TUBERCULOSIS IN CINEMATIC NARRATIVES: ARCHITECTURAL SPACES AND SOCIO-SPATIAL CONSTRUCTS

Year 2024, , 7 - 56, 09.08.2024

Deniz Avcı

https://doi.org/10.32001/sinecine.1424279

Abstract

Pulmonary tuberculosis has been prominent in representations of illness in theater and cinema since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Tuberculosis has served as a convenient vehicle for “romantic storytelling,” and the sanatorium as an ideal film set, one whose bucolic setting evokes in the audience a sense of escaping into nature. Focusing on three films—Una Breve Vacanza (A Brief Vacation, Vittorio De Sica, 1973), Učitel Tance (The Dance Teacher, Jaromil Jireš, 1995), and Kelebeğin Rüyası (A Butterfly’s Dream, Yılmaz Erdoğan, 2013)—this study explores the medico-social reflections of tuberculosis and those aspects of the disease that make it such a favorite of cinema, including “easy acting,” “romantic storytelling,” and “visual and spatial aesthetics.” The three films examined here utilize sanatorium facilities’ venues, spaces, and architecture to create visually appealing and spatially engaging aesthetics. These films, all of which take place in the mid-twentieth century, are selected to include a diverse range of sanatorium venues and different typologies of sanatorium architecture. These films not only convey information about tuberculosis and three different global sanatorium cases but also serve as valuable archival documents that offer insights into the socio-spatiality of the disease in architecture and cinema.

Keywords

tuberculosis, sanatoria, socio-spatiality of disease, mid-20th century, architecture/space/cinema.

SİNEMATİK ANLATILARDA TÜBERKÜLOZ: MİMARİ MEKÂNLAR VE SOSYO-MEKÂNSAL İNŞALAR

Abstract

Verem, 19. yüzyılın başlarından beri hem tiyatroda hem de sinemada hastalığın öne çıkan bir temsili olmuştur. Bakteriyolojik çağda tüberkülozun bulaşıcı bir hastalık olduğu konusunda artan anlayışa rağmen, tiyatro ve sinema öncelikle veremin temsili niteliklerini ve avantajlarını fark etmiş; propaganda ve belgesel filmlerdeki temsilinin aksine, dramatik tasvire uygunluğu nedeniyle verem “romantik hikâye anlatımı” için uygun bir unsur olarak kullanılmıştır. Ayrıca, verem hastalarının iyileşmesi için kurulan başlıca mimari tipolojisi olan sanatoryumlar, aynı zamanda “tatil” hissini uyandıran kent karşıtı özellikleri nedeniyle seyirciler için sıra dışı film setleri olarak cevap vermektedir. Dolayısıyla bu çalışma, veremin 20. yüzyılın ortalarındaki sağlık mimarisi üzerindeki mediko-sosyal yansımalarını araştıran ve veremin “kolay oyunculuk”, “romantik hikâye anlatımı” ve “görsel ve mekânsal estetik” gibi sinematik faydalarına odaklanan üç filmi incelemektedir. Bu filmler aynı zamanda görsel ve mekânsal açıdan ilgi çekici bir estetik yaratmak için sanatoryum tesislerinin mekânlarından ve mimarisinden de yararlanmaktadır. Filmler kronolojik olarak, Una Breve Vacanza (Kısa Bir Tatil, Vittorio De Sica, 1973), Učitel Tance (Dans Öğretmeni, Jaromil Jireš, 1995) ve Kelebeğin Rüyası (Yılmaz Erdoğan, 2013) şeklinde sıralanabilir. Bu çalışma, filmlerin sadece hastalığın ve iyileşme mekânlarının doğası hakkında bilgi vermekle kalmamıştır; aynı zamanda üç farklı küresel sanatoryum örneğiyle, sinemanın mekânı ve mimariyi belgeleyerek ve hastalığın sosyo-mekânsal yansımalarını da sunarak değerli arşiv belgesi olduğunu kanıtlamaktadır.

Keywords

tüberküloz, sanatoryum, hastalığın sosyo-mekansallığı, 20.yüzyıl ortası, mimarlık/mekân/sinema.

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