Bozok University Journal of Theology Faculty

Abstract

Cinema is a unique art form that offers a unique narrative language and a multi-layered form of communication. This language is used to convey emotions, thoughts and messages to the audience through visual and auditory signs. Semiotics, inspired by Ferdinand de Saussure's linguistic theories, provides an important method for making sense of cinema. Semiotic analysis helps researchers to go beyond the surface meanings (literal meaning) of a film to reveal its cultural and symbolic contexts (connotations). In this context, Semih Kaplanoğlu’s Buğday (Grain, 2017) stands out as a work that deals with the ecological and existential crises of the modern world within the framework of a religious/mystical narrative. The film depicts humanity’s detachment from nature in an uncertain time of the future and the disasters brought about by this detachment. However, this depiction is not only an environmental criticism but also a story of a religious/spiritual quest and hope for salvation. The black-and-white aesthetic used in the film creates a religious atmosphere as part of the visual narrative, while emphasizing the opposition between nature and man. On a semiotic level, the black-and-white contrast symbolizes the spiritual darkness that humanity has fallen into in modern life and the need for enlightenment, while the wheat grains represent an agricultural product in a literal sense, and the spiritual salvation and unity of human beings in a secondary sense. Methodologically, the semiotic analysis/decoding method used in this study sheds light on the multi-layered symbolic meanings between the themes, characters and locations used in the film Buğday (Grain, 2017). In the film, places such as abandoned nature, magnetic shield and dead lands represent humanity's estrangement from the Creator and thus from its essence, while also pointing to the questioning of a transformation process for spiritual salvation. In this context, the main purpose of the study is to better understand the meanings offered to the audience by the multi-layered narrative structure of the film, which offers the possibility of contemplation on both the ecological and spiritual crisis of modern man through a cinematic language enriched with religious/Sufi symbols, through semiotic analysis. Within the scope of the study, it is concluded that Semih Kaplanoğlu’s film Buğday shares the idea that in today’s world, where humanity is experiencing an ecological and spiritual collapse, the most basic need of the audience is to make a deep questioning about what kind of vital purpose they have in their own lives by emphasizing religious and mystical themes.