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UNDER THE CELLULOID SKIN: A Social Semiotic Analysis of Tunç Okan’s Debut Film Otobüs

Tezel, Tayfun LU (2014) KOVM12 20141
Division of Art History and Visual Studies
Abstract
Cinema is an externalised, materialised form of collective memory in which one can find experiences, desires, traumas, ideas, hopes and imaginations of the given society. One can - with the utilisation of the right set of tools and methods - learn a lot about a society by studying its cinema. In this context, this thesis offers a social semiotic analysis of the debut film Otobüs (The Bus, 1974) by the Turkish film director Tunç Okan. The film, which follows the dystopian journey of nine Turkish workers from Turkey to Sweden who are cheated by an international human trafficking gang, offers a very rich set of symbols that constructs an alternative socio-historical record from the point of view of other ignored other, namely the immigrants... (More)
Cinema is an externalised, materialised form of collective memory in which one can find experiences, desires, traumas, ideas, hopes and imaginations of the given society. One can - with the utilisation of the right set of tools and methods - learn a lot about a society by studying its cinema. In this context, this thesis offers a social semiotic analysis of the debut film Otobüs (The Bus, 1974) by the Turkish film director Tunç Okan. The film, which follows the dystopian journey of nine Turkish workers from Turkey to Sweden who are cheated by an international human trafficking gang, offers a very rich set of symbols that constructs an alternative socio-historical record from the point of view of other ignored other, namely the immigrants of whom Okan himself is one. This thesis -by utilising the Marxist social semiotic approaches of Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress- attempts to make the cinematographic signifiers visible and connect these signifiers to the socio-historical signifieds. In relation to the analysis of the film the thesis also introduces a new concept transboundary cinema in order to avoid shortcomings in the existing terminology dealing with the multi-transitional structure of the film and to be able to recognise the films unique qualities. (Less)
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author
Tezel, Tayfun LU
supervisor
organization
course
KOVM12 20141
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Social semiotics, Transboundary cinema, Marxism, Immigration, Orientalism
language
English
additional info
This is the final version of the thesis before publishing. The mistakes that were pointed out by the opponent during the defence of the thesis have been corrected.
id
4450185
date added to LUP
2014-11-07 15:40:52
date last changed
2014-11-07 15:40:52
@misc{4450185,
  abstract     = {{Cinema is an externalised, materialised form of collective memory in which one can find experiences, desires, traumas, ideas, hopes and imaginations of the given society. One can - with the utilisation of the right set of tools and methods - learn a lot about a society by studying its cinema. In this context, this thesis offers a social semiotic analysis of the debut film Otobüs (The Bus, 1974) by the Turkish film director Tunç Okan. The film, which follows the dystopian journey of nine Turkish workers from Turkey to Sweden who are cheated by an international human trafficking gang, offers a very rich set of symbols that constructs an alternative socio-historical record from the point of view of other ignored other, namely the immigrants of whom Okan himself is one. This thesis -by utilising the Marxist social semiotic approaches of Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress- attempts to make the cinematographic signifiers visible and connect these signifiers to the socio-historical signifieds. In relation to the analysis of the film the thesis also introduces a new concept transboundary cinema in order to avoid shortcomings in the existing terminology dealing with the multi-transitional structure of the film and to be able to recognise the films unique qualities.}},
  author       = {{Tezel, Tayfun}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{UNDER THE CELLULOID SKIN: A Social Semiotic Analysis of Tunç Okan’s Debut Film Otobüs}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}