The movie that I chose to watch for this week’s blog post is a movie called Paper Lives, which takes place in Turkey.

The first aspect of the cultural differences I noticed is the characters’ clothing. Although similar to ordinary American outfits, the influence of African and/or Middle Eastern styles is represented by the shirt colors worn. In one particular scene, a character wears a t-shirt with brown and orange vertical stripes, and the other wears mostly brown. I felt these colors were significant to the geographical influence of Africa on Turkey, as I’ve often seen warm colors, such as reds, oranges, and browns, showcased in African clothing. Similarly, in the next scene, the main character, Mehmet, is wearing a flowy, long-sleeved white shirt which I found signified the Middle Eastern aspect, as long flowy shirts are sometimes traditionally worn.

Mehmet lives in a wooden apartment, and something I noticed about the inside of his apartment is that his walls seem to have designs engraved or burned into the wood. I had never seen this before at a house in North America, and I found it to be quite intriguing and beautiful.

In the movie, Mehmet meets an 8-year-old homeless boy, whom he takes under his wing. In one scene, Mehmet travels with the boy by carrying him in a chariot-style bag, seemingly for shopping/groceries. The boy sits inside the bag while Mehmet holds onto the handles and pulls while he is walking. This kind of travel was very interesting to me as it is not the norm here, and I had never seen or heard of a technique as such.

In one scene, Mehmet is in what seems to be a bathing room, with steps to sit on and large sinks placed on the ground. This was fascinating to me as I’ve seen European bathrooms that have bidets’ for extra cleanliness, but I haven’t seen seemingly communal bathing rooms. I connected this to the communal bathing practiced in Ancient Rome, from which the Byzantine empire grew before being overtaken by the Ottoman Empire (mostly modern day Turkey). I’d theorize that perhaps this was an idea taken from the Roman and Byzantine empires when the Ottomans overtook them.

In another scene, on a warm day, the main characters jump into a lake that serves as a swimming pool for the local community. This is something I enjoyed doing growing up, and I’m glad that I was able to share that cultural connection with the Turkish movie.

Overall, Paper Lives provided an insight into what life is like in the streets of Turkey, and I enjoyed watching and learning about the everyday commodities and styles of architecture and clothing the film showcased.