Old Myths, New Encounters

This paper examines the question of why ‘primitive’ view of the world still attracts popular interests? Worldwide manifestations of this appeal can be cited as the rise of contemporary spiritualism and return of the pagan world in cultural productions. These practices and forms become more popular and widespread than ever due to cybercast and streaming services. What is striking in cultural productions is the theme of awakening of hibernating mythical forces. This paper problematizes this phenomenon and focuses on two TV series from Turkey: Shahmaran (The Queen of the Snakes, a monster with a woman head and a snake body of a folk legend); and Atiye (the voyage ends up in the oldest archeological site in the world, Göbekli Tepe). In these productions, there emerge a common pattern (which can also be discerned in European or Korean productions). A middle class woman who lives in Istanbul starts to have disturbing experiences. She is left with no choice but to listen a delphic summoning and embark on a journey into ‘mysterious’ lands of the Eastern Anatolia. She finds out that she is a descendant of a forgotten primeval creature and that their time has come again as a response to a danger or a prophesy, usually amounts to lost balance between nature and humanity.

Theoretical framework of this paper will be developed through three lines: A critical reading of the analyses of myths and ‘primitive thinking’ by James Frazer and Joseph Campbell; Silvia Federici’s analysis of witch hunt through capital accumulation, mechanization of body and social struggles; and works that analyze or address the phenomenon of contemporary spiritualism in terms of neoliberal capitalism. Methodology of the paper will not be limited to an analysis of representations but try to apply Felix Guattari’s semiotic theory and otonomist Marxists’ remarks on old ontologies.