“Hell Is Other People!”: Otherness in an Absurd World—An Analysis on Tayfun Pirselimoglu’s Kerr
The Process of Becoming Other in the Classical and Contemporary World, 2024
Otherness is one of the basic concepts of sociology, and being or feeling different in appearance... more Otherness is one of the basic concepts of sociology, and being or feeling different in appearance or character from what is familiar, expected, or generally accepted. Others give the individual the integrity of the self but are also perceived as a threat to the self and identity. This study examines Turkish director Tayfun Pirselimoglu’s film Kerr (2021) from the point of view of a Kafkaesque and Camusian absurd (Camus, The Myth of Sysiphus (J. O’Brien, Trans.). Penguins Books, 1979) world where otherness takes place. In the chapter, the absurd and the element of sociological otherness is discussed in the context of why the hero is positioned as the other and how the loss of rationality supports this otherness. Absurd situations and mystery that seems to harm the possibility of meaningful communication force the hero to survive in a terrifying cycle (which also means Kerr) and a hellish environment. The study will mainly evaluate this otherness phenomenon on the axis that the hero and the local people do not communicate meaningfully. Does the loss of rationality destroy the possibility of meaningful communication? Is absurd inherent in life or does culture suggest it? Answers to these questions will be sought in the study.
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Papers by Mikail Boz
In the chapter, the absurd and the element of sociological otherness is discussed in the context of why the hero is positioned as the other and how the loss of rationality supports this otherness. Absurd situations and mystery that seems to harm the possibility of meaningful communication force the hero to survive in a terrifying cycle (which also means Kerr) and a hellish environment. The study will mainly evaluate this otherness phenomenon on the axis that the hero and the local people do not communicate meaningfully. Does the loss of rationality destroy the possibility of meaningful communication? Is absurd inherent in life or does culture suggest it? Answers to these questions will be sought in the study.
The relationship between mythography and cinema are analyzed within a specific film text in this study. Profound Desires of the Gods (Kamigami no fukaki yokubô), which was directed by Shohei Imamura and released in 1968, explicitly addresses to the Japanese creation myth. While the incidents experienced by the Futori family due to various crimes and the violations of taboos are handled in the forefront, concerns and fears about Japanese modernization are mentioned in the background. In this context, qualitative, structuralist mythographic analysis is made about this film in terms of the concepts of myth, taboo, violation, and modernization. In this film, which is analyzed under the conceptual opposites and titles such as nature/culture, taboo/violation, civilized/uncivilized, traditional/modern with the method of binary oppositions explained by Levi-Strauss, it is seen that the Japanese creation myth is tried to be revived, and the longing to traditional Japan against modern one emerge as a prominent discourse. It is determined that a modernization perspective without modernity becomes a prominent discourse in the film.
Keywords: Cartesian philosophy, subject, suspicion, paranoia, Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049
In the chapter, the absurd and the element of sociological otherness is discussed in the context of why the hero is positioned as the other and how the loss of rationality supports this otherness. Absurd situations and mystery that seems to harm the possibility of meaningful communication force the hero to survive in a terrifying cycle (which also means Kerr) and a hellish environment. The study will mainly evaluate this otherness phenomenon on the axis that the hero and the local people do not communicate meaningfully. Does the loss of rationality destroy the possibility of meaningful communication? Is absurd inherent in life or does culture suggest it? Answers to these questions will be sought in the study.
The relationship between mythography and cinema are analyzed within a specific film text in this study. Profound Desires of the Gods (Kamigami no fukaki yokubô), which was directed by Shohei Imamura and released in 1968, explicitly addresses to the Japanese creation myth. While the incidents experienced by the Futori family due to various crimes and the violations of taboos are handled in the forefront, concerns and fears about Japanese modernization are mentioned in the background. In this context, qualitative, structuralist mythographic analysis is made about this film in terms of the concepts of myth, taboo, violation, and modernization. In this film, which is analyzed under the conceptual opposites and titles such as nature/culture, taboo/violation, civilized/uncivilized, traditional/modern with the method of binary oppositions explained by Levi-Strauss, it is seen that the Japanese creation myth is tried to be revived, and the longing to traditional Japan against modern one emerge as a prominent discourse. It is determined that a modernization perspective without modernity becomes a prominent discourse in the film.
Keywords: Cartesian philosophy, subject, suspicion, paranoia, Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049
Anahtar Kelimeler: Serenity, Ütopya, Distopya, Durağanlık, Sinema
Even though the desire to find an ideal, social and political order extends to the earliest histories of mankind, many social movements have emerged to realize utopian desire that made it possible by journey of exploration, industrialization, and modernization. Utopian works, especially Thomas More's classic work "Utopia" (1516) presented a principle of hope that there could be a different world, proposing a radical differentiation from the limits of present time. However, this radically different claim has also become the fear of utopia. Dystopias have emerged as counter-utopias in the twentieth century as systematic pressure on society, authoritarianism, or the transformation of utopias, became being uncontrollably restructured and frightening. Thus utopia as the ethic of difference has gathered meaning as a fear of stability. One typical example of this is Joss Whedon's Serenity (2005). The film is critisized with mythical analysis of Darko Suvin's method, it presents the utopia as a stabilization and approaches will of novelty doubtfully. Thus, the film emphasizes the return of the mythos instead of the avoidance, and makes the existing system and its conflicts more desirable.
Keywords: Serenity, Utopia, Distopia, Stability, Cinema