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Posthuman Subjectivity and Implied Dreams in Animation Cinema

Year 2021, Volume: 6 Issue: 11, 792 - 811, 28.06.2021

Abstract

Cinema, thanks to its possibilities that are immanent to its existence, is an art that has the ability to dream beyond multiple worlds that has been experienced before and the ability to think upon these dreams. It takes its viewers to journeys in different directions of thinking through extraordinariness, which may never happen scientifically and physically and through the spaces where these occur. Animation cinema, with the extraordinariness that has attached to the ordinary and with uncommon dreams that it has created; from the human and nonhuman beings’ point of view; produces specific thoughts about the universe, the existence. In Gilles Deleuze’s terms, it examines the differences that pour out of life. In this aspect, the animation cinema promises to extent life out of the anthropocentric view which is specific to Modernity, and to produce intellectual journeys about alternative beings. At this point, the question of whether the character designs of nonhuman beings’ which are situated at the center of the established imaginary lives point to a real post-human subjectivity, or these characters are the bearers of an anthropocentric approach, becomes important. This paper aims to debate the possible answers to the given question through Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke) and Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (Howl’s Moving Castle) films. In this study, where it will be examined comparatively of the cinematic comprehension of directors from two different cultures; the answers to questions as; in these narrations, what kind of a world aspiration is being actualized; in these universes where nonhumans are defined, on what extent can these universes step outside the anthropocentric approach, which is structured as a form of domination in the modern world; if a discourse which is opened to alternative becomings has been established or not; what kind of clues are presented regarding interpreting human existence of this imaginary world designs, are going to be looked for.These discussions will be conducted within the framework of concepts such as humanism, post-humanism, difference, becoming, nomadic subjectivity and with reference to the works of authors such as Gilles Deleuze, Rosi Braidotti, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri and Donna Haraway.

References

  • Akyol Oktan, K. (2019). Tekillik, İnsan-Sonrası (Post-Human) ve Göçebe Cinsiyetler. E. Baştürk ve B. N. Erdem (Ed.). Dijital Medya ve Toplumsal Cinsiyet- Kavramlar Fırsatlar Sınırlılıklar, 283-318. Konya: Litera-Türk.
  • Akyol Oktan, K. & Oktan, A. (2019). Digital Immortality: Transhumanism in the Case of “Altered Carbon”. New Approaches in Media and Communication, 275.
  • Bigelow, S. J. (2009). Technologies Of Perception: Miyazaki in Theory and Practice. Animation, 4(1), 55-75.
  • Boyd, J. W. & Nishimura, T. (2004). Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki's Anime Film "Spirited Away". Journal of Religion & Film, 8(3), 4.
  • Braidotti, R. (2013). The Posthuman. Cambridge: Polity.
  • Braidotti, R. (2019). İnsan Sonrası, Pek İnsanca: Bir Posthümanistin Anıları ve Emelleri, Cogito, 95(96), 53-97.
  • Çubuklu, Y. (2004). Toplumsalın Sınırında Beden. İstanbul: Kanat.
  • Deleuze, G. (1990). The Logic of Sense. Constantin V. Boundas (ed.), Mark Lester (Trans.) London: The Athlone.
  • Deleuze, G. (2004). Desert Islands and Other Texts 1953-1974. David Lapoujade (Ed.), Michael Taormina (Trans.), Los Angeles: Semiotext(e).
  • Deleuze, G. (1995). Negotiations. Martin Joughin (Trans.), New York: Columbia University.
  • Deleuze, G. & Parnet, C. (2007). Dialogues II, Hugh Tomlinson And Barbara Habberjam (trans.), New York: Columbia University.
  • Dempsey, R. (Producer) & Miyazaki, H. (Director). (2004). Howl’s Moving Castle [Motion Picture]. Japan: Studio Ghibli.
  • Dreyfus H. L. & Wrathall, M. A., (2006). A Brief Introduction to Phenomenology and Existentialism, Dreyfus H. L., Wrathall M. A (Ed.), Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism, Malden: Blackwell.
  • Duman, Fatih, (2010). Aydınlanma Eleştirisinden Devrim Karşıtlığına: Edmund Burke, Ankara: Liberte.
  • Erdoğan Tuğran, F. (2016). Türk Sineması’nda Fantastiğin Dönüşümü: Deleuzeyen Bir Yaklaşım. (Unpublished doctorate thesis). İstanbul Üniversitesi/Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, İstanbul.
  • Foucault, M. (1997). Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias. Rethinking Architecture: A Reader İn Cultural Theory, 350-356, Neil Leach (Ed.), London, New York: Routledge.
  • Guattari, F. (2016). Lines of Flight: For Another World of Possibilities. Andrew Goffey (Trans.), London: Bloomsbury Academic.
  • Haraway, D. J. (2008). When Species Meet, London: the University of Minnesota.
  • Haraway, D. J. (2016). A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, And Socialist–Feminism in The Late Twentieth Century. Minnesota: University of Minnesota. E kitap
  • Hardt, M. & Negry, A. (2001). Empire. Cambridge: Harvard University.
  • Kara, Z. (2015). Sosyolojinin Deleuze’dan Anladığı: Arzu Makinasından Organsız Bedenlere. Sosyoloji Divanı, (4).
  • Kılıç, S. (2012). Deleuze-Guattari: Yersizyurtsuzlaştırma Makinesi Olarak Şizoanalitik Fark ve Arzu Ontolojisi. (Unpublished doctorate thesis). Uludağ Üniversitesi/Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Bursa.
  • Laclau, E. (2001). Can Immanence Explain Social Struggles?. The Johns Hopkins University, 31/4: 2-10.
  • Lloyd, G. (1996). Erkek Akıl. Muttalip Özcan (Çev.), İstanbul: Ayrıntı.
  • Mayumi, K., Solomon, B.D. & Chang, J. (2005).The Ecological and Consumption Themes of The Films of Hayao Miyazaki. Ecological Economics, 54 (1), 1-7.
  • Nietzsche, F. W. (2009). On the Genealogy of Morals: A Polemical Tract. Ian Johnston (Trans.), Virginia: Richer Resources.
  • Nietzsche, F. W. (2007). Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future. Rolf-Peter Horstmann and Judith Norman (Ed.), Judith Norman (Trans.), Cambridge: Cambridge University.
  • Özlem, D. (1998). “Giriş: Heidegger ve Teknik”, Tekniğe İlişkin Soruşturma, Martin Heidegger, İstanbul: Paradigma.
  • Öztürk, S. (2018). Sinema Felsefesine Giriş: Film-Yapımı Felsefe. Ankara: Ütopya.
  • Rockmore, T. (2009). Heidegger'in Nazizmi, Kant ve Dasein Üzerine. Felsefe Yazın, 15: 25-31.
  • Roth, J., Todd, S., Todd, J., Burton, T. (Producer), & Bobin, J. (Director). (2016). Alice Through the Looking Glass [Motion Picture]. United States: Walt Disney Pictures.
  • Saygılı, A. (2005). Modern Devletin Beden İdeolojisi Üzerine Kısa Bir Deneme. Ankara Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi, 54(3), 323-340.
  • Suzuki, T. (Producer), & Miyazaki, H. (Director). (1997). Princess Mononke [Motion Picture]. Japan: Studio Ghibli.
  • Van Der Zaag, A. C. (2016). On Posthuman Subjectivity. Journal of Cultural Economy, 9(3), 330-336.
  • Yıldız, N. (2018). Nietzsche’de Arı Öznenin Eleştirisi. Kilikya Felsefe Dergisi, 1(90), 103.
  • Zanuck, R. D., Roth, J., Todd, S., Todd, J., (Producer), & Burton, T. (Director). (2010). Alice in Wonderland [Motion Picture]. United States: Walt Disney Pictures.

Posthuman Subjectivity and Implied Dreams in Animation Cinema

Year 2021, Volume: 6 Issue: 11, 792 - 811, 28.06.2021

Abstract

Cinema, thanks to its possibilities that are immanent to its existence, is an art that has the ability to dream beyond multiple worlds that has been experienced before and the ability to think upon these dreams. It takes its viewers to journeys in different directions of thinking through extraordinariness, which may never happen scientifically and physically and through the spaces where these occur. Animation cinema, with the extraordinariness that has attached to the ordinary and with uncommon dreams that it has created; from the human and nonhuman beings’ point of view; produces specific thoughts about the universe, the existence. In Gilles Deleuze’s terms, it examines the differences that pour out of life. In this aspect, the animation cinema promises to extent life out of the anthropocentric view which is specific to Modernity, and to produce intellectual journeys about alternative beings. At this point, the question of whether the character designs of nonhuman beings’ which are situated at the center of the established imaginary lives point to a real post-human subjectivity, or these characters are the bearers of an anthropocentric approach, becomes important. This paper aims to debate the possible answers to the given question through Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke) and Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (Howl’s Moving Castle) films. In this study, where it will be examined comparatively of the cinematic comprehension of directors from two different cultures; the answers to questions as; in these narrations, what kind of a world aspiration is being actualized; in these universes where nonhumans are defined, on what extent can these universes step outside the anthropocentric approach, which is structured as a form of domination in the modern world; if a discourse which is opened to alternative becomings has been established or not; what kind of clues are presented regarding interpreting human existence of this imaginary world designs, are going to be looked for.These discussions will be conducted within the framework of concepts such as humanism, post-humanism, difference, becoming, nomadic subjectivity and with reference to the works of authors such as Gilles Deleuze, Rosi Braidotti, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri and Donna Haraway.

References

  • Akyol Oktan, K. (2019). Tekillik, İnsan-Sonrası (Post-Human) ve Göçebe Cinsiyetler. E. Baştürk ve B. N. Erdem (Ed.). Dijital Medya ve Toplumsal Cinsiyet- Kavramlar Fırsatlar Sınırlılıklar, 283-318. Konya: Litera-Türk.
  • Akyol Oktan, K. & Oktan, A. (2019). Digital Immortality: Transhumanism in the Case of “Altered Carbon”. New Approaches in Media and Communication, 275.
  • Bigelow, S. J. (2009). Technologies Of Perception: Miyazaki in Theory and Practice. Animation, 4(1), 55-75.
  • Boyd, J. W. & Nishimura, T. (2004). Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki's Anime Film "Spirited Away". Journal of Religion & Film, 8(3), 4.
  • Braidotti, R. (2013). The Posthuman. Cambridge: Polity.
  • Braidotti, R. (2019). İnsan Sonrası, Pek İnsanca: Bir Posthümanistin Anıları ve Emelleri, Cogito, 95(96), 53-97.
  • Çubuklu, Y. (2004). Toplumsalın Sınırında Beden. İstanbul: Kanat.
  • Deleuze, G. (1990). The Logic of Sense. Constantin V. Boundas (ed.), Mark Lester (Trans.) London: The Athlone.
  • Deleuze, G. (2004). Desert Islands and Other Texts 1953-1974. David Lapoujade (Ed.), Michael Taormina (Trans.), Los Angeles: Semiotext(e).
  • Deleuze, G. (1995). Negotiations. Martin Joughin (Trans.), New York: Columbia University.
  • Deleuze, G. & Parnet, C. (2007). Dialogues II, Hugh Tomlinson And Barbara Habberjam (trans.), New York: Columbia University.
  • Dempsey, R. (Producer) & Miyazaki, H. (Director). (2004). Howl’s Moving Castle [Motion Picture]. Japan: Studio Ghibli.
  • Dreyfus H. L. & Wrathall, M. A., (2006). A Brief Introduction to Phenomenology and Existentialism, Dreyfus H. L., Wrathall M. A (Ed.), Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism, Malden: Blackwell.
  • Duman, Fatih, (2010). Aydınlanma Eleştirisinden Devrim Karşıtlığına: Edmund Burke, Ankara: Liberte.
  • Erdoğan Tuğran, F. (2016). Türk Sineması’nda Fantastiğin Dönüşümü: Deleuzeyen Bir Yaklaşım. (Unpublished doctorate thesis). İstanbul Üniversitesi/Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, İstanbul.
  • Foucault, M. (1997). Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias. Rethinking Architecture: A Reader İn Cultural Theory, 350-356, Neil Leach (Ed.), London, New York: Routledge.
  • Guattari, F. (2016). Lines of Flight: For Another World of Possibilities. Andrew Goffey (Trans.), London: Bloomsbury Academic.
  • Haraway, D. J. (2008). When Species Meet, London: the University of Minnesota.
  • Haraway, D. J. (2016). A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, And Socialist–Feminism in The Late Twentieth Century. Minnesota: University of Minnesota. E kitap
  • Hardt, M. & Negry, A. (2001). Empire. Cambridge: Harvard University.
  • Kara, Z. (2015). Sosyolojinin Deleuze’dan Anladığı: Arzu Makinasından Organsız Bedenlere. Sosyoloji Divanı, (4).
  • Kılıç, S. (2012). Deleuze-Guattari: Yersizyurtsuzlaştırma Makinesi Olarak Şizoanalitik Fark ve Arzu Ontolojisi. (Unpublished doctorate thesis). Uludağ Üniversitesi/Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Bursa.
  • Laclau, E. (2001). Can Immanence Explain Social Struggles?. The Johns Hopkins University, 31/4: 2-10.
  • Lloyd, G. (1996). Erkek Akıl. Muttalip Özcan (Çev.), İstanbul: Ayrıntı.
  • Mayumi, K., Solomon, B.D. & Chang, J. (2005).The Ecological and Consumption Themes of The Films of Hayao Miyazaki. Ecological Economics, 54 (1), 1-7.
  • Nietzsche, F. W. (2009). On the Genealogy of Morals: A Polemical Tract. Ian Johnston (Trans.), Virginia: Richer Resources.
  • Nietzsche, F. W. (2007). Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future. Rolf-Peter Horstmann and Judith Norman (Ed.), Judith Norman (Trans.), Cambridge: Cambridge University.
  • Özlem, D. (1998). “Giriş: Heidegger ve Teknik”, Tekniğe İlişkin Soruşturma, Martin Heidegger, İstanbul: Paradigma.
  • Öztürk, S. (2018). Sinema Felsefesine Giriş: Film-Yapımı Felsefe. Ankara: Ütopya.
  • Rockmore, T. (2009). Heidegger'in Nazizmi, Kant ve Dasein Üzerine. Felsefe Yazın, 15: 25-31.
  • Roth, J., Todd, S., Todd, J., Burton, T. (Producer), & Bobin, J. (Director). (2016). Alice Through the Looking Glass [Motion Picture]. United States: Walt Disney Pictures.
  • Saygılı, A. (2005). Modern Devletin Beden İdeolojisi Üzerine Kısa Bir Deneme. Ankara Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi, 54(3), 323-340.
  • Suzuki, T. (Producer), & Miyazaki, H. (Director). (1997). Princess Mononke [Motion Picture]. Japan: Studio Ghibli.
  • Van Der Zaag, A. C. (2016). On Posthuman Subjectivity. Journal of Cultural Economy, 9(3), 330-336.
  • Yıldız, N. (2018). Nietzsche’de Arı Öznenin Eleştirisi. Kilikya Felsefe Dergisi, 1(90), 103.
  • Zanuck, R. D., Roth, J., Todd, S., Todd, J., (Producer), & Burton, T. (Director). (2010). Alice in Wonderland [Motion Picture]. United States: Walt Disney Pictures.
There are 36 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Ahmet Oktan 0000-0002-2618-2127

Gülsüm Büşra Çon 0000-0002-2763-5423

Publication Date June 28, 2021
Published in Issue Year 2021 Volume: 6 Issue: 11

Cite

APA Oktan, A., & Çon, G. B. (2021). Posthuman Subjectivity and Implied Dreams in Animation Cinema. SineFilozofi, 6(11), 792-811.