The Semiotics of Portraying Battles in Turkish Historical Drama: A Case Study of

Elsedawy, Hager

doi:10.21608/jsb.2025.402754.1952

The Semiotics of Portraying Battles in Turkish Historical Drama: A Case Study of "Mohamed: Sultan of Conquests" Series, Season Two

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Hager Elsedawy

Faculty of Art Dept.of Mass Communication

10.21608/jsb.2025.402754.1952

Abstract

This study aims to identify the iconic, indexical, and symbolic significations used in the dramatic portrayal of battles, applying this to the battle of the conquest of Constantinople as depicted in the episodes of the Turkish series "Mohamed: Sultan of Conquests," Season Two. The study also seeks to understand the semantic references used in the issues of the battle of the conquest of Constantinople, in an attempt to conduct a comprehensive and holistic evaluation of the contextual and formal semiological significations used in the case of "Mohamed: Sultan of Conquests," Season Two. As a descriptive study, it seeks to describe the phenomenon under investigation. The study employed the semiological method as both a methodology and an analytical tool. The analysis covered all scenes of "Mohamed: Sultan of Conquests," Season Two, totaling 34 episodes (from episode 16 to episode 49, the final episode of the season), with each episode lasting 150 minutes, for a total of 5,100 minutes (85 hours), in order to examine the most prominent events of the conquest of Constantinople. The current study employed a semiological textual analysis approach, considered one of the most important semiotic methods for analyzing television dramatic arts. The study concluded that the religious frame of reference was the most prominent, followed by the military or martial reference, then the legal and legislative reference, followed by the economic and social references pertaining to the events and facts of the conquest of Constantinople. The findings also revealed the precedence of performance significations, represented by body language—especially hand gestures—followed by the significations of media symbols, such as lighting, camera angles, and shot sizes, and then the significations of set design, costumes, and other artistic elements.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Radio and TV

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