Garbage in Paradise – Müll und Rauminszenierung in Fatih Akıns Dokumentarfilm Müll im Garten Ede

Yıl 2015, Cilt: 1 Sayı: 33, 41 - 62, 01.07.2015

Deniz Bayrak Sarah Reininghaus

Öz

Garbage in Paradise – Müll und Rauminszenierung in
Fatih Akıns Dokumentarfilm

Müll im
Garten Ede    

Anahtar Kelimeler

Garbage, Fatih Akın

Garbage in Paradise – Waste and the Representation of Space in Fatih Akın’s Documentary Müll im Garten Eden

Öz

In this article the
documentary Müll im Garten Eden (2012) by Fatih Akın is analyzed concerning its
representation of waste. Being a long term documentation, the film portrays the
emergence of a waste dump in a small village close to the Turkish Black Sea. It
documents the effects on its inhabitants and on the environment.

The article focuses on
the presentation of this waste dump considering spatial theories: as a first
step, we are going to prove that the village Çamburnu is an anthropological
place according to Marc Augé. Its main characteristics can be seen in its
naturalness, in its historic roots and its feeling of rural community. In
addition to the representation within the documentary an analysis of the
discourse around the film gives similar results, since reviews and discussion
on the film frequently allude to the origins of the Akın family.

As a second step,
considering Hans Krah`s thoughts we want to demonstrate, to what extent the
semanticised space ‘village’ is contrasted to the semanticised space ‘waste
dump’. Non-spatial characteristics are ascribed to these topographies. As a
result, oppositional semantic subspaces emerge with permeable boarders. This
way the idyll and its endangerment by the garbage from outside the village is
created. Semantic features ascribed to the village are for example nativeness,
paradise, pureness, modesty and oneness with nature. In contrast, attributes
like civilization, dirt, capitalism, profit and power are assigned to the waste
dump.

Finally, the
ecological statement underlying the documentary and its possible social
relevance are considered: According to Michel Foucault, the media are
technologies of power, which are able to influence technologies of the self and
can therefore evoke changes of ecological practices. 

Anahtar Kelimeler

Fatih Akın, Müll im Garten Eden, spatial turn, Marc Augé, Hans Krah, Jurij M. Lotman, Michel Foucault, documentary

Kaynakça

• Ricorda, Ricciarda (2012): La letteratura di viaggio in Italia. Dal Settecento a oggi, Editrice La Scuola, Brescia.