The Politics of Remembering in Cinema: Night and Fog

Pınar Yıldız

doi:10.16878/gsuilet.96706

TR EN

Sinemada Hatırlamanın Politikası: Gece ve Sis

Öz

Holokost ve benzeri travmaları temsil etmenin bir diğer deyişle travmayı sinema diline tercüme etmeye çalışmanın karşı karşıya kaldığı soru(n)ların peşinden gitmek, sinema perdesinde geçmişi hatırla(t)manın etik-politik boyutunu tartışmamıza imkân sunar. Alain Resnais’nin Gece ve Sis (Night and Fog, 1955) filmi, travma çalışmalarıyla film çalışmalarının kesiştiği yerde konumlanır. Auschwitz ve Birkenau toplama kamplarının siyah-beyaz arşiv görüntüleriyle günümüze dair renkli görüntülerin bir arada kullanılmasından oluşan film, soykırıma dair görüntüleri doğrudan kullanması nedeniyle temsil tartışmalarının merkezinde yer alır. Filmin biçimi, anlatının çöktüğü anlardan, sessizliklerden, boşluklardan, geleneksel anlatının başarısız olduğu karşılaşmalardan oluşur. Ancak, Gece ve Sis’in sinema tarihindeki önemini tek başına biçimsel tercihiyle açıklamak yeterli değildir. Bu biçimsel tercihin seyirciyi konumladığı etik pozisyon, Gece ve Sis’in, travmanın temsil edilebilirlilik tartışmalarındaki ayrıcalıklı yerinin en önemli nedenidir. Filmin, biçimi aracılığıyla geçmişle kurduğu ilişki, seyircisini perdede gördüklerine karşı sorumluluk almaya çağıran etik bir alan yaratır. Böylece film, “temsilin etiği” tartışmalarının referans noktası olarak sinema tarihindeki yerini alır.

anahtar kelimeler: film çalışmaları, travma çalışmaları, hafıza, temsil, post-travmatik sinema

Anahtar Kelimeler

film çalışmaları, travma çalışmaları, hafıza, temsil, post-travmatik sinema

The Politics of Remembering in Cinema: Night and Fog

Abstract

The Politics of Remembering in Cinema: Night and FogTracing the problems of representing the Holocoust or alike traumas, in other words, endeavoring to translate the traumas into the cinema language enables us to discuss the ethical-political dimension of reminding the past on the cinema screen. Alain Resnais’ movie Night and Fog (1955) positions in the intersection of trauma studies and film studies. The movie has been in the center of discussions on representation because of its narrative, using the real images of genocide directly while merging black and white archive images of Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps and contemporary colored images. The form of the movie is composed by the moments of collapse of the narrative, silences, gaps and encounters in which the traditional narrative form fails to represent. However, it is not adequate to explain Night and Fog’s significance in the cinema history only by its formal choices. The ethical position which this formal choices locate us as audiences is the main reason of this movie’s privileged status in regard to the representability of trauma in cinema. The relation of the movie with the past through its form creates an ethical realm by calling the audience to take responsibility for what he/she sees on the screen. Therefore, Night and Fog bears its status as the reference point of “representational ethics” in the history of cinema

Keywords

film studies, trauma studies, memory, representation, post-traumatic cinema

References

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

-

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Pınar Yıldız

Publication Date

August 26, 2015

Submission Date

August 26, 2015

Acceptance Date

-

Published in Issue

Year 2015 Number: 22

DOI

https://doi.org/10.16878/gsuilet.96706

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA38GJ35PD

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Yıldız, P. (2015). The Politics of Remembering in Cinema: Night and Fog. Galatasaray Üniversitesi İletişim Dergisi, 22, 101-118. https://doi.org/10.16878/gsuilet.96706

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