Düşünce ve Toplum Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

Öz

Considering the academic studies focusing on the effects of digital media on cultural structure, memory and functioning; it is firstly understood that there are two main and opposing views that argue that these practices lead to either corruption or productivity. Accordingly, while critical social theorists, who deal with corruption, especially as the commodification of culture and its reduction to consumerism, explain this problem with the theories of the culture industry, most folklorists consider digitalisation as a current opportunity and variant of cultural construction. This article, on the other hand, sees these two opposing views in unity, even in a symbiotic relationship, and tries to embody the “how” question, which has been neglected in previous theoretical studies, by exemplifying it. For this purpose, Tabii, international digital streaming platform of TRT, which went on the air on May 7, 2023, as a current model of the online rise of local culture, is analysed. Against the global competitive and huge budget platforms, Tabii is fed by its own dynamics and appears with the motto “Tales Bonding Us”. In this article that is based on qualitative research, 29 series are analysed through the content analysis method and then these contents are titled according to meanings and references based on locality. These titles are as follows: “local narrative culture against sector hegemony”, “criticism of popular culture and alienation”, “scripting of cultural heritage”, “promotion of biographies that shape culture”, “closing the memory gap”, “production of local feelings”, “recalling local culture motifs”, “painting cultural behaviour models”, “revival of Turkish art”, “claiming the recent cultural memory and current references”. Accordingly, it has been revealed that Tabii offers “reminiscent” and actionable content that is articulated to Turkish cultural heritage and open to development for viewers who have been stuck in the hands of a certain monopoly for many years. Moreover, both the cultural alienation in daily life and the erosion in the cinema industry are criticized in these series. Self-styled indigenous cultural heritage and narrative are highlighted. Local artistic elements were exhibited. Remarkable biographies were narrated. Collective memory and ancient feelings are reproduced in these ways. This production develops a collective modelling for new generations and cultural heritage has been adapted to today’s agenda. This research is based on the fact that the culture we live in is “image-based”. This visualisation, which reduces the public to the mass and the individuals to the audience, marks perhaps the most dominant cultural form and means today. This article does not only aim to portray the technical features of this platform or the cultural portrait of this age embodied in its digitalisation trends. In addition to this, it traces the following two questions: Is there a local space left in the shadow of the global culture discourse? If so, how can it be operated?