THE CONSTRUCTION OF A STYLIZED UTOPIA: AFROFUTURISM IN AMERICAN SCI-FI CINEMA

Öz

The history of Hollywood as a global movie industry goes back to the 19th century. It has achieved its leading position in the global market since the 20th century. Thus having a dominant role throughout the world. Especially after the Second World War, Hollywood, which also included the ideological and cultural values of different ethnic origins, expanded its product range and gave every class or segment the opportunity to express themselves in a cinematic perspective. One of them, afrofuturism, is a movement that re-imagines the future of Africa and the African diaspora. This movement can be found in many fields such as cinema, literature, visual arts and popular music. In the afrofuturist art movement, where an alternative world is imagined, national borders are abolished through sci-fi, fantasy and cyber-culture (technology), and the transformation in information and communication technologies is placed at the center of utopia. In this context, throughout the study, the philosophical and aesthetic myth forms of afrofuturism on Hollywood will be examined and it will be tried to find out with which codes this atmosphere is provided in the core of the afrofuturist project.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Afrofuturism
• Sci-Fi
• American Cinema
• Hollywood.

STİLİZE BİR ÜTOPYANIN İNŞASI: AMERİKAN BİLİM KURGU SİNEMASINDA AFROFÜTÜRİZM

Öz

Küresel bir sinema endüstrisi olarak Hollywood’un tarihçesi 19. yüzyıla değin uzanmaktadır. Global pazardaki lider konumunu ise 20. yüzyıldan itibaren elde etmiş, böylece dünya genelinde başat bir role sahip olmuştur. Özellikl İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nın ardından farklı etnik kökenlerin ideolojik ve kültürel değerlerine de yer veren Amerikan Sineması, ürün yelpazesini genişletmiş her sınıf ya da kesime sinematik perspektifte kendini ifade edebilme imkanı tanımıştır. Bunlardan biri olan afrofütürizm, Afrika ve Afrika diasporasının geleceğini yeniden tasavvur eden bir akımdır. Bu akıma sinema, edebiyat, görsel sanatlar ve popüler müzik gibi pek çok alanda rastlanmaktadır. Alternatif bir dünyanın hayal edildiği afrofütürist sanat hareketinde bilim kurgu, fantezi ve siber kültür (teknoloji) aracılığı ile ulusal sınırlar ortadan kaldırılarak bilgi ve iletişim teknolojilerindeki dönüşüm ütopyanın merkezine yerleştirilir. Bu bağlamda çalışma boyunca, afrofütürizmin Hollywood üzerindeki felsefi ve estetik mit biçimleri incelenecek olup, afrofütürist projenin özünde hangi kodlarla bu atmosferin sağlandığı bulgulanmaya çalışılacaktır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Afrofütürizm
• Bilim Kurgu
• Amerikan Sineması
• Hollywood

Kaynakça

1. Alexander, C. (2019). Forget mammy!: Blaxploitation’s Deconstruction of the Classic Film Trope with Black Feminism, Black Power, and “bad” Vodoo Mamas. The Journal of Popular Culture, 52 (2), pp.839-861.
2. Delany, S. (2000). “Racism and Science Fiction”. A Century of Speculative Fiction From The African Diaspora. ed. Sheree R. Thomas, ss.383-397. New York: Aspect.
3. Dery, M. (1994). Black to the Future: Interviews with Samuel R. Delany, Greg Tate, and Tricia Rose, Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture, pp. 179-222.
4. Dillon, S. (2013). It’s here, it’s that time: Race, queer futurity, and the temporality of violence in Born in Flames. Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, Vol. 23, 38-51.
5. Ellison, R. (1994). Some Questions and Some Answers. New York: Shadow and Act.
6. Eshun, K. (2003). Further Considerations on Afrofuturism, CR: The New Centennial Review, 3 (2), 287-302.
7. Fawaz, R. (2012). Space, That Bottomless Pit: Planetary Exile and Metaphors of Belonging in American Afrofuturist Cinema. Callaloo, 35 (4). pp. 1103-112.
8. Griffin, R. A. & Rossing, J. P. (2020). Black Panther in Widescreen: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on a Pioneering, Paradoxial Film, Review of Communication, 20(3), ss.203-219.

9. Guerro, E. (1993). Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film, Philadelphia: Temple UP.
10. Gültekin, G. ve Özpay, O. (Ed.). (2020). İstila Filmleri (İlk Baskı). İstanbul: Hiper Yayın.
11. Gross, L. (2001). Up Form Invisibility: Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Media in America. New York: Columbia University Press.
12. Hughey, M. W. (2009). Cinethetic Racism: White Redemption and Black Stereotypes in “Magical Negro” Films, Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, 56 (3), s. 543-577.
13. Kaplan, T. A. (2021). The Importance of Surrounding Communities in Identity Formation within Afrofuturistic Context, Rumelide Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, (9), s. 261-275.
14. Langguth, J. J. (2010). “Proposing an Alter-Destiny: Science Fiction in the Art and Music of Sun Ra”. Sounds of the Future: Essays on Music in Science Fiction Film,” (ed. Mathew J. Bartkowiak), ss.148-161. London: McFarland&Company Inc.
15. Link, E. C. & Canavan, G. (Ed.). (2015). The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction (1st Ed.). United States of America: Cambridge University Press.
16. Mayer, R. (2000). Africa as an Alien Future: The Middle Passage, Afrofuturism, and Postcolonial Waterworlds, Amerikastudien/American Studies, 45 (4), 555-566.
17. Nama, A. (2009). R is for Race, Not Rocket: Black Representation in American Science Fiction Cinema, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 26:2, ss.155-156.
18. Tolliver, W. (2022). Deconstructing Will Smith: Race, Masculinity and Global Stardom. United States of America: McFarland & Company.
19. White, R. & Ritzenhoff, K. (2021). Afrofuturism in Black Panther: Gender, Identity, and the Re-Making of Blackness, Lexington Books: United Kingdom.
20. Womack, Y. L. (2013). Afrofuturism The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, (First Edition), Lawrence Hill Books: Chicago.
21. Yaszek, L. (2006). Afrofuturism, Science Fiction, and the History of the Future, Socialism and Democracy, 20:3, ss.41-40.
22. Yaszek, L. (2013). Race in Science Fiction: The Case of Afrofuturism and New Hollywood. A Virtual Introduction to Science Fiction, Erişim adresi: http://virtual-sf.com/??page_id=372>.
23. İnternet kaynakları: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Middle-Passage-slave-trade