FEMINIST MANIFESTO WITH HAPTIC VISUALS: BORDELLO AND HAMMAM BY ŞÜKRAN MORAL

Authors : Berceste Gülçin Özdemir

Pages : 1237-1257

Doi:10.20488/sanattasarim.1828050

View : 49 | Download : 125

Publication Date : 2025-12-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Şükran Moral, a feminist activist, is one of the most prominent artists in Turkey with her works criticizing the patriarchal order and displacing masculine language. The basis of the study is to question the presentation of the female body through the visuals in Moral\\\'s video-films Bordello (1997) and Hammam (1997) by means of film phenomenology, one of the main discussion methods of film philosophy. The interrogations are carried out within the framework of the relationship between the concepts of haptic visual and synaesthetic subject, which are among the main topics of film phenomenology. On this basis, Moral\\\'s presentation of the female body is discussed with a phenomenological methodology by presenting the ideas in Laura Marks\\\' The Skin of Film Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment, and the Senses (1999) and Vivian Sobchack\\\'s Carnal Thoughts: Embodiment and Moving Image Culture (2004), Maurice Merleau-Ponty\\\'s thoughts on the body are discussed with a phenomenological methodology. The hazy images, moving camera, close-up shots focusing on some parts of the body, which indicate haptic visuality in video-films, position the subjects watching the video-films as synesthetic subjects. In Bordello, synesthetic subjects sense the male odor permeating the space in the video-film, and in Hammam, they sense the masculine domination presented by the heat and threatening gaze. By connecting the viewer to haptic visuals through synesthetic sensations, Moral brings the body questioning of feminist film phenomenology back to the agenda. This study reveals how artworks produced with a feminist perspective appear before the audience with a feminist presentation, accompanied by visuals analyzed based on the concept of haptics with the inquiries produced by feminist film phenomenology.
Keywords : Feminist film fenomenolojisi, Haptik Görsel, Beden, Sinestezi, Duyumsama, Video Film.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE URL