H YPER-REALITY OF A TH REE-DIMEN SION AL CIN EMATIC EXPERIEN CE WITH IN POSTMODERN ERA
A Master ‟s Thesis
by
GÜNIġIK SUNGUR
Dep artm ent of
Com m u nication and Design Ġ hsan Doğ ramacı Bilkent University
Ankara October 2012
H YPER-REALITY OF A TH REE-DIMEN SION AL CIN EMATIC EXPERIEN CE WITH IN POSTMODERN ERA
Grad u ate School of Econom ics and Social Sciences of
Ġ hsan Doğramacı Bilkent University
by
GÜNIġIK SUNGUR
In Partial Fu lfillm ent of the Requ irem ents for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS
in
TH E DEPARTMEN T OF COMMUN ICATION AN D DESIGN Ġ HSAN DOĞRAMACI BILKENT UNIVERSITY
AN KARA October 2012
I hereby d eclare that all inform ation in this d ocu m ent has been obtained and p resented in accord ance w ith acad em ic ru les and ethical cond u ct. I also d eclare that, as requ ired by these ru les and cond u ct, I have fu lly cited and referenced all m aterial and resu lts that are not original to this w ork.
I certify that I have read this thesis and that in m y op inion it is fu lly ad equ ate, in scop e and in qu ality, as a thesis for the d egree of Master of Arts in Med ia and Visu al Stu d ies.
Assist. Prof. Dr. Ahm et Gü rata ---
I certify that I have read this thesis and that in m y op inion it is fu lly ad equ ate, in scop e and in qu ality, as a thesis for the d egree of Master of Arts in Med ia and Visu al Stu d ies.
Assist. Prof. Dr. Özlem SavaĢ ---
I certify that I have read this thesis and that in m y op inion it is fu lly ad equ ate, in scop e and in qu ality, as a thesis for the d egree of Master of Arts in Med ia and Visu al Stu d ies.
Assist. Prof. Dr. Sevgi Can Yağcı Aksel ---
Ap p roval of the Grad u ate School of Econom ics and Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Erd al Erel
ABSTRACT
H YPER-REALITY OF A TH REE-DIMEN SION AL CIN EMATIC EXPERIEN CE WITH IN POSTMODERN ERA
GünıĢ ık Sungur
M.A., Dep artm ent of Com m u nication and Design Su p ervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Ahm et Gü rata
October 2012
This research aim s to analyze hyp er-reality of three-d im ensional cinem atic exp erience w ithin p ostm od ern era. In the stu d y, (illu sion of) realistic asp ect of a cinematic experience is taken into account in order to examine the „shifts‟ occu rred in the exp ectations and the u nd erstand ing of a cinem atic exp erience d u e to changes w ithin the social p ara d igm . In this m entioned context, the m ovie Avatar (2009) is analyzed throu gh its hyp er-realistic characteristics w ith resp ect to postm od ernist notion of u nd erstand ing. As a resu lt , it cou ld be said that, d u e to changes on the m od e of thou ght, any u nd erstand ing cou ld be shap ed inevitably, u nd er the effect of the „norm s‟ that cam e w ith the m od e of thou ght. In this stu d y, the p oint tried to be show n is that the changes in the m od e of thou ght has a reflection on the u nd erstand ing of a cinem atic exp erience.
ÖZET
POSTMODERN DÖNEMDE ÜÇ BOYUTLU SĠ NEMA TECRÜBESĠ NĠ N GERÇEKLĠ K ÖTESĠ ANLAYIġI
GünıĢ ık Sungur
Yüksek Lisans, Ġ letiĢ im ve Tasarım Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd . Doç. Dr. Ahm et Gü rata
Ekim 2012
Bu araĢ tırm a, p ostm od ern d önem d e ü ç boyu tlu sinem a tecrü besinin gerçeklik ötesi anlayıĢ ını analiz etm eyi am açlam aktad ır. Bu çalıĢ m a, sinem a tecrübesinin (ilüzyonsal) gerçekçiliğini göz önünde bulundurarak, sosyal paradigmalara dayalı değiĢ imin sinematik tecrübeye karĢ ı beklenti ve anlayıĢ ınd aki yer d eğ iĢ im ini incelem ek ted ir. Bu belirtilen içerikte,Avatar (2009) film i, p osm od ernist anlayıĢ ta gerçeklik ötesi karakteristik özelliklerine dayanılarak incelenmiĢ tir. Sonuç olarak söylenebilir ki; düĢ ünce m odundaki değiĢ iklikler, kaçınılmaz olarak yeni düĢ ünce modunun „norm‟ları aracılığı ile her türlü anlayıĢ a yön verebilir. Bu çalıĢ m ad a, d ü Ģ ü nce m od u nd aki değiĢ imin sinematik tecrübeye yansıması gösterilmeye çalıĢ ılmıĢ tır.
Anahtar Kelim eler: Sinem ad a Gerçeklik Kavram ı, Postm od ernizm , Gerçeklik Ötesi AnlayıĢ , Avatar (2009)
ACKN OWLEDGEMEN TS
I ow e m y d eep est gratitu d e to m y su p ervisor Assist. Prof. Dr. Ahm et Gü rata for his encou ragem ent and su p p ort throu ghou t m y research p roject w ith his valu able com m ents, lectu res and id eas.
I w ou ld also like to thank to Prof. Dr. Mahm u t Mu tm an for his enlightening and gu id ing lectu res and thou ghts.
I w ou ld like to express m y ap p reciation to Sabire Özyalçın for her su p p ort.
I also would like to extend my thanks to Ġ hsan Doğramacı Bilkent University for giving m e this op p ortu nity w ith its valu able acad em ic staff.
I w ou ld also like to exp ress m y gratitu d e to m y fam ily, m y friend s and all the ones w ho has su p p orted m e.
TABLE OF CON TEN TS
ABSTRACT... iii
ÖZET ... iv
ACKN OWLEDGEMEN TS ... v
TABLE OF CON TEN TS ... vi
CH APTER I: IN TRODUCTION ... 1
CH APTER II: TH E N OTION OF REALISM WITH IN CIN EMATIC EXPERIEN CE ... 7
2.1 Modern Understanding of Arts ... 9
2.1.1 General Overview on Cinema in Modern Era ... 13
2.2. The Notion of ‘Realism’ in Cinema With Respect to Its Roots ... 14
2.2.1. The Notion of Reality Within Cinematic Experience During Modernity ... 21
2.3. Realism From the Audience Perspective Within The Cinematic Experience ... 27
2.4. The Illusive Power of Representation Within Cinema On The Basis of Reality ... 32
CH APTER III: LOOKIN G IN TO RELATION SH IP BETWEEN H YPER- REALITY AN D TH REE-DIMEN SION AL CIN EMATIC EXPERIEN CE AN D UN DERSTAN DIN G TH E PARALLELISM WITH POST-MODERN ITY ... 38
3.1. How Is the Notion of Realism Shaped Today? ... 38
3.3. Understanding Cinema with Respect to Norms of Postmodernism ... 46
3.4. Hyper-reality ... 52
3.4.1. Can Simulacra Totally Kill The ‘Event’? ... 55
CH APTER IV: TH E MOVIE AVATA R (2009) AS A CASE STUDY FOR H YPER-REAL ASPECT OF A CIN EMATIC EXPERIEN CE . 63 4.1. The Movie Avatar ... 63
4.2. Hyper-real Characteristics of the Movie Avatar ... 65
4.3. Illusion of Reality Within Avatar ... 67
4.4. Shift in the Status of the Observer Due to the Norms of Postmodernism ... 72
4.5. Social Readiness of Mode of Thought ... 76
CH APTER V: CON CLUSION ... 81
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPH Y ... 84
CHAPTER I
IN TROD UCTION
Am ong all art form s, visu al arts can be cou nted as the m ost effective ones. First of all, it shou ld be consid ered that cinem a is su ch a m ed iu m that inclu d es both entertainm ent and visu al asp ects. Fu rtherm ore, bearing in m ind that cinem a is a m ed iu m , w hich d ifferentiates itself from other m ed iu m s of visu al m ass cu ltu re, and it can be said that its p ow er lies in the notion of „illusion of reality‟. However, shifts occur on this mentioned „illusional realism‟ of cinematic experience, with respect to the changes taking p lace in the social context.
The aim of this thesis is to exp lore the attitu d es and u nd erstand ings shap ed tow ard s a cinem atic exp erience, in w hich w ays and u nd er w hich social contexts.
In ord er to m ake a thorou gh analysis of the m entioned su bject, the very first thing is to constru ct a relationship betw een cinem a and its characteristics
su ch as its p ow er, w hich is rooted from its illu siveness.
On the other hand , w hen the tim es that cinem a as a m ed iu m has firstly ap p eared are consid ered , the m ajor p oints that d ifferentiate cinem a from other form s of visu al rep resentations or visu al art fo rm s w ere d ifferent from today‟s considerations.
Cinem a w as born in the late nineteenth centu ry, w hen the resem blance to nature is looked for within visual art forms. Thus, Bazin‟s analogy “of mummy complex”, with the aesthetic fear of death that is expressed through artw orks, can reveal the attitu d e tow ard s the visu al rep resentation d u ring m od ern era. The m entioned attitu d e tow ard s visu al rep res entations affects the u nd erstand ing of them ; therefore, it is im p ortant to exam ine the notion of realism from a w id er and a d iscou rsive p ersp ective.
In Chap ter Tw o, it is exp lored that the relationship betw een m od ernity and cinem atic exp erience is im p ortant for u nd erstand ing the characteristics and p ow er of cinem a. Moreover, the p oint „illu sion of reality‟ is su ch an asp ect that it shou ld be exam ined as an a u tonom ou s system . It shou ld be p u t forw ard that the notion of realism w ithin m od ernity seeks for a „life -like‟ reality. Within the m entioned Chap ter, m od ernity is introd u ced and its relation w ith visu al arts is exam ined on the basis of And re Bazin‟s thou ghts and views. Andre Bazin‟s point of view on the subject is specifically chosen for the p u rp ose of his d escrip tive attitu d e of the notion realism in m od ernity.
When the notion of realism w ithin cinem atic exp erience is d eep ly analyzed , it lead s the research to another p oint from the continu u m of cinem a, w hich can be called as hyp er-reality, instead of a „natu ral, life-like‟ reality. Thu s, Chap ter Three exam ines the notion of hyp er -reality and its relation w ith p ostm od ernism . In this chap ter, French sociologist, p hilosop her and theorist Jean Baudrillard‟s thoughts and views are followed up in order to understand the „norms‟ of the postmodern. It could be said that, within the p ostm od ern era, au d ience becom e read y to integrate the hyp er-realness of a cinem atic exp erience. From a postm od ern p oint of view, Bau d rillard ‟s d efinition of m od ernity cou ld be cou nted as enlightening for u nd erstand ing the shifts occu rred w ithin the cinem atic exp erience.
In that resp ect, m od ernity is associated w ith social classes and grou p s to p ass over the „exclusiveness of signs‟ and to cause a rapid increase in the number of „signs on demand‟. To be more specific, Baud rillard (1993: 54) puts forward as follow s:
Im itations, cop ies, cou nterfeits, and the techniqu es to p rod u ce them (w hich w ou ld inclu d e the Italian theater, linear p ersp ective, and cam era obscu ra) w ere challenges to the control of signs. The p roblem of m im esis here is not one of aesthetics bu t of social p ow er, a p ow er fou nd ed on the cap acity to p rod u ce equ ivalences.
Ow ing to the m entioned fact that any kind of rep rod u ction; thu s, rep resentation creates and ow ns its ow n reality. For cinem a, it can be said that rep resented im ages on the screen has its ow n realism , and realism on
screen is not d ep end ent on the p resent realism , m eanw hile the real-tim e shooting p lace, tim e, events and acts. As a resu lt, realism w ithin cinem atic exp erience is a social p rocess, neither a technological nor an aesthetical.
Fu rtherm ore as Bau d rillard (1993: 65) p u ts forw ard ;
At the m om ent that tou ching loses its sensory, sensu al valu e for u s ('tou ching is an interaction of the senses rather than a sim p le contact betw een a skin and an object'), it is p ossible that it m ight once m ore becom e the schem a of a u niverse of com m u nication bu t this tim e as a field of tactile and tactical sim u lation w here the m essage becom es a ' m essage ' , a tentacu lar enticem ent, a test.
Moreover, d u e to the p ostm od ernism , hyp er-real becom es a notion w hich d oes not need the „real‟ anym ore.
A case stu d y is chosen in Chap ter Fou r, in ord er to gather m ore specific d ata for this research. The m ovie Avatar (2009) is the chosen cinem atic exp erience for u nd erstand ing the interaction of a hyp er -real m ovie from a p ostm od ern p ersp ective.
The m ovie Avatar contains hyp er-real elem ents on the basis of both the techniqu e and w ithin the narrative.
While analyzing the m ovie Avatar, it becom es m ore clear that the characteristics of hyp er-reality is accep ted by the au d ience; thu s, the shift on the statu s of the observer is obviou s at this p oint.
It can be said for any cinem atic exp erience from a p ostm od ern p oint of view (Bau d rillard , 1993: 72);
The H yp er-real rep resents a m u ch m ore ad vanced p hase insofar as it effaces the contrad iction of the real and the im aginary… Irreality no longer belon gs to the d ream or the p hantasm , to a beyond or a hid d en interiority, bu t to the hallu cinatory resem blance of the real to itself.
Based on the given reference, the m ovie Avatar is su rrou nd ed by the postmodern environment of today‟s.
As a resu lt; cinem a is a m ed iu m in w hich the cinem atic exp erience is the su bject itself, w hereas the au d ience joins this (hyp er)reality w hile w atching the m ovie.
Another point that shou ld be em p hasized is sim u lation; thu s, hyp er-reality is at least as real as reality or even m ore real. To be m ore sp ecific; “The sim u lacru m is never w hat hid es the tru th - it is tru th that hid es the fact that there is none. The sim u lacru m is tru e. -Ecclesiastes.” (Bau d rillard , 1994: 1)
Bearing in the m ind that, all those em p hasized su bjects can only arise or live as long as the social context is convenient to m aintain it.
CHAPTER II
THE N OTION OF REALISM WITHIN CIN EMATIC
EXPERIEN CE
The m ain objective of th is chap ter is firstly to p u t forw ard the etym ology of cinem a w ith resp ect to its illu sional asp ect. Moreover; this chap ter w ill d iscover the relationship betw een realism and cinem atic exp erience in the context of m od ernity. In m any w ays, it can be p u t forw ard that cinem a has cred ible strength am ongst visu al m ed ia w ith its m u ltilayered stru ctu re. To be m ore sp ecific, cinem a is su ch a m ed iu m in w hich shelters d ifferent socially shaped layers like arts, ideology, aesthetics… take place within the same au d iovisu al m ed iu m .
H ow ever, the id ea of cinem a has firstly ap p eared in 1589 by Giovan Battista Della Porta, in his book M agia N aturalis, the p ractical ap p earance of cinem a belongs to the late 18th centu ry, w hich cau ses it to take its characteristics from the early 19th
centu ry; the era of m od ernity. The u se of cam era obscu ra is w ell d escribed by Della Porta (William s, 1996: 34) as he stages;
Und er the bright light of the su n, p hotograp hs, (by the m eans of lens of the cam era obscu ra), p rojecting the tw o -d im ensional, lu m inou s im age of the original action onto a screen before an au d ience. H e enhances the visu al show w ith sou nd effects. H e assu res the focu s, am end ing the d istance by the m agnitu d e of the glass.
Based on the d escrip tion that Della Porta p ortraits, cinem a as know n in tod ay is cap able of rep rod u cing a live act on screen. In the 1650s the „m agic lantern‟ w as started to u se to screen m ovem ent lacking im ages t hrou gh a lens system like in cam era obscu ra. Then, slid ing d iscs w ere u sed the give the illu sion of m ovem ent on screen like a continu ou s m ovem ent w ith Phenakistiscop e in 1833. Later on, Zoetrop e in 1867, and Ed ison‟s Kinetoscop e in 1894 have contribu ted to cinem atograp hy and it can be said that cinem a has reached a peak point with Lumiere brothers‟ with the method of combining the Kinetoscope with the magic lantern. Lumieres‟ first demonstration to a p aying au d ience w as on 28 Decem ber 1895, (Parkinson, 1995: 16) in Salon Ind ien, a basem ent room of the Grand Café in Paris. For m ost of the scholars , the birth d ate of cinem a is accep ted as Lu m ieres‟ Cinem atograp he so accord ing to that era, cinem a belongs to m od ernity.
To be m ore sp ecific u nd er th e contextu al fram e of m od ernity, it can be exp lained as cinem a has been shap ed d u e to the cu ltu ral and intellectu al m ovem ents w ith the help of ind u strialization and technology.
In ord er to overlook the relation betw een r ealism and cinem atic exp erience, it shou ld be clearly p u t forw ard the characteristics of m od ern era.
2.1 Modern Understanding of Arts
Mod ernism is the flow that can be id entified w ith tw o m ajor m eanings (W.Richard , 2010: 424);
1. Mod ern p ractice; a thing of recent d ate, esp ecially a m od ern u sage or m od e of expression.
2. A typ e of artistic m ovem ent, d ating from the early tw entieth centu ry, characterized by a d eliberate d epartu re from trad itional form s and a qu estioning of contem p orary m oral and social valu es. Dad aism and su rrealism w ere am ong the first m od ernist m ovem ents.
Whereas; m od ernity is the historical p eriod that can be u nd erstood as “largely shaped by worship of the machine god and the conflicts of the m od ern era as contests for technological su p eriority.” (Dora, 1983: 209)
The technological m achinery innovations that took p lace esp ecially in the late 18th
centu ry changed all social stru ctu re in the p ath of sep aration from m ed ieval trad itions and shifting tow ard s the ind u strialized „m od ern‟ set of new trad itions. It shou ld be em p hasized that this shift is not only on the technological basis, rather than technical im p rovem ents, bu t social shift is also the key p oint that d irects the flow in both m icro and m acro levels.
It is inevitable to m ention that the changes, w hich has brou ght u p by m od ernity are not only on the basis of technology; m oreover the attitu d es and p ercep tions tow ard s life, are also changed d u e to its social im p act.
From a Marxist p oint of view, technological asp ects of m od ernity are highly criticized . Accord ing to Marx (1947: 47), m od ernity can be d istingu ished by
…a mode of thought, an understanding of the world, in which technology becom es a p roblem . That is, the m achines that, since the Ind u strial Revolu tion, have shap ed the p rocesses of p rod u ction and im p osed new d ivisions of labou r have p osed qu estions that have forced u s to reassess the m eaning of existence an d exp erience; to exam ine how ou r know led ge of the w orld is shap ed , not only by science, bu t by the u ses to w hich w e p u t the p rod u cts of scientific u nd erstand ing.
„Life‟, as Marx and Engels (1947: 48) say, “is not determined by consciou sness, bu t consciou sness by life”, w hich p u ts a significant em p hasis on the im p ortance of instru m ental fu nctionality that brings the p rofit in the end , shap es ou r all w ay of p erceiving, concep tu alizing, thu s the w ay of living.
It can be said that, u nd er the influ ence of cap italism , m od ernity tu rned into a system w ith its ow n lim its (esp ecially w hen com p ared to p ostm od ernity) that, “everything w hich is sym bolically exchanged constitu tes a m ortal danger for the dominant order” (Baudrillard, 1993: 188).
In the case of cinem atic exp erience, w hen signs of the real action is record ed and rep resented on the screen, there occu rs a sym bolic exchange. Thu s, the sym bolic exchange cau ses a shift in the ord er of signs and the w hole sem iotics of both the p resent and rep resent system s go throu gh a shift. Ord ers of the signs are changed d u e to the sym bolic exchange.
The id eas p u t forw ard starting from West, sp read throu gh the rest of the w orld . Meanw hile; m od ern era has hosted m any thinkers and w riters w ith su ch as; Marx, Freu d , Brech t, Joyce, Woolf, Eisenstein, Ku leshov and so on… They all have shap ed the w hole flow of the w orld and t hu s the understanding of arts. „Modern‟ set of traditions influenced the cultural agencies; thu s, the m eaning and valu e given to arts have also changed . The influ ence of m od ernity am ongst art can be p u t forw ard as Shaw (2008: 3) su ggests;
It is organized accord ing to the d evelop m ent of new technologies that changed p atterns of w ork and social life and influ enced cu ltu ral institu tions and their exp ression in art form s like p ainting, architectu re, d ance, d ram a and literatu re. The arts that w e p rod u ce not only p rovid e u s w ith enjoym ent bu t also p rovid e u s w ith a focu s for w orking throu gh ou r resp onses to cu ltu ral change and can be read as rep resenting the state of know led ge abou t the w orld in any given historical p eriod or in any given cu ltu re. Thu s, certain cu ltu ral artifacts can be analyzed as instru m ental in both stru ctu ring and reflecting resp onses to the im p act of technologies on social organization and everyd ay life.
The m entioned art form s can be extend ed w ith ad d ing p hotograp hy and later on; cinem a.
The notion of arts u nd er the influ ence of m od ernity consid ers a lot on; „the originality‟, in other words, the authenticity of the „masterpiece‟. Fu rtherm ore, it is expected for a m od ern artw ork to be consistent w ithin itself, p ortrayed by Levenson (1999: 3);
As w e acknow led ge the fu ll com p ass of the w ork, it w ill p rove better to be m inim alist in ou r d efinitions of that conveniently flaccid term
M odernist and m axim alist in ou r accou nts of the d iverse modernizing
w orks and m ovem ents, w hich are som etim es d eep ly congru ent w ith one another, and ju st as often op p osed or even contrad ictory.
In other w ord s, a m od ernist artw ork is exp ected to w ork as „Gestalt ‟ in w hich, each and every p iece of the w ork is exp ected to w ork for the perception of the „whole‟.
To be m ore sp ecific, u nd erstand ing of the art w orks, u nd er the influ ence of m od ernity, is based on the totality that m aintained from harm ony. This m entioned asp ect of artw orks‟ p ercep tion u nd er the influ ence of m od ernity grou nd s the overlooking the p ieces of the total; hence, the notion of illu sion gains strength. In ord er to m ak e it clear, w hen p ieces becom e m eaningfu l only throu gh p erceiving the w hole, m eanings of ind ivid u al p ieces on the basis of effectiveness is rep ressed and cau sed a d eviation. As a resu lt, the m od ernly p erceived art w orks conceive an illu sional ap p rehension.
Another point w ith resp ect to m od ernity for artw orks, esp ecially for p hotograp hy and cinem a, is the techniqu e. It is the seeking point w ithin a m asterp iece. Techniqu e on the basis of m od ernity refers to the „w hole‟. As Levenson (1999: 3) sp ecifically exp lains;
Mu ch of the artistic p assion of the p eriod w as stirred by qu estions of technique, w here „technique‟ should not suggest attention to „form‟ as opposed to „content‟, but should imply rather the recognition that every elem ent of the w ork is an instru m ent of its effect and therefore op en to technical revision. N othing w as beyond the reach of technical concern: not the fram e of a p ictu re, not the shap e of a stage, not the choice of the su bject, not the statu s of a rhym e. If a new m ed iu m su ch as film w as extravagantly bound u p w ith p roblem s of techniqu e, so too w as an ancient genre su ch as lyric p oetry.
All visu al art form s inclu d ing p aintings, p hotograp hy and cinem a have follow ed m entioned trad itions of m od ernity. The essential p oint on the su bject is that all those trad itions p u t certain lim its to arts. A tw o -d im ensional tra-d itional film is exp ecte-d not to brim over the lim its.
2.1.1 General Overview on Cinema in Modern Era
Consid ered throu gh tod ay‟s p ersp ective, m od ernity seem s to belong to the p ast w hen com p ared to p ostm od ern contem p orary cu ltu ral im p acts of today‟s, even though both of them are the dots from the same continuum. Whereas it is im p ortant to com p rehend the essence of the cinem atic exp erience, esp ecially w ith tw o-d im ensions, w hich has strong bond s w ith m od ernity.
The film s p rod u ced on m od ern era rep resent the m od ern cond itions and trad itions. The characteristics of that p eriod can be exp licitly seen, w ithin the art w orks of the m od ern p eriod , w hich have affected from living in the w ay of „modernity‟.
In this resp ect, self-reflexivity can be cou nted as one of the m ain characteristics of the visu al artw orks m ad e u nd er m od ernist m ovem ent. At this p oint, it is inevitable to p u t som e em p hasis on the relation betw een p aintings, w hich can be cou nted as the roots of p hotograp hy, and cinem a, w hich can be cou nted as th e next generation of p hotograp hy.
2.2. The Notion of ‘Realism’ in Cinema With Respect to Its Roots
In ord er to m ention on a cinem atic exp erience, u nd erstand ing its ontological asp ect is im p ortant. When roots of cinem a are consid ered , the relation betw een p aintings and p hotograp hy is cru cial.
Esp ecially in the nineteenth centu ry, artw orks w ere the com p lete im itatio ns of natu re u nd er the flow of m od ernity. This w as a w ay of challenge against the p assing tim e, like w axing a d ead bod y for p reserving artificially w hat has been lost or going to be lost.
To be m ore sp ecific, artw orks of m od ernity w as the m ed iu m of exp ression. Artists exp ressed their fears, em otions, im p ressions, and other realities of life throu gh artw orks.
At this p oint, it is inevitable to assert the biggest fear of m ankind : the d eath.
Death is the biggest u nconsciou s fear at least for hu m an beings, w hereas it is an inevitable fact of natu re.
On the other hand , a living bod y is the m ost significant d isp lay of life; therefore, natu re itself. Artists tried to im itate the natu re w ith cop ying the natu re.
And re Bazin (1967b: 10) d raw s an analogy of “m u m m y com p lex” w ith the aesthetic fear of d eath that is exp ressed through artw orks of m od ern era:
If the p lastic arts w ere p u t u nd er p sychoanalysis, the p ractice of em balm ing the d ead m ight tu rn ou t to be a fu nd am ental factor in their creation. The p rocess m ight reveal that at the origin of p ainting and sculpture, there lies a “mum my complex”.
Mu m m ification is the religion of ancient Eg yp t, aim ed against d eath, saw su rvival as d ep end ing on the continu ed existence of the corp oreal bod y. It can be inferred from Bazin‟s (1967b: 10) words that many genres of art have the p u rp ose of one of the m ost basic instinct of all living creatu res: overcom ing the d eath w ith p reserving the app earance of bod y.
Mu m m y com p lex basically aim s, as Bazin (1967b: 10) d efines “the p reservation of life by a rep resentation of life”.
Throu ghou t the tim e, p lastic arts p layed an im p ortant role for this p reservation. From this p ersp ective, this role is valid from the tim e of m od ern p aintings, continu ed w ith the invention of p hotograp hy and for tod ay; it com es u p to a p oint of m oving im age, in other w ord s , the cinem atic exp erience. Bazin (1967: 19) exem p lifies as follow s; “The frescoes or bas-reliefs of Egyp t ind icate a d esire to analyze rather than to synthesize m ovem ent. As for the au tom atons of the eighteenth centu ry, their relation to cinema is like the relation of painting to photography.”
One of the obviou s critiqu es that can be d irected to the m od ern p aintings is they are d ead locked w ithin the argu m ents on w hether they are m ore close to reality or sym bolism . The invention of p hotograp hic im age p u t an end to the m entioned argu m ents, bu t it brou ght u p new qu estion s on the d egree of realness, w hich can be m aintained w ith a p hotograp hic im age.
The reason behind this new ly shap ed argu m ent can be answ ered w ith the fact that p hotograp hy is the best w ay to exp ress the existential reality and natu re as a com p lete im itation of them .
It shou ld be taken into consid eration that cinem a w ith tw o-d im ension is the extension of the p hotograp hy, therefore; it carries m any com m on featu res
w ith p hotograp hic im age as a new ly hired form for the p osition of the d eath - challenging m od ern p aintings.
They both give the d ram atic exp ression of the m om ent that ho ld s the reality, in other w ord s, they both assu m e that there exists an initial p oint, the origin for the su bject. Particu lar ly, both ad m it the valu e of the „originality‟. In this case, a natu re im itator agency like cinem atic exp erience cop ies natu re itself or in other w ord s, w hat is im itated carries w eight as the top im p ortance. Based on this argu m ent, reality d enotes w ith the p erfect cop y of the original. In fact , it is im p ossible to m aintain su ch p erfect cop y to su bstitu te for the reality if su ch p ossibility w ou ld ever had existed , then the artist cou ld have gained the ability to overcom e the d eath. The m u m m y w ou ld be alive w ithin all com p onents of its; m ind bod y and sou l. It is im p ossible to overcom e the natu ral fact of d eath, bu t even the p eop le w ho accep t this m ortal tru th of life, their search for the (illlu sional) reality d id not ceased .
It is obviou s that the nineteenth centu ry w itnessed the beginning of the crisis of realism of w hich is freed from the „resem blance com p lex‟; “The m od ern p ainter aband ons it to the m asses w ho, henceforth, id entify resem blance on the one hand w ith p hotograp hy and on the other w ith the kind of p ainting which is related to photography.” (Bazin, 1967b: 13)
This w as the tru th abou t the u nd erstand ing of realism in m od ernist sense; esp ecially for the early tim es that p hotograp hy w as accep ted as a m ed iu m , the originality of the p hotograp hy d ep end s on its resem blance to p ainting on
the basis of com p osition. Bu t later on, p ainting as a m ed iu m starts to be affected by p hotography. On the other hand , p hotograp hy can be cou nted as „the winner by far ‟ against paintings on the basis of reaching masses by the techniqu e of rep rod u ction.
It need s to be highligh ted that, w ith a m echanical ap p aratu s called cam era, the era of rep rod u ction is op ened . The p rovid ed three -d im ensional sp ace, (not in the sense of three-d im ensional cinem atic exp erience), from Da Vinci‟s cam era obscu ra is d ifferent from the u sage of „p ersp ective‟ as a techniqu e in m od ern p aintings. Becau se the ability of creating illu sions of cam er a obscu ra is m u ch m ore stronger on the basis of its closeness to the w ay of things ap p eared and d isp layed in w hich ou r eyes can see in real life.
It is consp icu ou s that, u nlikely the p aintings u sed to be w orking as d irect rep resentations of the natu re, cinem a w ith tw o -d im ensions is few step s beyond p aintings.
At least, it shou ld be accep ted that the p hotograp hic im age, fu rtherm ore the m oving im age is the closest form for rep resenting w hat is real, bu t it cannot be thou ght that any kind rep resentation w ill p revent the second ary d eath of an alread y d ied hu m an being, rather than this; it only m aintains a sym bol or a sign for rem em bering the su bject w ith the p ow er of resem blance;
“It is no longer a question of survival after death, but of a larger concept, the creation of an id eal w orld in the likeness of the real, w ith its ow n tem p oral destiny.” (Bazin, 1967b: 10)
At this p oint, it shou ld not be forgotten that p hotograp hy w as d ifferent from the other form s of arts or other sou rces of reflexivity, esp ecially on the tim e of its first ap p earance. The insu fficien t satisfaction or u nsatisfaction of paintings‟ stru ggle for overcoming the death has started to be occupied by the new „realism‟ provided by the photographic image. Because with p hotograp hy a new d im ension ap p eared , w hich is m u ch m ore closer to „reality‟, when compared to paintings, sculptures and other already existing p lastic art form s.
First of all, the w ay of rep resenting natu re becam e m ore „ind exical‟ and m od ern p aintings rem ained m ore „iconic‟ and far from the realism .
Fu rtherm ore, p hotograp hy creates su ch a m ed iu m , w here the „real‟ is rep resented sym bolically, bu t this sym bolic environm ent app ears as ind iscoverable from the view er ‟s asp ect. The reason is that “the p hotograp h mechanically repeats what could never be repeated existentially.” (Barthes, 1981: 4) In fact, p hotograp hy is death itself, even though it w orks as a resistance to d eath.
The fu rtherm ost p oint that this p lastic realism has reached and can be d efined as cinem a u sing Bazin‟s (1967b: 24) w ord s;
Und er the head ing p lastics m u st be inclu d ed the style of the sets, of the m ake-u p , and , u p to a point, even of the p erform ance, to w hich w e natu rally ad d the lighting and , finally, the fram ing of the shot w hich gives u s its com p osition .
It shou ld be ad d ed that esp ecially in the H ollyw ood Cinem a, th e ed iting is done as „invisible‟ in the purpose of audience not to be aware of the setting and ju xtap osition of the im ages.
Moreover, Bazin (1967a: 13) strongly em p hasizes in his w riting; The Ontology
of the Photographic Image, that the p hotography has the p u rp ose of im itating
natu re in the w ay as it is d isp layed in the real w orld . Those w ord s are v alid for moving images too even with more powerful key points. “Photography affects u s like a p henom enon in natu re, like a flow er or a snow flake w hose vegetable or earthly origins are an inseparable part of their beauty”.
For the m entioned above reasons, m od ern p aintings tried to find itself a new p osition betw een the categories of aesthetics and p sychology. Becau se the sym bolic attribu tes d ed icated to p aintings are torn u p by the exact d u p lication of the w orld w ith p hotograp hic im age. It is im p ortant to consid er the genu ineness of the inform ation above is m ainly based on p hotograp hic im age, w hich cannot be d eviated from the ontology of the cinem a, as long as w hat is called cinem a, factu ally and technically m eans show ing the m oving tw enty-fou r p hotographic im ages w ithin a second .
Before p hotograp hy w as invented , p ainting w as the m ost su fficient w ay to m aintain a m u m m y-com p lex w ithin art form s, bu t a p ainting has alw ays been an inferior w ay for obtaining a „likeness‟ as p ointed ou t by Bazin (1967b: 14); “Only a photograp hic lens can give u s the kind of im age of the object that is cap able of satisfying the d eep need m an has to su bstitu te for it something more than a mere approximation, a kind of decal or transfer”. With inventing the m oving im age technolog y, the transferred su bstitu tion becom es m ore close to the real life. Becau se the d ifference betw een the m ed iu m s, w here the transfer takes p lace less w hen com p ared to the d ifference betw een the m ed iu m s of real life and a p ainting.
2.2.1. The Notion of Reality Within Cinematic Experience During Modernity
The tasks given to visu al arts are higher than those of other arts on the basis of reality. In And ré Bazin‟s book, W hat is Cinema?, cinem atic exp erience is d eep ly investigated in m any d ifferent asp ects and com p ared to literatu re, p oetry, p hilosop hy and religion by scattering allu sions.
Esp ecially for the early tim es of cinem a, au d ience im agined that w hat is displayed on the wide screen is “a total and complete representation of reality; the reconstru ction of a p erfect illu sion of the ou tsid e w orld in sou nd , color” (Bazin, 1967b: 20).
Bod y m ovem ents, facial exp ressions, vivid colors, the tone of the sp eech and the color of the sou nd are the essential com p anions of natu re, of reality, of life.
The id ea of p erfect im itation of natu re in cinem a is foreshad ow ed by the p hotograp hers w ho feel the need of m ovem ent in their p hotograp hs that w ill becom e a p ictu re of real life that alw ays changes and alw ays m oves. The need for m ore p ow erfu l and faithfu l cop y of natu re is ap p eared , w hich the au d ience w ill take those as if it w ere real. As Michel Eu géne Chevreu l w rote in 1887; “My d ream is to see the p hotograp h register the bod ily m ovem ents and the facial exp ressions of a sp eaker w hile the p hotograp h is record ing his speech” (Bazin, 1967b: 20). Those kinds of writings significantly show the need for a higher level of enthusiasm for “a total cinema that is to provide that complete illusion of life” (Bazin, 1967b: 20).
When today‟s point of views are taken into account on cinema, the relationship betw een the reality and tw o -d im ensional cinem a can be best id entified w ith the sim ilarities of tw o -d im ensional cinem atic exp erience and other art form s d u ring the tim e of m od ernism .
Likew ise the p hotograp hic im age, the m oving im ages have searched for the „true realism‟, which appeared from a confusion between the aesthetic and the p sychological p arad ox, the need that is to give significant exp ression to the w orld both concretely in its „essence‟, reflected by Weber (1996: 20) throu gh the follow ing;
The search for the essence cau sed a sep aration betw een the p ieces of the w hole. The reason can be best d efined w ith; the Kantian notion of aesthetic ju d gm ent, Gestalt p sychology can be exp lained as the p ercep tion of the w hole is d ifferent than, w hen the w hole is broken into its p ieces, the p ercep tion of the ind ivid u al p ieces is d ifferent from the w hole.
To be m ore sp ecific, w hen the origins of p hotograp hs or m oving im ages are consid ered , the im age itself becom es ou t of context. Im age itself is p u shed to rem ain as a sid e effect and its u sage cannot go fu rther from being ju st a „helper ‟ for being an object of a subject. Whereas, for moving images, the p ercep tion is m u ch m ore beyond this m entioned u nd erstand ing, and the reason can be exp lained as cinem a w orks m ore au tonom ously w hen com p ared to p hotograp hy or any other visu al m ed iu m . It can be p erceived as both the beginning and the end is aligned w ithin the cinem atic m ed iu m itself.
The extension of hum an im agin ation is a never-end ing p rocess w hich requ ires tim e. It hap p ens w ith ad d ing new p ieces to the alread y existing form . Sm all changes the fact of cau se by big ones over tim e. Thu s, tw o-d im ension al cinem a is m oving p hotograp hy w hich takes its trao-d itions from m od ern p aintings. Yet, for p hotograp hy it is the m ain novelty ad d ed on the p ainting; “betw een the originating object and its rep rod u ction there intervenes only the instru m entality of a nonliving agent. For the first tim e an im age of the w orld is form ed au tom atically, w ithou t the creative intervention of man (painter)” (Bazin, 1967b: 13).
There lies the reason w hy p hotograp hy is m ore „realistic‟ than its ancestor p aintings.
When an origin or essence is regard ed as it p reserves the „tru e realism ‟, the d iscou rse of m oving im age is cond em ned into a lim ited im agination. So, even the science fiction m ovies w ith regu lar tw o -d im ensional cinem atic attribu tes inclu d e the characters as aliens w hich look like hu m an beings.
The best example can be given is the movie Steven Spielberg‟s E.T. (1982),
E.T. is an alien bu t even his p hysical ap p earance is v ery sim ilar to a hu m an.
Becau se p eop le can only shap e even their im aginations accord ing to real existentialities.
The great p ow er lying u nd er cinem a can be strengthened by p eop le‟s never end ing obsession for feeling of realism . Based on this argu m ent , p hotograp hic im age and m oving im ages are the tools for satisfying the certain fetishistic need s of p eop le. Au d ience likes to satisfy them selves w ith a su bstitu tion of the real, and the m ost id eal w ay is having a cinem atic exp erience am ong all other art form s.
From a w id er p oint of view, cinem a is not ju st an art form , bu t it is one of the safest w ays of satisfying certain need s. The u nd erstand ing of m oving im age by au d ience can be d efined as “com p letely satisfying the ap p etite for illu sion
by a m echanical rep rod u ction in the m aking of w hich m an p lays no p art. The solu tion is not to be fou nd in the resu lt achieved bu t in the w ay of achieving it” (Bazin, 1967b: 12). Because cinema has enough technological abilities for a higher d egree of falsification of the p sychology.
Another p ow erfu l elem ent for the relation betw een the notion of r ealism and cinema is the „style‟ or more terminologically, the „genre‟.
Movies have certain styles, w hich m eans they can be p u t into certain categories based on their characteristics. One of the best w ays to sep arate a m ovie from other m ovies and at the sam e tim e hold ing it w ithin a certain category is d efining its style.
In fact, it is no d ifferent than an ind ivid u al‟s belonging to a certain su bcu ltu re, sharing som e m ajor com m on valu es w ith the other m em bers of the subculture, whereas differentiating the self from the other subcultures‟ m em bers. This m ethod of categorization is im p ortant for recognizing the need of feeling „safe‟. If a m ovie is com p letely d ifferent from one another, the p rocess of its ap p roval and accep tance by au d ience becom e im p alp able. Becau se au d ience feels insecu re of being a statu s w hich op ens the p ath for increasing aw areness of the fact, that the realism in a cinem atic exp erience is illu sional.
Moreover, the habitu al cod es of the realism obtained from cinem atic exp erience are changed , so d ecod ing p rocess also d iffers from w hat has p erceived till the new chain of d ata has entered the hu m an p ercep tion system . Bazin (1967b: 19) p u ts forw ard as;
Besid es, ju st as the w ord ind icates, the aesthetics of trom p e -l‟oeil in the eighteenth centu ry resid ed m ore in illu sion than in realism , that is to say, in a lie rather than tru th. To som e extent , this is w hat the early cinem a w as aim ing at ju st like p aintings and p hotograp hy d o, bu t this op eration of cheating qu ickly gav e w ay to an ontogenetic realism .
Another p oint on the su bject is a Lacanian ap p roach; “The avid eye of the sp ectator is tricked (trom p e-l‟oeil) into feed ing on the „Im aginary‟ fru it of the visu al rep resentation so as to enable the p ainter to tam e the ad versarial force of the other ‟s insubordinate gaze.” (Levine, 2008: 91)
To be m ore sp ecific, the sym bolic asp ect of a visu al rep resentation is ignored by the receiver. In fact, the visu al rep resentation is the castration itself. It is the p rocess of p assing aw ay of signifier from the vivid real life.
It is accep ted the seen continu ou s im ages are the d irect and exact rep rod u ctions of natu re, w hich belongs to the real w orld . Actu ally, w hen m oving im age is p u rified from its illu sional asp ects, w hat is rep resented and rep rod u ced is a setting, on the basis of tim e and sp ace. Cinem a u ses this
tim e and sp ace d ifference in the ad vantage of creating realistic im p ressions.
At this p oint, Bazin‟s “m u m m y-com p lex” re-ap p ears. It is im p ossible to be at the tim e and the p lace of the real event and the tim e and the p lace of the rep rod u ced m aterial at the sam e tim e.
Cinem a cannot go fu rther from the w axed m u m m y in ord er to p reserve its sp irit, rather than this; w hat is rep rod u ced acts as if it w ere preserving the aliveness. If w hat is im itated or rep rod u ced is able to m ain tain the continu ity of life, there w ou ld be no necessity for m u m m ies. To be m ore sp ecific, cinem a d enies its birth -giving sou rce and challenges it. This p oint can be consid ered as an irony like the w ay the w hole cinem atic exp erience w orks u p on au d ience.
2.3. Realism From the Audience Perspective Within The Cinematic Experience
After the very early tim es of cinem a, the m oving im age itself tu rned into the object, w hich can be accep ted as a free object w ith no bind ings to the original tim e and sp ace. This argu m ent shou ld not cau se a d evelop m ent of su ch an id ea that; after a w hile, m oving im age started to be p erceived as an illu sion rather than itself is the p erfect reprod u ction of the reality. It has neve r been w orked like that becau se p eop le never p refer to have su ch consciou sness and aw areness over cinem atic illu sion.
The m oving im age itself becom es the object freed from its origin m eans it m ight be thou ght separately from its real tim e and sp ace, bu t it d oes not m ean that au d ience never tries to connect the m oving im age w ith som e other origin.
It is p ossible for the au d ience to connote the sensed m oving im ages w ith a certain real event, bu t on the basis of tim e and sp ace, the au d ience w ant to substitute for the original time and space‟s positions. It is believed that a still im age or 24 still im ages in a second hold s the set of m om ent in its ow n tim e and transm its it to the eternity. As Bazin (1967b: 14) gives p oint to this perspective, “the cinema is objectivity in time”. When the realism of cinema is consid ered , hierarchy strikingly takes an ord er w ith p rim arily the im age itself, w hich is believed that it p reserves the tim e and sp ace, then the aesthetic ap p rehensions ap p ear, u nlike in other art form s.
The aesthetic valu e of a p ainting d ep end s on the skills of the p ainter, w hereas in p hotograp hic im age and cinem a, it d ep end s on u p to w hich d egree the reality is rep resented .
If a closer look is given to cinem a, it can be visible how essential the hid d en role of the cam eram an and d irector ‟s skills are. H ow ever, au d ience hop es w hat is rep resented in cinem a is the reality and natu re itself. N atu re can only be cou nted as the equ ivalent of the artist, w hich m eans the com bination of the cam eram an and the d irector ‟s skill for the case of cinem atic exp erience.
From the sp ectator ‟s p oint of view, this im p ortant role of the d irector is su p p osed ly taken by the im ages. H ence, the real creator of this illu sonal rep rod u ction (cinem a) can easily m islead the au d ience and om its the view ers to its illusion like trickery environment. When spectator ‟s point of view is taken into accou nt throu gh Bazin‟s (1967b: 16) notion;
Photograp hy actu ally contribu tes som ething to the ord er of natu ral creation instead of p rovid ing a su bstitu te for it. Every im age is to be seen as an object and every object as an im age. H ence p hotograp hy ranks high in the ord er of su rrealist creativity becau se it p rod u ces an im age that is a reality of natu re, nam ely, a hallu cination that is also a fact. The fact that su rrealist p ainting com bines tricks of visu al d ecep tion.
Fou cau lt m akes an em p hasis on the su bject as follow s; “The absence of the observing su bject from the observed object, an object that w as im agined to exist in the world independently of the subject‟s act of observation.” (Levine, 2008: 93)
Reality in m oving im age is the stronger version of the p h otograp hic realism , becau se it has the su fficient abilities for m u ltip lying the features of the photography by the shots‟ juxtaposition.
Bu t, actu ally there takes p lace a p ow erfu l invisible tou ch of the p hotograp her for the still im ages and the cam eram an p lu s the d irector for the m oving images. Because “the camera cannot see everything at once, but it makes sure not to lose any part of what it chooses to see” (Bazin, 1967: 27), neither our
eyes can see everything at once, so som eone has to choose w hat the au d ience can observe in a cinem atic exp erience in p lace of the vision that can be seen in the real life.
Au d ience p refers to neglect those ag encies in ord er to p rotect the „alm ost perfect reality‟ provided by the moving images.
As a resu lt, the m yth of the total cinem a aim s to have the p erfect im itation of natu re. Fu rtherm ore, the “shots are evalu ated not accord ing to w hat it ad d s to reality but what it reveals of it”. (Bazin, 1967b: 28)
At this p oint, it can be claim ed that cinem a, w hich consisted of m oving im ages, has brou ght new com p rehension to hu m an p sychology of the im ages.
In order to feel „realism‟ in cinema, audience needs to complete the stages of id entifications. There are m ainly tw o id entifications called as p rim ary and second ary id entifications. While living a cinem atic exp erience, the im ages u su ally su bstitu te for w hat is lack or loss. Second ary id e ntification is the p rocess that au d ience id entify them selves w ith the characters and events by inserting themselves on the characters‟ position and situations.
Moreover, in ord er to id entify w ith the characters, first the au d ience need s to id entify w ith the cam era, w hich can be d efined as the p rim ary id entification.
The essential p oint abou t p rim ary id entification is that it so su btly hap p ens w ithin the u nconsciou s of the au d ience. Otherw ise, the au d ience cannot focu s on the second ary id entification , so the illu sion of the cinem a is broken by the aw areness of the existence of cinem a, bu t this d oes not change the fact of accep ting the view p oints of the d irector and cam eram an. Becau se the cam eram an and the d irector of a m ovie are in fact „active‟ p articip ators even their role for a m ovie seem s „p assive‟ from the au d ience‟s p oint of view. It shou ld be ad d ed that this active p articip ation is obligatory requ irem ent in ord er to give the sense of realism .
Watching a film as a cinem atic exp erience is like d ream ing. Im ages are w atched in d arkness for the p u rp ose of taking the w hole attention of the au d ience onto the w id e screen. Also the characters an d the heroes on the film are su ch su btle d esigns that au d ience w ou ld like to be in their d isp layed attribu tes and situ ations.
In cinem a, w hat is on the screen is not the reality bu t only an im p ression or rep resentation of a reality.
The p oint of view of the cam era m eans that au d ience see a reality from someone else‟s point of view, but this process tak es place unconsciously. If the au d ience becom es aw are of w hat s/ he sees on the screen is an illu sion of reality, neither the p rim ary nor the second ary id en tification can occu r.
So, the cinem atic experience w ou ld not be com p leted and reach its goal, becau se w hen id entification d oes not take p lace, the au d ience cannot have any satisfaction from this d elu sional exp erience.
2.4. The Illusive Power of Representation Within Cinema On The Basis of Reality
While the realism obsession of the m ankind is fu lfilling by a rep rod u ction throu gh a m echanical ap p aratu s, the objects d isp layed on the screen go beyond from ju st being objects of their ow n tim e and sp ace; m oreover, they are bou ght by their new ow ners, by au d ience w ho is read y to im pose their ow n d ata. When it is consid ered the real tim e and sp ace of the shootings of a m ovie, the rep rod u ction occu rs at least tw o tim es. First rep rod u ction is tu rning the p resent, m eanw hile the real tim e and p lace of the shots, into a rep resentation throu gh record ing those shots sequ entially. The second essential rep rod u ction p rocess follow s the first one w ith the p articip ation of the au d ience as it has alread y d eep ly exp lained w ith the term s of „identifications‟. What is tried to be mentioned at this point is that a movie served to au d ience has alread y gotten throu gh certain rep rod u ction stages w ithou t the interaction w ith the au d ience.
As a sp ecific exam p le, it is notably com m on for a m ovie to be ad ap ted from a novel. Bu t even it seem s like the origin of that m ovie is fixed by the novel, the m ovie is alw ays m u ch m ore d ifferent from the literary origin. This p u ts em p hasis on the reconstru ction cau se the d eviation from the orig in and the real.
From a w id er p ersp ective, w hole cinem atic exp erience w orks the sam e of the beforehand m entioned p rocess.
Em p hasized m islead ing asp ect of the cinem a is ju st a striking exam p le of the d ifference betw een w hat the cinem a gives and w hat the au d ience takes or w ants to take. In ad d ition, the u niqu eness of the d irector and the cam eram an, w hich w ill later on tu rn into the u niqu eness of the au d ience‟s im aginations at the tim e of the m ovie m eets w ith its au d ience.
Taking into consid eration of those m entioned p oints, it can be said that cinem a is a very su ccessfu l tool for p rod u cing „allegories‟ in the sense of Plato‟s w ay of thinking. As a resu lt, it is im p ossible to talk abou t a „p u re cinema‟ which gives the truth, rather than there is the cinema which gives lies or cau se the insertion of lies, or in other w ord s „illu sive elem ents‟.
On the con trary, cinem a is like a u niversal langu age w hich serves to each audience as an individual within the ind ividual‟s own language. Cinema treats its au d ience as if it only served that sp ecific p erson. For, that p erson w ho w atches the m ovie gives contribu tion from him or herself, and the lacks
in the movie are fulfilled by the individual audience‟s ow n imagination, own backgrou nd and ow n d em ograp hics. As Bazin (1967b: 50) takes into consideration as follows; “It is simply a question of respect for the spatial u nity of an event at the m om ent w hen to sp lit it u p w ou ld change it from something real into something imaginary”.
At this p oint, it shou ld not be forgotten that the overall realism is ind ep end ent from its p ieces. This p rocess of fu lfillm ent is u nd erstood or m isu nd erstood by that sp ecific sp ectator as; it is the reality of the w orld , in other w ord s it is a u niversal fact. The su bjectivity is ignored , and ins tead of consid ering the given contribu tion by an ind ivid u al sp ectator to this realism effect, it is m ostly su p p osed that the w hole thing is m aintained by the realness of the rep resentation on the w id e screen.
In ord er to m aintain a satisfying p rove for t he realism of a cinem atic exp erience is based on illu sions; even the w ord s u sed for d efining this experience of cinema, as „cinematic realism ‟ is sufficient. Since the word “realism" can not show any differences from person to person, if something is real, it need s a certain am ou nt of existence, it requ ires a basis w ith scientific facts, and it can be p roven from at least one of ou r senses. Based on the emphasized point, provided cinematic experience‟s realism firstly starts with au d ience‟s au d iovisu al senses the stim u li tu rns into „som ething‟ throu gh the d ecod ing p rocess w ithin the brain. On the other hand , a term w hich can be altered w ith its variations, in other w ord s, w hich can d iffer from p erson to
p erson can be d efined w ith the w ord „truth‟. Tru th is relative notion based on the ethical p oint of view s, so w e choose the w ord „realism ‟ for a cinem atic exp erience. H ow ever, the cinem atic realism d iffers from sp ectator to sp ectator, (w hich w ill be u ttered in Chap ter 4 in d etail w ith a case stu d y of Jam es Cam eron‟s Avatar, (2009).
The only com m on p oint is that; m ost of the au d ience lives realism throu gh a cinem atic exp erience bu t the w ay and w ith the content that, each of them understands differ from the others. In Barthes‟ (1981: 40) words; “…„punctum‟ is the d etail, that may differ from one audience to the other, w hich takes the attention in each fram e”.
This is one of the best w ays of d efining the p rod u ction of the su bjectivity in p hotograp hy as w ell as it occu rs in cinem atic exp erience.
The d etail w hich catches the au d ience is su ch a su bjective issu e. When the ontology of the cinem atic exp erience is consid ered , this su b jectivity has a great im p act on the u nd erstand ing p rocess am ong the au d ience as ind ivid u als.
At this p oint, the aim is not qu estioning w hether a cinem atic exp erience p rovid es realism or not. For su re, it p rovid es realism , esp ecially from the au d ience‟s p oint of view, yet the fact that the form of this realism is based on the p ow er of rep resentation shou ld not be ignored . When the com p one nts of a m ovie are analyzed on the basis of its concrete w ay of p hysical ap p earance,
still im ages are m oved in a sequ enced ord er w ith the ap p lication of certain ed iting techniqu es, and the colorization of the fram es are arranged , the storyline, sou nd d esig n etc. Those are the m ajor settings for a m ovie and each of them has m any nu m bers of sm all p ieces as its com p onents. The p hysical ap p earance asp ect of a m ovie is fixed and d isp layed in the sam e form , shap e and p hysical attribu tes. Even the sam e m ovie w ith the sam e p hysical ap p earance in its com p onents, in other w ord s, the m ovie as a “Gestalt”, p eop le are able to have d ifferently shap ed feelings of realism from the sam e m ovie.
This is the p roof of the realism effect of a m ovie that d oes not com e from the m ovie itself. On the contrary, the sou rce of the realism is the au d ience itself. It is a p rocess of self-reflexivity, in w hich the au d ience‟s contribu tion is its ow n realism , w hich is load ed to the m oving im ages on the screen. Bu t cinem a never allow s au d ien ce to reveal its secret. If the „m agic‟ of the cinem a is exp ressed , the tru th abou t the representation of cinem a is an illu sion that w ou ld slap to au d ience. In this case, the resu lt of the cinem atic exp erience tu rns ou t into a d isap p ointm ent and u nsatisfying exp erience.
For the m entioned , reasons cinem a p refers to keep hid d en its illu sional stru ctu re, even m ore it follow s certain m ethod s on the p u rpose of hid ing this asp ect of false realism . A charm ing story and actors as characters of the m ovie are som e of the u sed elem ents in ord er to ap p eal to au d ience and take their focal p oint into those allu ring elem ents instead of the falsifying realism
as a characteristic to be consid ered a d istinct featu re. P eop le alw ays avoid esp ecially facing w ith them selves and this is w hat cinem a actu ally d oes.
For no d ou bt, the m entioned ontological know led ge is eligible for the classical sense of m oving im age, in other w ord s, the tw o-d im ensional cinem atic exp erience. The su bsequ ent form of m oving im age w ith a third d im ension w ill be m entioned sep arately w ith a d ifferent u nd erstand ing of the sense of reality.
CHAPTER III
LOOKIN G IN TO RELATION SHIP BETWEEN
HYPER-REALITY AN D THREE-D IMEN SION AL CIN EMATIC
EXPERIEN CE AN D UN D ERSTAN D IN G THE PARALLELISM
WITH POST-MOD ERN ITY
3.1. How Is the N otion of Realism Shaped Today?
For tod ay, it can be said that the notion of realism has shifted d u e to the changes occu rred in the w hole sociological flow. To be m ore specific, the asp ect of realism w as p u t forw ard in Chap ter II in d etails. It w as seeked for a „life-like‟ reality especially in the 1930s and the 1940s, whereas for today, the norms of the notion of reality is shaped due to „hyper-reality‟. As Jean-François Lyotard (1989: 24) d efines; “Incred u lity regard ing „m etanarratives‟. Meanw hile; m etanarratives are d iscou rses that legitim ate w hat com es to be accepted as truth.”
Moreover Connor (2004: 3) ad d s to the m entioned su bject as follow s;
Som e accou nts of p ostm od ernism are d ep end ent on the argu m ent that not only had the cond itions of social and econom ic organization
changed , bu t so, as an effect of those changes, had the relations betw een the social and econom ic and the artistic-cu ltu ral.
The bond s betw een the variables are com p letely changed and tu rned into floating ind ivid u al elem ents w ith interacting each other. This is obviou s in m ost of the three-d im ensional film s.
Jean Bau d rillard is one of the m ost im p ortant thinkers w ho d eclares the new accounts for what is „postmodern‟ within a world surrounded by consumer societies.
Baudrillard briefly used the term „postmodern‟ in the early - to- mid 1980s before exp ressing d eep d issatisfaction w ith it and seeking to d isassociate him self from it.
When the need for u sing the term „p ostm od ern‟ first ap p eared , accord ing to som e theorists like Daniel Bell, the term w as still having bou nd s w ith m od ernity. Even though the thinkers later on becam e aw are of the fact that p ostm od ernity is an au tonom ou s system w hich can give birth and rebirth end lessly from its ow n (non)roots. “The d erivative character of p ostm od ernism , the nam e of w hich ind icates that it com es after som ething else- m od ernism , m od ernity, or the m od ern - gu arantees it an extend ed tenu re that the nam ing of itself as an ex-nihilo beginning m ight not.”
As it can be u nd erstood from Conner ‟s (2004: 1) p oint of view m entioned above, the system w orks w ithou t feeling the n eed of neither an initial p oint nor an end ing p oint. Postm od ernity need s infinite freed om , and the rate of freed om is at su ch a p oint the postm od ern has the ability to escap e from itself. This d am ages the m od ern cycle of sym bols and signs.
Another one of the m ost significant featu res of p ostm od ernity can be said as the p rovid er of „being not fixed ‟ situ ation, since seeking for an origin, like it is in m od ernity, is no m ore a necessity from a p ostm od er nist p oint of view. Moreover, w hen this characteristic of p ostm od ernity is r elated w ith the concep t of tim e, it is obviou s that p ostm od ernity only regard s the p resent. N either the p ast nor the fu tu re is requ ired to exist in the range of p ostm od ernity. Unlikely the effort of m od ernity for carrying the p ast into the p resent, in p ostm od ernity the situ ation of „being not fixed ‟ is also valid for the notion of time. “You can credibly inaugurate a new begin ning only for a short so long, w hereas you can carry on su cceed ing u p on som ething alm ost indefinitely, catching continuing success from your predecessor ‟s surcease.” (Connor, 2004: 1)
To be m ore sp ecific; p ostm od ernity carries intertextu al, hybrid , non -linear and hyp er-real attribu tes. Und erstand ing those attribu tes is im p ortant for com p rehend ing the relation betw een three-d im ensional cinem atic exp erience and hyp er-reality. H ybrid ity w ith ou t seeking for an origin p u ts „now ‟ on the center w ith a new er u nd erstand ing, as p ortrayed by Latou r (1993: 73) below ;
Postm od ernism ap p rehend s the u nevenness of tim es, the m ingling of old and new that belongs to the p rem od ern or am od ern
ap p rehension, bu t, clinging to the habits of m od ern thinking, sees it as a new d evelop m ent in the flow of tim e, a new kind of „now ‟.
This is w hat three-d im ensional cinem atic exp erience d irectly gives to au d ience „now ‟. All the d igital technologies ap p lied to a three-d im ensional m ovie serve the au d ience satisfying m om ents, w hile w atchin g it.
3.2. Origin / Lack of Origin
Origin requ ires a fixed center. This is essential for m od ernity, w hich is u nd er the influ ence of Western w ay of thinking. Jacqu es Derrid a m entions in his essay Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of Human Sciences (1966) w estern p hilosop hy and science take its roots from m etap hysics of p resence, w hich alw ays seeks for an origin thu s a fixed center.
The p oint is that fixed center p u ts certain lim its, w hich d raw an ou ter fram e to the stru ctu re. Even thou gh the „center ‟ seem s like trap p ed , the „center ‟ has the p otential of escap ing from its stru ctu re, and therefore it can escap e from itself. So, the center p reserves its p osition w ithin both insid e and ou tsid e of the stru ctu re. Derrid a d eclares that „a fu ll p resence‟ is m and atory for “origin”, and also for the substituted variable names of the origin such as “the arche”, “the eidos”, “the telos”…. In western philosophy, even the
