Palimpsestuous screen: Mediating the conquest of Istanbul in the post-truth era (long May 2024)

Abstract

The conquest of Istanbul has been subject to myriad retellings since the 15th century. Though each subsequent telling comes from a unique perspective, later narratives are inevitably written over earlier ones, retracing key moments while also erasing some details to elevate others in a palimpsestuous relation with the past. Setting out from this premise, I suggest that both the pace and nature of this story-shifting relation with the past have changed in recent years due to a conflux of the mutually constitutive trends of the digital revolution in communication, an increasing public interest in the Ottoman past, and the rise of competitive authoritarian politics in Turkey. I examine recent (2012-present) mediations of the conquest of Istanbul from cinema, television, and propaganda videos, highlighting the striking degree to which these mediations call into question the very relationship between signifier and signified, both through intersection with each other and through the tendency that some have to (re)write the contemporary political landscape in Turkey through the story of the conquest. I explore the stakes of this waffling signifier and other heralds of the post-truth era such as the monumental public screen.