cinema in revealing the representation of women is essential both regarding influencing large masses and as it is influenced mainly by the social dynamics. As Mulvey (1975) also points out, the view of mainstream cinema is masculine, and the representation of women's identity is shaped under this masculine view. Both Yılanların Öcüand Susuz Yaz films aim to show how this masculine view, in the context of the property concept, is represented under the influence of power and authority.