CINEJ Cinema Journal

The Relationship Between the Behavior Change Created in the Audience By Disaster Scenarios in Cinema Cities During the Covid-19 Period and the Pandemic

2025-01-01T14:20:43-05:00

After the Covid-19 all industries around the world have tried to adapt to pandemic conditions by renewing their production models. the cinema industry as well. Such films, produced before the pandemic, have come to the agenda again by reaching viewership rates that did not even exist in the years they were produced. This research, semi-structured interviews with experts in psychology and cinema were conducted and the data obtained through secondary source scanning were analyzed. The aim is to understand the differences between the mood changes created by urban perspectives in apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic films before and after the pandemic and to reveal concrete information about the relationship that is a factor in the pandemic process.

Breaking the Power Dynamics Behind the Scenes of Turkish Cinema: A Head-count Research

2024-03-08T07:05:10-05:00

In this research, gender representation and equity in the Turkish cinema industry are investigated through a comprehensive analysis of the top 99 films based on ticket sales, utilizing data from Box Office Turkey. Drawing upon Foucault's concepts of power dynamics and discourse, Althusser's notion of ideological state apparatuses, and Laura Mulvey’s concept of the “male gaze,” the research compiles and categorizes the set crews of these films based on roles such as director, producer, and art director. By examining the gender composition of set crews across various departments, the study aims to illuminate patterns of representation and identify areas for improvement in fostering inclusivity and diversity within the Turkish cinema industry. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of gender dynamics in Turkish cinema and provide insights for shaping future policies and initiatives to promote gender equality and equitable opportunities for all genders, aligning with an emphasis on power relations and ideological reproduction within societal institutions. The study comprehensively analyzes the gender imbalance within the Turkish cinema industry and emphasizes the need to address systemic barriers and promote inclusivity to enrich storytelling and contribute to broader social justice and equality efforts.

Reading the Representations of Children and Childhood(s) in Malayalam Films

2024-08-30T12:09:03-04:00

This article examines the representation of childhood(s) and child characters in Malayalam cinema. Child characters have been constantly used since the beginning of Malayalam cinema to fit into the specific normative roles that are largely inconsequential to the plot. Juxtaposing the evolution of the Malayalam film industry with representations of child roles and child-based films through the decades, this article explores the hegemonic adult gaze that conceptualizes such functions to childhood. The dominant adult gaze structures the film to be a medium for adult consumption, where the child’s body becomes a device, and its ‘intellect’ is largely discredited in films. This indicates the social indifference towards ‘children and childhood(s)’, which equates the child as a belonging/property of the parent (adult) and rejects the child’s ability as a creative individual with an ability to think and perform. The paper argues for a space to explore complex child characters in Malayalam films, but in doing so, it does not support the ‘Child’s’ conception as an ‘Adult’. It urges the need for better understanding from the creators of films, who must be creative, rational, and inclusive in fashioning their child characters.

The Lexicons of Cult Film: Rhetoric, Media, and The Big Lebowski

2024-09-16T08:23:39-04:00

In this paper, we explore how The Big Lebowski provides “equipment for living,” to explain the Lebowski phenomenon and answer the question: How do individuals use The Big Lebowski to communicate across cultures? In answer to this question, we argue that the shared lexicon of the cult film serves as a diagnostic tool, which fans use to identify each other, size up their situation, and determine a course of action. In one sense, the film is both a representative anecdote and an unrepresentative anecdote, which draws viewers into a comic frame and allows them to see new ways of thinking and acting in an otherwise typical situation. Ultimately, the co-opting of the film’s ethos and lexicon by fans “individualizes” popular culture, subverting film (a big-budget medium historically dominated by the auteur-director model) and positioning fans as both artistic consumers and creators.

Sleeping through The Big Lebowski: Sleep, Dreams, and Rest in the Coen Brothers' Films and Jeff Bridges' Music

2024-11-03T10:19:30-05:00

This paper examines incidents and themes of sleeping, dreaming, and resting within Joel and Ethan Coen's early filmography and their intensification in the 1998 feature film The Big Lebowski. These incidents and themes are also present, to some degree, in certain Raymond Chandler detective stories and adaptations thereof, which influenced The Big Lebowski. The Big Lebowski involves a convoluted mystery that prevents its characters, especially protagonist The Dude (Jeff Bridges) from resting, so his quest for ultimate relaxation goes unresolved. Sleeping Tapes, a later work of sleep music by Bridges, serves as a spiritual successor to The Big Lebowski by providing the relaxation sought by The Dude and positioning Bridges as a sleep and dream guide for listeners.

Zuhal: A Portrait of Urban Individuals Through Female Perspective

2024-12-11T06:16:59-05:00

An apartment in the center of the metropolis, a woman living in this apartment and a cat sound that no one can hear, only the woman can hear. In the film Zuhal; the loneliness, burnout, fatigue and alienation of urban individuals are conveyed effectively with these few elements. In addition, each character in the film, which tells the stories of not only Zuhal but also her neighbors, offers an example of the metropolitan type personality. These exhausted and tired urban individuals live a life far from their inner world, alienated from themselves and their surroundings. This study focuses on the individual living in today's cities, using sociological and feminist analysis methods through the film Zuhal (2021). Present-day’s individual lives in Bauman’s “liquid modernity” which is quite different than Simmel’s “the metropolitan individual”. According to Han, an individual in present-day’s “achievement society” that is dominated by speed and positivity in late modern era, grapples with psychological problems such as depression, attention deficit, hyperactivity and burnout syndrome. Furthermore, being a woman in this society brings additional challenges to the individual. The film’s protagonist, Zuhal, is in such a psychological state; she is distant from herself, alienated from others including herself, worn, exhausted and tired. Through the study, it is emphasized that the psychological state that urban individual experiences is a consequence of the social structure rather than being an individual one.

Death, Aging, and Ecology in The Ballad of Narayama (1983)

2024-12-21T13:40:05-05:00

This study analyzes Shohei Imamura’s The Ballad of Narayama (1983) through the lens of death, aging, and ecology. The film centers on the ubasute ritual, where elderly individuals are taken to a mountain to die, reflecting a pragmatic response to resource scarcity. By portraying death as a societal and ecological necessity, the film challenges modern views on aging and death. Nature is depicted as an active participant, symbolizing the cyclical processes of life and death. This interdisciplinary study combines perspectives from anthropology, cultural studies, and environmental philosophy to explore how the film frames death not just as an individual event, but as essential for community survival and ecological balance. Ultimately, the film critiques modern approaches to aging and sustainability.

Triangle of Sadness: Of Vulnerability and Michel Foucault's Subject-Power Concept

2024-12-13T15:30:11-05:00

Foucault (1977a) analyzed the concept of power from a different perspective and defined power not only as a power relationship between people and states, but as a set of strategies that is omnipresent and comes to society from multiple domains. In the phenomenon of power constructed through discourses, each individual in interrelation continues their practices while getting influenced by the process. The concept of vulnerability refers to the inner impulse that guides the actions of individuals driven by the instinct for survival, as well as the sense of vulnerability that this impulse imposes on them. Dependence on others brings a sense of vulnerability also. In this study, which is based on Foucault's concepts of subject and power, the concept of vulnerability is studied in the context of Ruben Östlund’s award-winning film Triangle of Sadness, focusing on themes of power, the transformation of authority, interpersonal relations in everyday life and vulnerability. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that gender roles and social statuses are indicators of power, individuals may experience a sense of vulnerability due to various weaknesses, the relationships between power and authority are always in a state of transformation, societal gender roles can change when the dynamics of power shift and that discourses are influential in the formation of the subject. In the analysis of the film Triangle of Sadness, critical discourse analysis, one of the qualitative research approaches, has been employed. The concept of vulnerability and Foucault’s notion of power were discussed prior to the film review.

Binge-Watching and the Theory of Desire: A Lacanian Perspective on Netflix Consumption Patterns

2025-01-29T10:48:20-05:00

This paper explores the phenomenon of binge-watching on Netflix through the lens of Jacques Lacan’s Theory of Desire. While this behavior is often viewed as a product of convenience or entertainment, it reflects a deeper psychological process rooted in the structure of desire. Lacan’s theory posits that desire is not merely about satisfying needs but is fundamentally tied to the symbolic order and the endless pursuit of the unattainable. This study argues that Netflix’s business model and content strategies are deeply aligned with Lacanian concepts, particularly the notion of desire as an unfulfilled and perpetual pursuit. By continuously providing new content, Netflix sustains and amplifies the viewer’s desire, keeping them engaged in a cycle of consumption that mirrors Lacan’s structure of desire.

“I hope I don’t die before my child”: The representation of autism in Turkish films

2025-04-30T05:20:09-04:00

This study aims to examine how autism is represented in Turkish films. Three films featuring a character with autism were analyzed through document analysis. The following four themes were reached in the study: (1) behaviors specific to autism, (2) the family of the character with autism, (3) society’s perspective on autism, and (4) the representation of the character with autism in the film. Notably, the films focus on the difficulties experienced by the character with autism, the problems experienced in the family, and the difficulties in accepting autism. In addition, all the films have melodramatic structures, and the families of individuals with autism experience much more difficulties than ordinary people.

Between the Law and Desire: The Split Subject in Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero

2025-03-24T11:41:40-04:00

This paper explores Asghar Farhadi’s film A Hero from a psychoanalytic standpoint. Using a Lacanian framework, I will argue that Farhadi depicts what Lacan defines as a split subject who is under the control of the Other. The Other particularly manifests through various forms of media that define and limit the subject’s desire. The film highlights how the protagonist as the divided subject of desire moves from compliance to resistance in pursuing his desire. Such a radical movement, I will argue, takes place when the protagonist of the film reconsiders his relationship with the world around him. In his defiance of the logic of the Other and his realization that desire would not lead to an ultimate object of satisfaction, the protagonist learns how to be free even though he does not gain physical freedom.

Remembering The Civil War in Today’s Lebanese Cinema

2025-01-13T14:10:41-05:00

In the aftermath of the civil war, memory and trauma are a prominent thema in Lebanese cinema. This study aims to explore how the civil war is remembered through cinema in contemporary Lebanese cinema, based on an analysis of the films Where Do We Go Now?, Tramontane, The Insult and Memory Box. These films, selected from among the films made in Lebanon after 2010 by Lebanese directors and dealing with the civil war, were analysed through descriptive analysis under the themes of past, identity, trauma and space. The films under scrutiny serve as conduits for the articulation of remembrance, both as a means of confronting past traumas and of reflecting upon the present. The act of remembering the past and confronting traumas is rendered through the medium of personal recollections by the directors, thus creating a narrative of collective memory. When the subject of the civil war is represented in films, it is commonly remembered as “the past in the present”.

Infrahumanization and Dehumanization of Women in Turkish Comedy Films as an Element of Comedy

2025-02-16T09:11:28-05:00

This article's goal is to use the ideas of infrahumanization and dehumanization to describe how women are portrayed in Turkish comedies. Dehumanization is the process of describing a person with animalistic or robotic traits. Like dehumanization, infrahumanization is the belief that one's own group has more complex emotions than others, while members of the other group merely have animal-like innate feelings. Turkish women were portrayed as less human in this context, and this study explores whether this impression exists. The narrative analysis method was used to study popular comedy films shot between 1970 and 1979 to arrive at the answer to the query. Twenty Turkish comedy films were analyzed, and it was shown that both dehumanization and infrahumanization occurred.

Revisiting History in Yeşilçam Cinema: An Analysis on Yeşilçam Heroes; Karaoğlan, Malkoçoğlu, Kara Murat and Battal Gazi

2025-01-16T13:14:51-05:00

History presented in films has always been problematic. This debate is generally categorized into two categories, if the historical movies are loyal to the historical fact or if they should be aesthetically considered an art form. Costume adventure films in Turkish Cinema, present mythological characters with fantasy elements raising nationalist sentiments. This authentic genre in Turkish Cinema takes history as a background motif presenting Karaoğlan, Malkoçoğlu, Kara Murat and Battal Gazi, yet combines real facts and people in history with fantasy world heroes and incidents. Hence, these films raise a query regarding the accuracy of their portrayal in relation to historical fact. This paper aims to uncover the fact beyond the fantasy, the conflict between the real people and their representations in the movies in a different perspective.

Avatar: A Film at the Center of the Feminine Other

2025-02-20T10:21:39-05:00

This study analyzes James Cameron's 2009 film Avatar from the perspective of the feminine other through deconstruction. In the movie, nature and the Na'vi people are depicted as feminine, while modern man and the science, technology, and military power he represents are portrayed as masculine. Although it critiques the colonialist structure of modernity, the film's narrative structure and character portrayals indicate that it reproduces the superiority of Western-centered ideology and the masculine mind. The study analyzes how the film's narrative and character representations implicitly support masculine centrism. The analysis reveals how nature and marginalized cultures are romanticized and presented in the film and how the notion that the feminine can only survive by adopting masculine traits is processed in the subtext. Grounded in a conceptual and theoretical framework, this research focuses on the sustainability of the patriarchal capitalist system and gender politics while critically examining how cinema reconstructs ideological structures through the narratives in the film.