I would like to express some of my observations on Ask Mabudesi.

It is another self-conscious film which gives away Yesilcam's notion of entertainment, fiction and art. It is very well aware that time is ripe for television (remember Turkish television officially launched its nationwide broadcast in January 31, 1968) and tries to find a way to cope with this newborn rival. When Hollywood faced the challenge of tv, it invented some niceties such as cinemascope, more sex and violence, etc., which tv could not offer. Yesilcam, on the contrary (as it always did) attempted to become the "other". In the case of Ask Mabudesi, it simulated television as pure entertainment. It created a geography where every one (potential viewers) could recognise herself (I believe these films targeted women). Its only superiority (apart from big screen) is that Turkan Soray never sang but in films (and she was dubbed!). The musical scenes , just as in many other Yesilcam melodramas of the time, are not unlike entertainment programmes produced in tv studios. It is teherefore obvious to see why Yesilcam lost its audience to tv and porn movies. It never employed a strategy that would enable it to differenciate itself from other media, rather it always preferred to give up on itself and ape others.

I also noticed that "being/getting blind", which is a recureent theme in Yesilcam films, signifies a lack, sexual in nature. When a character is blinded, he is taken to be an invaluable who culd not fulfil any kind of sexual performance. In another film, the hero calms down when the suspected lover of his wife turns out to be blind. Variations of this must be examined in detail.

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