FROM REAL TO REEL: HOLLYWOOD’S CULTURE OF ORIENTALISM IN AND AROUND THE ENGLISH PATIENT

Year 2017, Issue: 37, 101 - 112, 22.06.2017

Beyazıt Akman

https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.328292

Abstract

The
English Patient, one of the seven movies that won the most Academy
Awards in movie history, has naturally been subject to many studies in
literature and film. Although the movie has mostly been acclaimed by movie
critics and audiences, its loyalty to the original work has much been
questioned since the movie was based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje. However,
it cannot be said that much has been written regarding the movie’s Orientalist
undertones. The radical change of perspective from the novel to the movie in
this particular regard is so striking as to change the themes of the original
text that it deserves attention on its own terms. Therefore, in this article I
contrast the movie to the novel by arguing that Minghella, the director,
follows the age-old Orientalist tradition in his (mis)representation of the
Near East; of Muslim Culture, and of Arabs, whereas Ondaatje, the novelist,
deconstructs this very stereotypical narrative about the East. Whereas the
author of the novel takes apart the official history in a puzzling fluidity of
nations and selves, the director reconstructs history back to its Eurocentric
context. By also looking at the movie criticism published in the industry’s
major venues, I try to demonstrate a culture of Orientalism in the promotion of
the movie that goes well beyond the discussion of a single work.

Keywords

Postcolonial studies, film studies, The English Patient, comparative literature, English literature and culture

ROMAN, GERÇEKLİK VE FİLM: İNGİLİZ HASTA VE HOLLYWOOD’UN ORYANTALİST KÜLTÜRÜ

Abstract

Tüm zamanların en çok Oskar ödülü alan yedi filminden
biri olan İngiliz Hasta, gösterime
girdiği günden bu yana yıllardır pek çok çalışmaya konu olmuştur. Film
eleştirmenleri ve genelde izleyici tarafından büyük beğeni toplayan yapım
Michael Ondaatje’nin aynı adlı romanından uyarlandığı için filmin esere ne
derece sadık kaldığı da epeyce sorgulanmıştır. Ancak filmin bu bağlamda
Oryantalist bir okumasının tam olarak yapıldığı pek söylenemez. İşte bu
makalede, filmin sömürgecilik-sonrası araştırmalar çerçevesinde analizi
yapılmakta ve yönetmen ve senarist Anthony Minghella’nın, Ondaatje’nin
romanının aksine Oryantalist ve Batı-merkezci bir tutum içinde hikâyeyi adapte
ettiği ileri sürülmektedir. Ondaatje’nin romanı Avrupa merkezli, Oryantalist
tarih anlatımını sorgularken ve bu anlatımı alt üst eden bir söyleme hâkimken,
romanın adaptasyonu Batı’yı Doğu kültürleri karşısında yüceltmektedir. Makalede
ayrıca film sanayiinin olmazsa olmazları arasında yer alan film eleştirilerinin
yarattığı Oryantalist kültür de ortaya konularak tartışma tek bir eserin
incelemesinden öteye geçmektedir.

Keywords

Sömürgecilik-sonrası araştırmaları, film çalışmaları, İngiliz Hasta, karşılaştırmalı edebiyat, İngiliz edebiyatı ve kültürü

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