The subject of this paper is the examination of the religious folklore narrative in the films Düğün (Wedding - 1973), Gelin (Bride - 1973) ve Diyet (Price - 1974), which Lütfi Ömer Akad called as “Anatolian Trilogy” and is commonly described as “Migration Trilogy.” These films are discussed in the focus of folklore discipline and the framework of methods of intertextuality such as “myth, quote, association (reference), self-possession, style” within the scope of verbal narratives. It is seen that the current studies on the Migration Trilogy are discussed within the scope of the concept of migration sociology or gender, which examines the phenomenon of “migration from village to city.” In this study, differently, it is argued that Akad wanted to build the social change he aimed at in all three films on religious texts such as parable, origin and hadith, and women; in other words, through the religious memory that society is familiar with. Akad used the public’s common religious narrative memory while criticizing society, and in doing so, he applied the intertextuality method. Lutfi Akad directly quotes the story of Abraham and Ishmael in the film Gelin; the story of Joseph in the film Düğün; and a hadith in the film Diyet. These religious references are directly related to the flow of events and the actors’ roles in the film. During the Feast of Sacrifice in the film of Gelin, Ilyas Ağa takes his grandson Osman in his arms and tells the myth of sacrifice. Osman is identified with the prophet Ishmael, but Osman becomes a victim in the film instead of the ram as the opposite myth. In the Düğün film, the “connotation and quotation” technique was used in terms of both the hero’s name being Yusuf (Joseph) and the hero’s reading of the prophet Yusuf (Joseph) from the book to his sisters. In the Diyet film, unlike the first two films, intertextuality was used with a hadith excerpt, not a religious parable. This hadith, which we heard from the mouth of the father of Mary and then from the mouth of Mary, was determined as an important reference for the course of the event in the film. Another issue identified as intertextuality is the way of Akad’s style and his use of self-reference. All three films can be considered “social realistic films.” Akad shows the power of women to transform society through the same female actress in all three films. Hülya Koçyiğit, who takes the lead role in these films that tell the story of the migration from the village to the city and the people trying to hold on to the city, is significant in terms of focusing on the three states of a woman in the city; she plays a single woman in the city in the film Düğün, a married woman with children in the city in the film Gelin, and a widow with children in the city in the film Diyet. So, it is meaningful that the films focus on the life struggle of a woman in her three stages, “single, married and widowed” in the city. It was determined that the intertextuality element was religious sources and that Akad wanted to build social change by criticizing it with religious references in all three films.
Folklore, intertextuality, Lüftfi Ömer Akad, (Düğün, Gelin, Diyet), myth and religion.