Realist approaches have been shaped by the changes in the concept of reality.

These
approaches depend on technological, philosophical, economic and social changes and they
affect the discussions of spatiotemporal reality.

Lumiere gave a chance to people to pass the borders between reality and fantasy by inventing
the cinematograph. Actually the person who found a way to establish that is Georges Melies
by using this machine for not only representing the reality of real world by recording
everything in a non-fiction film genre, he used it for rebuilding the reality . It did not make
sense in the first place because cinema was not being considered as an important medium that
could be used to form the society but after a period of time virtual reality became a significant
topic for discussion and cinema had a considerable effect on daily life. So that the relation
between cinema and society got stronger.

After a while, cinema transformed into an industrialized art that has some standards and
criteria .It was a pastime for tech enthusiasts in the early period of cinema , then it was
evaluated as an art and worthy as a good theoretical field to study. Because of that some film
theorists did some researches about the representation of reality in cinema.

A well-known film theorist Siegfried Kracauer asserts that cinema must behave like a mirror
reflecting the purest state of reality. Kracauer criticizes expressionist films made during the
period Weimar Republic ruled Germany and he evaluated them as the messenger of nazi
period thanks to their attitude for monitoring the sociocultural state of Germany. Kracauer is
very famous for his studies on expressionist films but he also studied about the form of
realism in cinema. He claims that the film must not form the reality, it must reflect the reality
without any fictive arrangements. [1]

Andre Bazin, a very famous French film critic and theorist, had published the magazine called
“Cahiers du Cinema” and the writers of this publication became very famous directors of
“Nouvelle Vague”. Andre Bazin claimed that cinema had to reflect the ideal reality [2]. That
approach placed him in opposition to film theories emphasize cinema can manipulate reality.
Ambiguity of the definition of ideal reality makes Bazin’s work difficult to understand. In
contrast to Bazin’s sayings, Nouvelle vague directors used montage techniques and did not
become the followers of Bazin’s theoretical studies but no doubt that Bazin deeply influenced
them.

A German-born film theorist Rudolf Arnheim claims that an art work should not consider if it
is reflecting the reality or not. Art is not the mechanical reproduction of reality, there must be
some concerns about aesthetic [3]. Art can be used to unhide social facts but these aesthetical
concerns should not be ignored.

Arguments based on realism are not only made in cinema, also in theatre. Lukacs thinks that
the most important thing is emphasizing the roles of society’s members. In Lukacs’s opinion,
some archetypal must be used for identification with characters on stage. Lukacs thinks there
must be a dominant social realist effect on the work and “Don Quijote” is a great example for
that. Classes of society take place in the novel and conflict between the classes seems
purposive from the point of view of marxism. Brecht does not support identification, he
asserts that losing himself/herself in the character of a play passively should not be desired,
audiences should be in a position which they are critical observers. He claims that distancing
effect (alienation effect) must be used to realize that [4]

In addition to the theories about realism and cinema, film language is an important concept
for rebuilding the topic. Theorists tried to find out the medium specific features of cinema that
make sense in the same way for all audiences. Works of Russian formalists’ in 20s, researches
about ways of seeing, “Kino Pravda” of Vertov, Metz’s studies about film language concept
are all important for establishing a connection between the reality of daily life and the reality
of cinema.

Realism is also considered as a big deal in literature. In literature, the main representatives of
that approach are Balzac, Stendhal, Flaubert. Naturalism of Emile Zola is more mechanical
and science based approach to realism. Naturalism’s human description does not contain
morale and logic qualities of human and lack of social attitude is criticized by many art
authorities.
Realism is the accurate representation of contemporary world. So that sudden changes in the
society affect the world we are living in and direction of the works about art in the context of
realism. Especially in 60s and 70s the society was being reformed by the movements of
activists and this new environment of freedom caused the studies about cinema to increase.

We also need to think about the social background of the changes affecting the direction of
realism discussions and its projection in cinema… Nietzsche’s and Freud’s opinions triggered
the fall of rational mind of human after WW2. The studies of Freud showing the dark side of
human hiding itself out of the conscious would route the studies in 70s and 80s. In that period
psychoanalytical approaches were used in critics and beyond the reality was investigated and
that reformed the reality concept in cinema.

Arise of existentialism and the beat generation also affected the society. The opposing
movement of beat generation would inspire hippies and they would start a new era full of new
experiences and dreams based on the radical change of the pathetic society of post WW2.

These opposing social movements always affected cinema. “Neo Realismo” in Italy was
affected by the developments in war correspondents’ apparatus. They wanted the show the
purest reality to reflect the sorrow and pain of war. “Cinema Verite” , “fly on the wall”
approach of “Direct Cinema”, New Hollywood aka “Trouble in Wonderland” and third
cinema of Latin that was inspired by neo realismo were all affected by anti-war movements
and realist approaches.

If we return to the recent past, we can observe that some new topics became popular about the
realism and cinema. A popular topic- reflexivity- replaced realism in movies. Woody Allen’s
movies are great examples for that. He is making films and takes place in these films. In
Allen’s films, characters seem like being voiced by Allen’s himself. These movies are self-
reflexive like Wes Craven’s Scream sequel which contains horror films make mentions of
another horror films. Self-reflexivity is more critical and significant to establish awareness
among audiences. Allen’s movie, Zelig (1985, USA) is a significant example for that. It is
also a great example for mockumentary. Mockumentaries are one of the hot topics related to
reality in cinema. They are fake documentaries. Mockumentary concept is very popular
because it triggers the arguements about the borders between the reality and imaginary. There
is another term called “mise en abyme” which refers a piece of art contains some parts in it
pointing entire of the work. Kiss Of The Spider Woman (Hector Babenco, 1985, Brazil) is a
good example for that type of films. In addition to that the confusion between the real and
imaginary world has become a popular concept for cinema. Insignificance (Nicolas Roeg,
1985, USA) is one of the main examples of that concept. In 1980 intertextuality became the
leading factor of discussion of reality in cinema. Postmodernist works depends on
intertextuality also affected that discussions deeply.

In conclusion, arguments about realist effect on cinema are still going on. It is obvious that
scientific, social revolutions affected the perception of mind and build new paths to be
followed by researchers. Some people evaluate realism as the effect of showing the “truth”
and that looks like a political approach. Some of them build technology, psychology, politics
based ideas about the ambiguity of reality and imaginary. Redefining the reality respect to the
conditions of the era routes the discussions of realism. Dynamic recreation of realism
discussions carries on thanks to these dynamic conditions and it is easy to predict that it will
never end.

REFERENCES

[1] Kracauer, S. (1960). Theory of film: the redemption of physical reality. Oxford.

[2] Bazin, André. (1967-71).What is cinema? Vol. 1 & 2 (Hugh Gray, Trans., Ed.). Berkeley:
University of California Press.

[3] Arnheim, R. (1957). Film as art. University of California Press.

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_wall