Aestheticizing Violence Within Transmedia Storytelling Context

In this study, V for Vendetta (2006) directed by James McTeigue, is analysed based on Henry Jenkins's transmedia storytelling terms. Henry Jenkins defines re-creating a story with different media tools as “transmedia storytelling” and evaluates this new storytelling form that emerged in the digital age as a new aesthetic linked with active participation that creates new demands on the consumer. V for Vendetta with a large fan audience has a story that became the symbol of the social movements that emerged against totalitarian regimes created in the modern state and social organisation. The story V for Vendetta that was first published at the beginning of 1980s as a dystopic comic book prioritising violence and terror experienced changes in the story with the effect of different narrative media. Within this context, this study with Henry Jenkins's transmedia storytelling theoretical basis analyzes how the main narrative elements of the story such as terror, violence, fear, and freedom are reflected in the V for Vendetta movie by using semiotic methods.

Ottomentality as Technology of Self

Extreme-right populist tendencies are getting stronger day by day. Although there are various factors that make the extreme-right populist tendencies stronger, the fact that cannot be ignored is that these tendencies must be reproduced discursively (history, culture, etc.) by the ruling power structures. Today, digital media and especially games are the primary areas where this reproduction process is most visible. Mobile games, in particular, turn into dominant cultural phenomena related to daily life beyond leisure, entertainment, and mind refreshing functions. Within this view, it is claimed that the mobile games based on the historical narratives in Turkey work as technology of self to contribute to the discourse of neo-Ottomanism. In order to test this claim, the three most downloaded mobile games (Game of Sultans, Magnificent Ottoman, and Age of Ottomans) in the Appstore and Android markets are selected as examples, and the aesthetic production realized through the structural elements of the game will be analyzed.

State, Masculinity, and the Aestheticization of Violence

Violence is a fundamental bio-sociological phenomenon. It can take many forms including psychological, emotional, economic, gender-based, religious, cultural, and political. The latter is primarily associated with the state. Historically, all states exercised violence in accordance with their law. Thus, law is the codification of violence. State and violence are also associated with masculinity, which is not fixed biological but rather a flexible sociological category. Masculinity is concretized in specific patterns of behaviors. In this perspective, the present study analyzes the famous Turkish TV Series, Behzat Ç: An Ankara Detective Story. It argues that since the Turkish law system could not function of its violence due to the struggles of various socio-political actors within the state, the protagonist, Behzat, aestheticizes and mimics state violence through his masculine performances. That is, state violence is materialized in the masculinity of Behzat who by resorting to violence brings the justice that the state fails to provide.

Aestheticization of Fear and Violence via Public Relations

Fear is a human emotion that allows a person to survive. It has a function to ensure the continuity of life. The definition of fear has changed over time. Along with human development, transition to sedentary life, the industrial revolution, and modern life, fear and the things feared have changed. Fear has started to be marketed, especially in post-industrial societies. The governments have seen that fear and violence work to regulate, control, and passivate people. Political governments have had the unique opportunity to use fear as a mechanism for control and surveillance. The governments have aestheticized the fear and presented it indirectly with the support of media. The masses have been shaped as weak, scared, anxious, and helpless in the shadow of fear and violence. This study tries to shed light on the attempt to persuade the society about the legitimacy of the military government by presenting fear and violence to people in aestheticized forms in the 1980s in Turkey.

The Tale of Fabled Creatures

Violence has been a part of daily life in both traditional and digital media. Consequently, neither the existence of violence in the media nor the debates on this subject are new. On the other hand, the presentation of violence in fictional content should be viewed from a different point of view, especially in the context of aesthetization. Within this context, in this chapter, the serial of Penny Dreadful is analyzed. As analyzing method, Tahsin Yücel's model of the “space/time coordinates of narrative” is used. And the subject of “aestheticization of violence” is analyzed through a serial with the elements of person, space, and time. Thus, the role of not only physical beauty but also different components in the aestheticization of violence is examined.

Meaning of Space in Cinema

Spaces are the basic components of communal and cultural life. Beyond its sheer physicality, a space finds its existence in the communal living space through the meaning universe it creates. The conceptual framework of space and place, therefore, feature lexical distinctions; what distinguishes space or perhaps makes it superior is the fact that humans can interact with it. A place gains spacious characteristic via relations and meanings attributed to it. While the physical presence of a space is interpreted merely at the geometrical level, the meaning created in the space can be best revealed by scrutinizing individuals and relations which gain existence there. This is what depicts and personalizes the space. In this context, this study aims to examine how space relates with the cognitive aspect of cinema and in what way it contributes to the meaning creation in cinema as well as to reveal its connection with the ideology of the film.

Staging Theatrical Child-Centric Violence

Prolific and controversial British-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh has built a prominent career on genre-bending works that combine irreverent humor and aggressive violence. His award-winning black comedy play The Pillowman, which premiered in 2003 at London's renowned National Theatre, is one of the playwright's most well-known and divisive pieces of theatre. Arguably, the play's most memorable moments involve segments reenacting original twisted fairy tale-esque stories. The majority of McDonagh's dark tales center on children characters enduring acts of violence and cruelty, ultimately concluding with disturbing endings. The Pillowman script offers few instructions in its storytelling scenes, allowing—even demanding—artistic ownership of each production's unique aesthetic approach to the unsettling material. This chapter discusses the divisiveness of McDonagh's work, his inspiration from violence in historical fairy tales, and the sensitive considerations and controversies theatre leadership teams must ponder when staging fictionalized child-centric violence.

Homo Aestheticus' Search for Violence

Homo-Aestheticus is a term that describes human art aesthetics and evolution under its effect. When we look at the artworks that came to our date million years ago, the similarities we encounter are the signs that our aesthetic preferences, understanding of beauty, and our tastes are a legacy from our ancestors. Aesthetic is not only an understanding adopted by our cultures; it has been with us for centuries. Similarly, violence appears as a concept that has been part of humanity for ages. It is an interdisciplinary concept that is center of attention of scientific fields particularly social sciences, art, sociology, psychology. As a result of digital developments, virtual reality, anonymous identities and together with the fantasy of the virtual world emerging with uncontrolled digital media eases presentation of the violence in digital medias. In video games, violence is presented to the player in an aesthetic way. This study aims to reveal how the aesthetics of violence in video game are received by the players and fill the gap in the literature.

Transposition of the Public Events With Violent Visual

People who are sensitive to the subject realize the seriousness of the situation and made an effort to raise awareness of the society. In order to increase the awareness, activism movements against social events have started and the organizastion of activist protests has become more visible with the use of digital platforms and spread to the large masses has accelerated. In this chapter the element of violence existing in the advertising poster works of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), activists, and artists are semantically analyzed by using the semiotic method. Indicators are a form of interpretation used to understand and explicate the truth behind what we see. The importance of image is rather important in visual semiotics. In addition, it will explain the targeted messages given to the public by using violence indicator and common sense, but contrarily, the situation projected innocent by drawing an aesthetic framework. Awareness will be raised to those messages that are shown innocently.

The Aesthetics of Fear and Power in Soviet Posters

The concept of aesthetics has been one of the most discussed topics from past to present. Marxists saw aesthetics as an aesthetic assimilation of nature and reality and defined it as the laws of artistic culture. In this sense, Russian artists did not compromise on aesthetics in the paintings and posters which they produced. In these artworks, where aesthetics are not ignored, it is possible to see how the government creates the hegemony over fear. On this account, governments can easily manage this orientation process by establishing domination of individuals and institutions with fear. The posters produced in the Soviet Union, which also functioned to direct the society, became one of the most important propaganda tools of the government. These posters, presented with an aesthetic value, played an important role in reflecting the will of the government to the society. This study reveals how the fear and power had been transformed into an aesthetic appearance in the Soviet posters through the semiotics analysis method.