Araştırma Makalesi
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Çağdaş Sinemada Varoluşsal Kaygı: "The Substance" Filmi Örneği

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 18 Sayı: Sinema Özel Sayısı, 24 - 50, 25.12.2025
https://doi.org/10.18094/josc.1813863

Öz

Bu çalışma, Coralie Fargeat’ın “The Substance” filmini, çağdaş sinemada varoluşsal kaygının temsili bağlamında psikanalitik bir yaklaşımla incelemektedir. Araştırma, Freud, Jung ve Lacan’ın kuramsal çerçeveleri ışığında, filmin karakterlerinin bilinçdışı dinamiklerini, iç çatışmalarını ve kimlik bunalımlarını nasıl sinematik bir dile dönüştürdüğünü analiz etmektedir. Nitel bir yöntem olarak benimsenen semiyotik analiz aracılığıyla, seçilmiş sahneler, görsel motifler ve anlatı yapıları incelenmiştir. Bulgular, filmin, bireyin ölümlülük ve anlamsızlık karşısında duyduğu varoluşsal korkuyu; beden, toplumsal normlar ve özgün benlik arayışı arasındaki gerilim üzerinden güçlü bir biçimde yansıttığını ortaya koymaktadır. Anlatı, karakterleri salt fizikselliğe indirgenmiş bir varoluşun getirdiği içsel boşlukla yüzleşmeye zorlamaktadır. Bu süreç, benliğin parçalanışı ve yeniden inşasına dair dönüştürücü bir hesaplaşmaya işaret eder. Çalışma, nihayetinde, “The Substance” özelinde sinemanın, bilinçdışı süreçleri ve varoluşsal bunalımları somutlaştırarak çözümleyebilen etkili bir psikanalitik araç işlevi görebileceğini öne sürmektedir. Bu analiz, beden merkezli bir varoluşun yarattığı kaygıyı anlamak için sinema ve psikanaliz arasındaki verimli diyaloğu vurgulamaktadır.

Kaynakça

  • Binder, P.-E. (2022). Suffering a healthy life: On the existential dimension of health. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 803792. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.803792
  • Bonfanti, R. C., Melchiori, F., Teti, A., Albano, G., Raffard, S., Rodgers, R., & Coco, G. L. (2025). The association between social comparison in social media, body image concerns and eating disorder symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Body Image, 52, 101841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101841
  • Brzozowska, J. M., & Gotlib, J. (2025). Social media potential and impact on changing behaviors and actions in skin health promotion: Systematic review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 27, e54241. https://doi.org/10.2196/54241
  • Castellanos Silva, R., et al. (2023). Social media and body dissatisfaction in young adults: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1037932. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1037932
  • Chare, N., Hoorn, J., & Yue, A. (Eds.). (2020). Re-reading the monstrous-feminine: Art, film, feminism and psychoanalysis. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429469367
  • Cohen, R., Newton-John, T., & Slater, A. (2021). The case for body positivity on social media: Perspectives on current advances and future directions. Journal of Health Psychology, 26(13), 2365–2373. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105320912450
  • Creed, B. (2022). Return of the monstrous-feminine: Feminist new wave cinema. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003036654
  • Creed, B. (2023). The monstrous-feminine: Film, feminism, psychoanalysis (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003006756
  • Czubaj, N., Szymańska, M., & Nowak, B. (2025). The impact of social media on body image perception in young people. Nutrients, 17(9), 1455. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17091455
  • Duan, C., Wang, L., Du, X., & Luo, H. (2022). Photo activity on social networking sites and body dissatisfaction among young women: A moderated mediation model. Behavioral Sciences, 12(8), 280. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12080280
  • Elias, A. S., & Gill, R. (2018). Beauty surveillance: The digital self-monitoring cultures of neoliberalism. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 21(1), 59–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549417705604
  • Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P. C., Vartanian, L. R., & Halliwell, E. (2015). Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women’s body image concerns and mood. Body Image, 13, 38–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.12.002
  • Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id (J. Riviere, Trans.). W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1923)
  • Georgiou, C., & Kleftaras, G. (2022). Existential factors’ impact on body dissatisfaction: An empirical study of Greek adolescents and adults. The European Journal of Counselling Psychology, 11(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.46853/001c.55641
  • Grabe, S., Ward, L. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2008). The role of the media in body image concerns among women: A meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies. Psychological Bulletin, 134(3), 460–476. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033- 2909.134.3.460
  • Grosz, E. (1994). Volatile bodies: Toward a corporeal feminism. Indiana University Press. Hockley, L. (Ed.). (2018). The Routledge international handbook of Jungian film studies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315619163
  • Jiménez-García, A. M., Arias, N., Picazo-Hontanaya, E., Sanz, A., & García-Velasco, O. (2025). Impact of body-positive social media content on body image perception. Journal of Eating Disorders, 13, 153. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-025-01286-y
  • Jones, G., & Woodward, A. (2017). How desire works: A Lyotardian Lynch. In G. Jones & A. Woodward (Eds.), Acinemas: Lyotard’s philosophy of film (pp. 163–179). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474418959-017
  • Krupa, H. (2025). The monstrous feminine re-imagined: The Substance. sinecine: Sinema Araştırmaları Dergisi, 16(1), 58–90. https://doi.org/10.32001/sinecine.1617469 Merino, M., Tornero-Aguilera, J. F., Rubio-Zarapuz, A., Villanueva-Tobaldo, C. V., MartínRodríguez, A., & Clemente-
  • Suárez, V. J. (2024). Body perceptions and psychological well-being: A review of the impact of social media and physical measurements on selfesteem and mental health with a focus on body image satisfaction and its relationship with cultural and gender factors. Healthcare, 12(14), 1396. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12141396
  • Muckenhoupt, M., & Akatlı, F. (2002). Sigmund Freud: Bilinçdışının kaşifi. TÜBİTAK. Mulvey, L. (2013). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. In The sexual subject (pp. 22–34). Routledge.
  • Parr, C. (2023). The Antihuman Unconscious in Twenty-First-Century Science Fiction Cinema: Structure of Feeling, the Political Unconscious, and Problematising the Human in Science Fiction Films Produced Since 1999 [Doctoral dissertation, University of Wolverhampton]. University of Wolverhampton Repository.
  • Perloff, R. M. (2014). Social media effects on young women’s body image concerns: Theoretical perspectives and an agenda for research. Sex Roles, 71(11–12), 363–377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-014-0384-6
  • Pope, R. (2012). Doing justice: A ritual-psychoanalytic approach to postmodern melodrama and a certain tendency of the action film. Cinema Journal, 51(2), 113–136. https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2012.0001
  • Seekis, V., Bradley, G. L., & Duffy, A. L. (2020). Appearance-related social networking sites and body image in young women: Testing an objectification–social comparison model. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 44(3), 377–392. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684320920826
  • Sherritt, M. (2022). Dancing beyond the mirror stage: Jacques Lacan and the embodied sinthome [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Western Ontario]. Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/8890
  • Sletvold, J. (2013). The ego and the id revisited: Freud and Damasio on the body ego/self. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 94(5), 1019–1032. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-8315.12097
  • Sunal, G. (2024). In the dark world of Dark City: Cinematographical narrative, mythological elements and psychoanalytic perspective. İstanbul Aydın Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 16(2), 247–264. https://doi.org/10.17932/IAU.IAUSBD.2021.021/iausbd_v16i2004
  • Swami, V. (2015). Cultural influences on body size ideals: Unpacking the impact of Westernisation and modernisation. European Psychologist, 20(1), 44–51. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000150
  • Tiggemann, M. (2011). Sociocultural perspectives on human appearance and body image. In T. F. Cash & L. Smolak (Eds.), Body image: A handbook of science, practice, and prevention (2nd ed., pp. 12–19). Guilford Press.
  • Tiggemann, M., & Slater, A. (2013). NetGirls: The Internet, Facebook, and body image concern in adolescent girls. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 46(6), 630–633. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22141
  • Tiggemann, M., & Zaccardo, M. (2018). “Strong is the new skinny”: A content analysis of #fitspiration images on Instagram. Journal of Health Psychology, 23(8), 1003–1011. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105316639436
  • Tomer, A., & Eliason, G. T. (2007). Existentialism and death attitudes. In A. Tomer, G. T. Eliason, & P. T. P. Wong (Eds.), Existential and spiritual issues in death attitudes (pp. 33–64). Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203809679
  • Trevisan, I. (2025). The monstrous woman: Julia Ducournau and feminist counter-cinema. Film Matters, 16(1), 58–64. https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00382_1
  • Tutar, H. (2022). Can the Squid Game series be watched through social Darwinism? A semiotic review. Türkiye İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi, 41, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.17829/turcom.1048464
  • Tutar, H., & Erdem, A. T. (2020). Örnekleriyle bilimsel araştırma yöntemleri ve SPSS uygulamaları. Seçkin Yayıncılık.
  • Tylka, T. L., & Wood-Barcalow, N. L. (2015). What is and what is not positive body image? Conceptual foundations and construct definition. Body Image, 14, 118–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.04.001
  • van Bruggen, V., Vos, J., Westerhof, G., Bohlmeijer, E., & Glas, G. (2015). Systematic review of existential anxiety instruments. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 55(2), 173–201. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167814542048
  • Vandenbosch, L., Fardouly, J., & Tiggemann, M. (2022). Social media and body image: Recent trends and future directions. Current Opinion in Psychology, 45, 101289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.12.002
  • Zimmermann, C. (2007). Death denial: Obstacle or instrument for palliative care? An analysis of clinical literature. Sociology of Health & Illness, 29(2), 297–314. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2007.00495.x
  • Žižek, S. (2006). The parallax view. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5231.001.0001.

Existential Anxiety in Contemporary Cinema: The Example of the Film “The Substance”

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 18 Sayı: Sinema Özel Sayısı, 24 - 50, 25.12.2025
https://doi.org/10.18094/josc.1813863

Öz

This study conducts a psychoanalytic examination of Coralie Fargeat's "The Substance," analyzing its representation of existential anxiety within contemporary cinema. Framed by the theoretical lenses of Freud, Jung, and Lacan, the research investigates how the film translates its characters' unconscious dynamics, internal conflicts, and identity crises into a cinematic language. Employing semiotic analysis as a qualitative method, the study interprets selected scenes, visual motifs, and narrative structures. The findings reveal that the film powerfully reflects the existential dread individuals face in confronting mortality and meaninglessness, articulated through the tension between the body, societal norms, and the pursuit of an authentic self. The narrative forces its characters to confront the inner void of an existence reduced to mere physicality. This process signifies a transformative reckoning with the fragmentation and reconstruction of the ego. Ultimately, this analysis posits that cinema, as exemplified by "The Substance," can function as an effective psychoanalytic tool for concretizing and deciphering unconscious conflicts and existential anxieties, highlighting the productive dialogue between film and psychoanalysis in understanding body-centric existential dread.

Kaynakça

  • Binder, P.-E. (2022). Suffering a healthy life: On the existential dimension of health. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 803792. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.803792
  • Bonfanti, R. C., Melchiori, F., Teti, A., Albano, G., Raffard, S., Rodgers, R., & Coco, G. L. (2025). The association between social comparison in social media, body image concerns and eating disorder symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Body Image, 52, 101841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101841
  • Brzozowska, J. M., & Gotlib, J. (2025). Social media potential and impact on changing behaviors and actions in skin health promotion: Systematic review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 27, e54241. https://doi.org/10.2196/54241
  • Castellanos Silva, R., et al. (2023). Social media and body dissatisfaction in young adults: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1037932. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1037932
  • Chare, N., Hoorn, J., & Yue, A. (Eds.). (2020). Re-reading the monstrous-feminine: Art, film, feminism and psychoanalysis. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429469367
  • Cohen, R., Newton-John, T., & Slater, A. (2021). The case for body positivity on social media: Perspectives on current advances and future directions. Journal of Health Psychology, 26(13), 2365–2373. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105320912450
  • Creed, B. (2022). Return of the monstrous-feminine: Feminist new wave cinema. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003036654
  • Creed, B. (2023). The monstrous-feminine: Film, feminism, psychoanalysis (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003006756
  • Czubaj, N., Szymańska, M., & Nowak, B. (2025). The impact of social media on body image perception in young people. Nutrients, 17(9), 1455. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17091455
  • Duan, C., Wang, L., Du, X., & Luo, H. (2022). Photo activity on social networking sites and body dissatisfaction among young women: A moderated mediation model. Behavioral Sciences, 12(8), 280. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12080280
  • Elias, A. S., & Gill, R. (2018). Beauty surveillance: The digital self-monitoring cultures of neoliberalism. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 21(1), 59–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549417705604
  • Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P. C., Vartanian, L. R., & Halliwell, E. (2015). Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women’s body image concerns and mood. Body Image, 13, 38–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.12.002
  • Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id (J. Riviere, Trans.). W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1923)
  • Georgiou, C., & Kleftaras, G. (2022). Existential factors’ impact on body dissatisfaction: An empirical study of Greek adolescents and adults. The European Journal of Counselling Psychology, 11(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.46853/001c.55641
  • Grabe, S., Ward, L. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2008). The role of the media in body image concerns among women: A meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies. Psychological Bulletin, 134(3), 460–476. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033- 2909.134.3.460
  • Grosz, E. (1994). Volatile bodies: Toward a corporeal feminism. Indiana University Press. Hockley, L. (Ed.). (2018). The Routledge international handbook of Jungian film studies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315619163
  • Jiménez-García, A. M., Arias, N., Picazo-Hontanaya, E., Sanz, A., & García-Velasco, O. (2025). Impact of body-positive social media content on body image perception. Journal of Eating Disorders, 13, 153. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-025-01286-y
  • Jones, G., & Woodward, A. (2017). How desire works: A Lyotardian Lynch. In G. Jones & A. Woodward (Eds.), Acinemas: Lyotard’s philosophy of film (pp. 163–179). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474418959-017
  • Krupa, H. (2025). The monstrous feminine re-imagined: The Substance. sinecine: Sinema Araştırmaları Dergisi, 16(1), 58–90. https://doi.org/10.32001/sinecine.1617469 Merino, M., Tornero-Aguilera, J. F., Rubio-Zarapuz, A., Villanueva-Tobaldo, C. V., MartínRodríguez, A., & Clemente-
  • Suárez, V. J. (2024). Body perceptions and psychological well-being: A review of the impact of social media and physical measurements on selfesteem and mental health with a focus on body image satisfaction and its relationship with cultural and gender factors. Healthcare, 12(14), 1396. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12141396
  • Muckenhoupt, M., & Akatlı, F. (2002). Sigmund Freud: Bilinçdışının kaşifi. TÜBİTAK. Mulvey, L. (2013). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. In The sexual subject (pp. 22–34). Routledge.
  • Parr, C. (2023). The Antihuman Unconscious in Twenty-First-Century Science Fiction Cinema: Structure of Feeling, the Political Unconscious, and Problematising the Human in Science Fiction Films Produced Since 1999 [Doctoral dissertation, University of Wolverhampton]. University of Wolverhampton Repository.
  • Perloff, R. M. (2014). Social media effects on young women’s body image concerns: Theoretical perspectives and an agenda for research. Sex Roles, 71(11–12), 363–377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-014-0384-6
  • Pope, R. (2012). Doing justice: A ritual-psychoanalytic approach to postmodern melodrama and a certain tendency of the action film. Cinema Journal, 51(2), 113–136. https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2012.0001
  • Seekis, V., Bradley, G. L., & Duffy, A. L. (2020). Appearance-related social networking sites and body image in young women: Testing an objectification–social comparison model. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 44(3), 377–392. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684320920826
  • Sherritt, M. (2022). Dancing beyond the mirror stage: Jacques Lacan and the embodied sinthome [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Western Ontario]. Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/8890
  • Sletvold, J. (2013). The ego and the id revisited: Freud and Damasio on the body ego/self. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 94(5), 1019–1032. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-8315.12097
  • Sunal, G. (2024). In the dark world of Dark City: Cinematographical narrative, mythological elements and psychoanalytic perspective. İstanbul Aydın Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 16(2), 247–264. https://doi.org/10.17932/IAU.IAUSBD.2021.021/iausbd_v16i2004
  • Swami, V. (2015). Cultural influences on body size ideals: Unpacking the impact of Westernisation and modernisation. European Psychologist, 20(1), 44–51. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000150
  • Tiggemann, M. (2011). Sociocultural perspectives on human appearance and body image. In T. F. Cash & L. Smolak (Eds.), Body image: A handbook of science, practice, and prevention (2nd ed., pp. 12–19). Guilford Press.
  • Tiggemann, M., & Slater, A. (2013). NetGirls: The Internet, Facebook, and body image concern in adolescent girls. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 46(6), 630–633. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22141
  • Tiggemann, M., & Zaccardo, M. (2018). “Strong is the new skinny”: A content analysis of #fitspiration images on Instagram. Journal of Health Psychology, 23(8), 1003–1011. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105316639436
  • Tomer, A., & Eliason, G. T. (2007). Existentialism and death attitudes. In A. Tomer, G. T. Eliason, & P. T. P. Wong (Eds.), Existential and spiritual issues in death attitudes (pp. 33–64). Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203809679
  • Trevisan, I. (2025). The monstrous woman: Julia Ducournau and feminist counter-cinema. Film Matters, 16(1), 58–64. https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00382_1
  • Tutar, H. (2022). Can the Squid Game series be watched through social Darwinism? A semiotic review. Türkiye İletişim Araştırmaları Dergisi, 41, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.17829/turcom.1048464
  • Tutar, H., & Erdem, A. T. (2020). Örnekleriyle bilimsel araştırma yöntemleri ve SPSS uygulamaları. Seçkin Yayıncılık.
  • Tylka, T. L., & Wood-Barcalow, N. L. (2015). What is and what is not positive body image? Conceptual foundations and construct definition. Body Image, 14, 118–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.04.001
  • van Bruggen, V., Vos, J., Westerhof, G., Bohlmeijer, E., & Glas, G. (2015). Systematic review of existential anxiety instruments. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 55(2), 173–201. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167814542048
  • Vandenbosch, L., Fardouly, J., & Tiggemann, M. (2022). Social media and body image: Recent trends and future directions. Current Opinion in Psychology, 45, 101289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.12.002
  • Zimmermann, C. (2007). Death denial: Obstacle or instrument for palliative care? An analysis of clinical literature. Sociology of Health & Illness, 29(2), 297–314. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2007.00495.x
  • Žižek, S. (2006). The parallax view. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5231.001.0001.
Toplam 41 adet kaynakça vardır.

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil İngilizce
Konular Radyo-Televizyon
Bölüm Araştırma Makalesi
Yazarlar

Hasan Tutar 0000-0001-8383-1464

Merve Diltemiz 0009-0003-9685-064X

Gönderilme Tarihi 30 Ekim 2025
Kabul Tarihi 21 Aralık 2025
Yayımlanma Tarihi 25 Aralık 2025
Yayımlandığı Sayı Yıl 2025 Cilt: 18 Sayı: Sinema Özel Sayısı

Kaynak Göster

APA Tutar, H., & Diltemiz, M. (2025). Existential Anxiety in Contemporary Cinema: The Example of the Film “The Substance”. Selçuk İletişim, 18(Sinema Özel Sayısı), 24-50. https://doi.org/10.18094/josc.1813863