Tracking the Fallen Apple: Ineffability, Religious Tropes, and Existential Despair in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia: a religiously complex film and a complex filmmaker, from a complex nation. Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Turkey is constantly balancing a secular constitution, Muslim majority (around 99%), and unavoidable early Christian history. This complexity - indeed, tension - shows forth i...
| Subtitles: | The 2015 International Conference on Religion and Film in Istanbul |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2016
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| In: |
The journal of religion and film
Year: 2016, Volume: 20, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-36 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Ceylan, Nuri Bilge 1959-
/ Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da
/ Turkey
/ Rural area
/ Religiosity
/ Hopelessness
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AX Inter-religious relations BJ Islam ZG Media studies; Digital media; Communication studies |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Once Upon a Time in Anatolia: a religiously complex film and a complex filmmaker, from a complex nation. Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Turkey is constantly balancing a secular constitution, Muslim majority (around 99%), and unavoidable early Christian history. This complexity - indeed, tension - shows forth in the film. In the end, the film can be seen as a type of ritual of skepticism, whereby one confronts darkness, horror, and hopelessness consistently, for a constructive purpose. This essay explores these complex religious dynamics through an analysis of Ceylan’s formal choices. From the mythic title ("Once Upon a Time"), to his theologically suggestive use of natural forces (wind, fire, lightning), to his complicated relationship with the aesthetics and power of the religious icon, we see a formal articulation of timeless issues beyond words. It at once evokes religious experience and existential nihilism, co-present as hammer and anvil, able to create or destroy the shield of faith. |
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| ISSN: | 1092-1311 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of religion and film
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