The texts of Tatli Jadi overlapped with the next influential cultural text that I was introduced to in my early childhood of Czech folk tales. Parallel to other eastern European countries, folk tales in any medium have been an integral part of the Czech cultural fabric for centuries. These tales were often available in a variety of media, and most could be found as a book, animation, and a film simultaneously.
These stories generally feature a hero, whether a common folk or a knight, who stumbles upon a situation that sends him on a quest that often involves saving a princess. In traditional Czech tales, the male hero is often forced to battle mythical creatures like dragons, giants, or devils. In the end, the hero typically slays the beast, and in his triumph wins the princess’s heart, the king’s accolade, rescues the land from its tyrant, and in turn wins the adoration of the people. The hero is principally a good-natured and courageous young male, with a good sense of humour, devoted to his land. If this pattern sounds familiar minus the nationalist undertone, it is because many Walt Disney films the likes of Cinderella and Snow White utilized this paradigm extensively, and thus popularized these old tales that were verbally passed on for generations in various parts of Europe.
The way I was introduced to these texts was through audiotapes. Partially to maintain our cultural identity in a foreign land, but more importantly to hold on to their sanity by keeping my sister and I entertained on long drives (it would take two days to drive from Istanbul to Prague), our parents would play an assortment of these folk tale audiotapes in the car. Time after time we would get absorbed in these stories despite the fact that we have all heard them many times before. I recall my favorite folk tale growing up was “Princ Bajaja”.
After moving back to the Czech Republic from Turkey, I often watched a variety of these stories regularly on Saturday morning television from when I was seven years old, until the age or eleven. Over time however, my consumption of these texts changed. I came to distinguish fantasy from reality not only because of my development but also because my grandmother, an actress in the Czech Republic, at times invited her actor friends to our house, and my sister and I watched these films in which they starred next to them. Furthermore, I began to participate as an extra in several productions and also in voiceover dubbing, and thus became aware of these films being produced texts at an early age.
Despite my enlightenment to the trickery of the ‘culture industry’ (Adorno) and the fact that I no longer role-played as on of the hero characters (Instead, my hero became Niki Lauda, an Austrian Formula 1 racer I followed on TV), many of the moral values taught by these texts still influenced me. What I was unaware of is how much these stories were a vessel for the cultural values of the society that produced them. Frequently they celebrated male chivalry, humility, courage, and loyalty throughout their story lines, values that the interaction with others in that society further reinforced. Along with the cultural values, in their depiction of noble heroes and fair princesses, the folk stories introduced me to the concept of gender roles. As per Judith Butler’s theory of ‘peformativity’ (Butler), In many ways, the way gender was performed in these stories taught mw what it meant to be a male in that society, and in turn, how men were expected to treat women. According to these texts, men were to be brave protectors of women, and to treat them with kindness and respect. In line with Butler’s theory failing to perform in parallel with these mediated societal roles rendered one rude and cowardly in the public’s eye.
In turn, I accepted this definition and performed along with it as a growing male. Even though I have lived in Canada for most of my life and learned these lessons at a very young age, I believe this is why I feel compelled to open doors for women, help with dropped items, and feel awkward if a woman requests to pay for a meal in my adult years. Now, I don’t believe I perform these acts because these texts taught me that women are a lesser sex, on the contrary I was raised in a family where both parents are equals. Rather, I act out the roles I was taught through these cultural texts to respect women.
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