Transformation of wisdom from oral tradition to electronic period: From irkıl Ata to Şahin ağa [Sözlü gelenekten elektronik döneme bilgelik dönüşümü: Irkil Ata’dan şahin ağa’ya]

Abstract

Wise is a word that has gained a special meaning in Turkish culture. The wise men are important in ensuring the existence and continuity of societies, in the formation of the emotion and thought union among the individual. The wise man type found mostly in Turkish epics also appears in type of wise statesman. This wise man is a statesman. The wise statesman whose prototype was firstly seen in Uluğ Türk of Oğuz Kağan in Turkish epic tradition also appears in other examples such as Bakay of Manas, Dede Korkut of Dede Korkut, Irkıl Ata and Yuşi Koca in other texts. The media is a fundamental dynamic that creates cultural exchanges. Today there is almost no culture that is not shaped under the influence of the media. Reality and imagination are being created and shared in the media. There is the media at the center of the cultural elements of modern and post-modern societies. Today, in many series of public and private television channels, important roles are undertaken by theater artists. In these series, many modified/transformed examples of heroes of oral culture are exhibited. In the presentation of transformed types of oral tradition, the aim is to transmit the elements of Turkish national culture, safeguard, spread and enrich the beliefs, knowledge and practices, which are the reflections of thought and life of people. Oğuz Kağan, Bamsı Beyrek and Köroğlu have been replaced by Aynalı Tahir, Memoli and Miroğlu. Uluğ Türk, Irkıl Ata and Dede Korkut also transformed their places into postmodern wisdom like Kuşçu, Ömer Baba and Şahin Ağa. Television series are different from the first oral culture environment in terms of function and content, as a program that is produced electronically. The wise type that has come into view as the important type of the first oral culture period, has undergone some changes depending on the form and the change of context. As a result, the wise man type, who appears rather in myths, epics and folk stories which are among the basic types of Turkish culture tradition, underwent a transformation, change and renovation while maintaining some of its qualities. © 2018, Milli Folklor Dergisi. All rights reserved.