From Visuality to Action: Traces of Ekphrasis in John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation

Year 2022, Issue: 14, 172 - 188, 10.09.2022

Nurten Çelik

https://doi.org/10.46250/kulturder.1142469

Cited By: 1

Abstract

John Guare’s renowned play Six Degrees of Separation (1990) exposes the protagonist Paul’s endeavour to assert his identity and find a place, by creating false identities, in the world of high-class individuals which is bounded by class, race, and sexual orientation. In delineating his journey into modern American culture, John Guare employs Kandinsky’s double-sided painting along with many other artistic devices such as flashbacks, flashforwards, cross-cutting, and different narrative techniques. Kandinsky’s painting, which dominates the stage with its slow movement, mirrors the varied aspects of social life where the characters hold no enduring and steady connection with reality. This painting also projects the emotional and psychological dilemma of the characters in the social life where they lose their sense of humanity and moral ideals. In this respect, this paper intends to explore how Kandinsky’s ideas of art and his double-sided painting constitute the quintessence of the play, reflecting the materialism of decadent contemporary society and its emotional and psychological impacts on the characters.

Keywords

Ekphrasis, Kandinsky, John Guare, Six Degrees of Separation, social fragmentation

Görsellikten Eyleme: John Guare’in Altı Derecelik Ayrılık Oyununda Ekfrasis İzleri

Abstract

John Guare’in ünlü oyunu Altı Derecelik Ayrılık (1990), ana karakter Paul’un sınıf, ırk ve cinsel yönelimle sınırlandırılmış üst sınıf bireylerin dünyasında sahte kimlikler yaratarak kimliğini ortaya koyma ve kendine yer bulma çabasını ele alır. Paul’un çağdaş Amerikan kültürüne yolculuğunu betimlerken, John Guare Kandinsky’nin çift-yönlü resminin yanı sıra fleşbek, ileriye atlama, paralel zamanlama ve farklı kurgu biçimlerini kullanır. Yavaş hareketiyle sahneye hâkim olan Kandinsky’nin resmi, karakterlerin gerçeklikle sürekli ve sabit bir bağının olmadığı toplumsal yaşamın çeşitli yönlerini yansıtır. Bu resim aynı zamanda onların insani duygularını ve ahlaki ideallerini yitirdiği sosyal hayattaki duygusal ve psikolojik ikilemlerini ortaya koyar. Bu bağlamda, bu makale Kandinsky’nin sanat fikirlerinin ve çift-yönlü resminin oyunun özünü nasıl oluşturduğunu ve çökmekte olan çağdaş toplumun materialist anlayışını ve bunun karakterler üzerindeki duygusal ve psikolojik etkilerini nasıl yansıttığını incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır.

Keywords

Ekfrasis, Kandinsky, John Guare, Altı Derecelik Ayrılık, sosyal parçalanma

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