According to the rating results of the TV series and news broadcast on Friday, May 28, 2021, “Kırmızı Oda” took the second place in the total audience group and the first in the AB Group. Similarly, “Masumlar Apartmanı” ranked second in the total audience group on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, and ranked first in the AB Group. “Kırmızı Oda” and “Masumlar Apartmanı” are TV series inspired by the stories of Gülseren Budayıcıoğlu. The fact that these TV series were inspired by real-life stories affected the audience even more and increased the demands for these series even more.
So why do people show such great interest in these series, which can be described as 'psychological series? Why are these series watched and loved so much? If you are watching such series, we can say that the answer is still hidden in you.
If a TV series or movie we watch affects us deeply, perhaps some of the questions we should ask ourselves are "Which part of me does this series trigger?", "Which unmet need does it reflect?", "Which character do I empathize with and why?" What do I see similar to myself in the character?”, “Does this person look like my mom/dad/my acquaintances?” Asking ourselves these questions can be important in terms of getting to know ourselves and holding a mirror to ourselves. Moreover, they can offer an opportunity to confront ourselves, our past, our parents. Ultimately, this is one of the steps taken in therapy.
For example, in "Masumlar Apartmanı", Safiye's character has obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors, which are seen as excessive cleaning. However, the emotional similarity we feel when we see that what she is trying to do is not to get rid of the real dirt, but to get rid of the dirty memories in her past can make us feel close to this character. It may be similar to the characteristics we see in us or our relatives, that she cannot live her childhood and adolescence, that she has to be a caregiver to her siblings in the absence of a mother figure, and that she takes responsibility for them by doing the only thing she knows, that is, by copying her mother and putting pressure on her siblings. Safiye's sister, Gülben, is known for her passivity, hunger for love, and dependency on her older sister. Our intimacy with this character may represent another dependent part of us. Our spouse, our child, or our job… It is possible that different reflections of similar experiences affect the fragile child within us and create emotional intensity in us. The failure of these characters to receive the love they needed in childhood may perhaps be similar to our unmet need for love by our parents. It is possible to increase these examples even more, but the important point is as we mentioned at the beginning; to look inside ourselves.
Another possible reason why psychological TV series are preferred is that the characters we see are not uncommon and extraordinary characters like in other TV series. On the contrary, in these series we see the characters who tell the reality of life, an ordinary person, and similar to the general population, not a small part of humanity. Because we or our relatives have experienced the events in psychological TV series, we may feel that we belong to these TV series. From this point of view, it would be an expected situation for the viewing rates to be such high. Moreover, we can think of the therapy room, which we witnessed and watched a small part of in these series, as a place where we can receive the care we need for our own therapy. We may be looking for a solution to our own problems by associating the problems described in the therapy room we see on the screens with our own problems in our minds. Of course, knowing that these events are taken from real life may increase the emotional load of the events for the audience.
Wish to look at the series from this perspective and increase our awareness of ourselves.
R.A. Merve Seven
