La Jetée ve 12 Maymun’da Posttarihsel Kaygı: Zamansal Palimpsestler ve Sinematik Bellek

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Chris Marker’ın La Jetée (1962) adlı deneysel kısa filmi ile Terry Gilliam’ın onun sinemasal belleği üzerine inşa ettiği 12 Maymun (12 Monkeys, 1995) filmi arasında kurulan anlatısal ve biçimsel sürekliliği palimpsest ilkesi doğrultusunda incelemektedir. Palimpsest, bir anlatının yeni katmanlarla yeniden yazılırken alttaki yapının izlerini tamamen silmeden koruması ve yeniden biçimlendirilmesini ifade eder. 12 Maymun, La Jetée’nin zamansal ve travmatik çekirdeğini muhafaza ederek, onu postmodern bir estetik içinde yeniden işler. Böylece metinlerarasılığın görsel bir karşılığı olarak, sinemada belleğin yeniden yazımı üzerine düşünsel bir zemin oluşturur. La Jetée, neredeyse tamamen hareketsiz fotoğraflardan oluşan yapısıyla zamanı donmuş anlar aracılığıyla temsil eder. Başkarakterin çocukluk anısına dönüşü, aynı zamanda kendi ölümüne tanıklık etmesiyle kapanır. Bu yapı, Freud’un tekrar zorlantısı ve Caruth’un gecikmeli travma kuramları çerçevesinde ele alınır. Gilliam’ın 12 Maymun filmi ise aynı anlatı yapısını hareketli görsellik, distopik atmosfer, viral felaket korkusu ve psikotik bilinç yapısıyla genişleterek yeniden üretir. Bu bağlamda her iki film, zaman, travma ve belleğin sinemasal temsiline dair çok katmanlı bir tartışma açar. Makale, 12 Maymun’un yalnızca bir yeniden çevrim olmadığını, aynı zamanda La Jetée’nin silinmemiş izleri üzerine kurulmuş hem onu görünür kılan hem de dönüştüren sinemasal bir palimpsest olduğunu ileri sürmektedir. Bu iki film, sinemada hafızanın nasıl çok katmanlı bir yapısallıkla inşa edildiğini ve zamanın doğrusal olmayan doğasını açığa çıkarır. 12 Maymun, Marker’ın durağan belleğini kaotik bir görsel düzlemde yeniden işler; böylece izleyici, aynı travmatik çekirdeğin iki farklı estetik yapıda nasıl kurgulandığına tanıklık eder.

Keywords

• Palimpsest Kuramı
• Hauntoloji
• Kayıp Gelecekler
• Ontolojik Belirsizlik

Posthistorical Anxiety in La Jetée and 12 Monkeys: Temporal Palimpsests and Cinematic Memory

Abstract

This study examines the narrative and formal continuity between Chris Marker's experimental short film La Jetée (1962) and Terry Gilliam's reinterpretation of its cinematic memory in 12 Monkeys (1995), through the conceptual lens of the palimpsest principle. A palimpsest refers to a form of rewriting in which new narrative layers are inscribed without entirely erasing the traces of the underlying structure. 12 Monkeys preserves the temporal and traumatic core of La Jetée while reworking it within a postmodern aesthetic. In doing so, it offers a visual manifestation of intertextuality and provides an intellectual framework for exploring the cinematic rewriting of memory. La Jetée, composed almost entirely of static photographs, represents time through frozen moments. The protagonist's return to a childhood memory culminates in his witnessing of his own death. This structure is examined within the frameworks of Freud’s compulsion to repeat and Caruth’s theory of deferred trauma. Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys expands this narrative architecture through dynamic visuals, a dystopian atmosphere, the fear of viral catastrophe, and a psychotic cognitive structure. In this context, both films initiate a multilayered discourse on the cinematic representation of time, trauma, and memory. The article argues that 12 Monkeys is not merely a remake, but a cinematic palimpsest constructed atop the indelible traces of La Jetée, simultaneously rendering it visible and transforming it. These two films reveal how memory is constructed in cinema through a multilayered structural logic, while also exposing the non-linear nature of time. 12 Monkeys reconfigures Marker’s static memory within a chaotic visual domain; thus, the viewer bears witness to how the same traumatic core is articulated through two distinct aesthetic configurations.

Keywords

• Palimpsest Theory
• Hauntology
• Lost Futures
• Ontological Uncertainty

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