THE SEARCH FOR VALUE IN THE NEW TURKISH CINEMA CREATING VALUE OR CREATING APPROPRIATE CONDITIONS FOR IT

Abstract

Abstract This study problematizes New Turkish Cinema through the concept of “value” and takes Zeki Demirkubuz and Reha Erdem from the universe of independent directors as an example. The fact that both directors have common philosophical projections in their films makes this choice meaningful. The question sought to be answered in the study is how both directors responded in their films to the attempt to overcome the sense of worthlessness created by modernism on the individual. This study, which was designed on a qualitative pattern and used the parameters of philosophical analysis, was limited to the cinema of Zeki Demirkubuz and Reha Erdem, and it was assumed that the effort to create new value to overcome nihilism in New Turkish Cinema could not be mentioned apart from these two directors. The findings show that Zeki Demirkubuz and Reha Erdem’s films show new life possibilities to the audience, and they focus on the creation or constitution of a space of freedom for a new creation, not exploration in the search for value. In other words, it can be said that both directors, following the footsteps of Nietzsche, Camus and Sartre, give priority to ‘destruction’ rather than ‘construction’ in their films and that this destruction is functional in terms of showing the audience new life possibilities.