Cenk TAN - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Cenk TAN

Journal of American Studies of Turkey, 2025

Masters of the Air (2024) is the third installment in a trilogy of World War II series produced b... more Masters of the Air (2024) is the third installment in a trilogy of World War II series produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Adapted from a historical novel of the same name, the series chronicles the experiences of the "Bloody 100th," a group of American airmen stationed in the UK who conducted bombing missions over Nazi Germany. This paper provides a critical review of Masters of the Air, arguing that the series reinforces themes of American exceptionalism and heroism. Furthermore, it examines the portrayal of women and African Americans, asserting that both groups are underrepresented and depicted in a superficial manner. The review concludes with a comparative analysis of Masters of the Air alongside its predecessors, Band of Brothers and The Pacific, highlighting both the continuities and the distinctions in their narrative focus and thematic exploration of the war.

Selçuk University Journal of Faculty of Letters, 2025

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) offers a visionary insight on various philosophical issues. This art... more 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) offers a visionary insight on various philosophical issues. This article discusses that 2001's central focus fundamentally relies on technological determinism, leading to technological singularity and, eventually, a posthuman existence of the human race. While outlining technological determinism, the article also sheds light on its relationship with associated key concepts such as normative phenomena, permissionless innovation and technocratic governing mentalities. These notions mainly reveal Clarke and Kubrick's views of the universe, which are embedded in the subtext of the novel and the film. While comparing and contrasting the novel and the film, the study puts forward their similarities and differences. The theoretical framework explores technological determinism, singularity and posthumanism with references to various sources and the following section puts the novel/film in spotlight by demonstrating how and to what extent Clarke and Kubrick have manifested their ideas regarding technological determinism and singularity in this complex masterpiece contemplating the author's and director's unique extrapolations of humanity's future. The article concludes that Clarke and Kubrick signal the coming of the posthuman era.

The Incredible Nineteenth Century: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Fairy Tale, 2025

Released in October 2023 on Netflix, Cagan Irmak’s Creature is a miniseries that presents an unus... more Released in October 2023 on Netflix, Cagan Irmak’s Creature is a miniseries that presents an unusual Turkish adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). Set in late-nineteenth-century Istanbul, in the Ottoman Empire, the story follows Ziya, a young medical student driven to push the boundaries of science to revive the dead. After witnessing the death of his professor Ihsan, Ziya becomes obsessed with bringing him back to life. He ultimately succeeds, but not in the way he anticipates. The resurrection of Ihasan leads to the creation of a monster, marking a new and unexpected beginning.

Filmvisio, 2024

Ridley Scott, known for his grandiose cinematic endeavors such as Gladiator (2000) and Kingdom of... more Ridley Scott, known for his grandiose cinematic endeavors such as Gladiator (2000) and Kingdom of Heaven (2005), has built a reputation for producing visually impressive films. Consequently, Napoleon was eagerly
awaited as one of the major box office releases in 2023. With a staggering budget of 200 million dollars, the renowned director Ridley Scott, collaborating with screenwriter David Scarpa, and featuring the acting skills of Joaquin Phoenix alongside Vanessa Kirby, set exceptionally high expectations. This review aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of Scott’s Napoleon using the classical narrative cinema technique by offering both a historical context and a detailed critique of the film’s characterization, acting, screenplay, and historical accuracy, revealing the extent of its fidelity to historical events.

TOBIDER - International Journal of Social Sciences, 2023

Black Mirror is not only among the most popular but also the most debated science fiction product... more Black Mirror is not only among the most popular but also the most debated science fiction productions. The series, which premiered on the British Channel 4 channel in 2011 and later gained popularity worldwide after being acquired by Netflix, thoroughly explores various themes such as technology, crime and punishment, consumption, ethics, and freedom. Amongst these themes, morality has a central position as morality and moral concerns form the major point of criticism in the production. This article analyzes technologies depicted in Black Mirror from a posthuman scope and their moral aspects from the perspective of Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy. In this context, the article refers to Kant’s categorical imperative. In addition, the notion of immortality depicted in the series is explored from the viewpoint of influential philosophers such as Descartes and Hegel and addressed comparatively with the visions of immortality depicted in the series. To that end, the article specifically concentrates on the most striking episodes of the series namely, “San Junipero”, “White Christmas” and “Black Museum”. These episodes demonstrate various different utopian and dystopian visions of the future combined with posthuman technologies. Thus, besides their technological and economic facets, the study exposes their moral aspects and puts forward particular findings derived from these results, hence revealing the moral implications behind posthuman visions within a postmodern context.

Journal of American Studies of Turkey (JAST), Jun 11, 2022

The Man in the High Castle (1962) is one of Philip K. Dick's most acclaimed and striking novels. ... more The Man in the High Castle (1962) is one of Philip K. Dick's most acclaimed and striking novels. The narrative is set in an alternate reality where the Axis powers have won the Second World War and occupied the United States, dividing the country into three regions: the Nazi ruled greater Reich, the Pacific Japanese States and the neutral zone. As a result of this partition, Americans have become foreign in their own country. This article examines the master-slave dialectic and master-slave morality in Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle. The master-slave dialectic is a theory proposed by Hegel in the Phenomenology of Spirit. Hegel outlines a mutual relationship where he assigns specific roles to two parties that engage in a struggle for desire to achieve self-consciousness. In direct connection with the master-slave dialectic is Nietzsche's master-slave morality which was developed upon Hegel's original conception. The thinker describes a binary opposition where particular values have been ascribed to master and slave/servant morality to establish a sustainable and reciprocal relationship. This study aims to analyze Dick's The Man in the High Castle from a philosophical perspective, attempting to expose the master-slave dialectic and morality in the work of fiction and thus revealing the author's covert messages implied in the subtext of the novel, while at the same time comparing and contrasting these with the television adaptation.

Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi (KAD), 2022

Adaptation/film studies receive a growing interest in literature as more scholars take up article... more Adaptation/film studies receive a growing interest in literature as more scholars take up articles to produce authentic research. Due to its interdisciplinary and intertextual nature, adaptation/film studies provide scholars of humanities the means to create preliminary works never published before. This article articulates the importance of adaptation/film studies in literature and calls upon philologists to become actively engaged in the field of adaptation/film studies. Initially, the study defends the view that film is a form of art, no different from works of literature. The article also examines adaptation/film studies with the intermediary function of building bridges between literature and cinema by looking into forerunners and analysing the mutual relationship between these two spheres. The study then scrutinises adaptation/film studies in western academia by exploring the most influential names and tendencies. Finally, the article draws a brief outline of adaptation/film studies in Turkish scholarship and delivers a concise overview of the most productive scholars and their works in this area of research. The research concludes by highlighting the importance of adaptation/film in philology and urging scholars of the humanities to become involved in generating film analyses particularly through the critical lens of literary theory. All in all, the article advocates the necessity and widespread application of film philology in literature.

Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi (HÜEFD), 2022

Ecocritical theory began to be studied in Turkish academia during the late 1990s by pioneer schol... more Ecocritical theory began to be studied in Turkish academia during the late 1990s by pioneer scholars, Ufuk Özdağ and Serpil Oppermann. However, it was after 2000 that ecocritical studies started to gain popularity among Turkish scholars of the humanities. Although nature-oriented research dates back to earlier times in Turkish academia, research on a wide variety of genres and issues within the scope of ecocriticism created change by a re-evaluation of nature and human relationships. This research aims to provide a comprehensive survey of ecocritical studies of the last two decades, and explore Turkish ecocritical scholarship under two major headings: published books/articles, and unpublished dissertations. The ultimate purpose of this research is to introduce Turkish ecocritical studies to international scholars, to determine the least and most scrutinised ecocritical subfields, and to establish a framework for Turkish researchers of ecocritical theory. This article also strives to become a guide for future Turkish scholars of the humanities who are just stepping into ecocritical theory.

Turkish Academic Research Review (TARR), 2022

Gregory David Roberts is a contemporary Australian author who had been involved in several crimin... more Gregory David Roberts is a contemporary Australian author who had been involved in several criminal activities and was therefore convicted to prison sentence earlier in his life. In 2003, he published the semi-autobiographical novel Shantaram largely based on his experiences in the Indian city of Bombay. The novel, which became a best-seller around the globe is an astounding account of a westerner’s spiritual voyage in the outskirts of India. Shantaram deals with a great many themes and issues such as ethics, violence and good vs. evil, but the theme which lies at the core of the narrative is the binary opposition between dualism and materialism. While dualism defends the autonomy of the mind/soul over the body, materialism affirms that all living beings are bound to material laws. This article aims to analyse Roberts’ Shantaram through the binary opposition of dualism and materialism, and specifically from a dualistic perspective. As the founder of modern philosophy and dualism, René Descartes’ theories will be applied to the text as opposed to the contrasting philosophy of materialism. In this respect, dualism is compared and contrasted with materialism and physicalism with reference to several influential thinkers who contributed to this thought from Greek antiquity to modern philosophy such as Aristotle, Plato, Lucretius, Kant and George Berkeley. Thus, a Cartesian analysis is implemented to Shantaram in order to expose the dualism emphasised in the subtext of Roberts’ narrative. All in all, the study concludes that Shantaram exhibits depictions of Cartesian dualism through the protagonist’s experiences in the slums of Bombay and determines that dualism overcomes materialism in Roberts’ story as the mind/soul asserts its autonomy over the body and its physical sphere.

Trakya University Journal of Faculty of Letters (TÜEF), 2022

Oscar Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray has been the subject of analysis from a wide... more Oscar Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray has been the subject of analysis from a wide variety of theoretical and thematic perspectives. This study endeavours to conduct a philosophical interpretation of the renowned Wildean work of fiction. In specific, the article aims to carry out a dialectic reading of The Picture of Dorian Gray by concentrating on the protagonist and the path he takes throughout the narrative. To this end, the novel is discussed through the framework of GWF. Hegel's dialectic triad of the thesis, antithesis and synthesis. The theoretical section of the study focuses on the Hegelian dialectic system and scrutinises the three stages with references to various texts and sources. The second part of the study contemplates to establish a dialectic reading of Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, identifying these three stages within the story and exposing the vital dialectic choices the protagonist makes along his quest to preserve youth and beauty forever. The article concludes that Dorian Gray exposes the dialectic nature of human beings and highlights the significance of making the right choices through a rational and moral state of mind. In particular, it has been concluded that Dorian experiences the thesis and the antithesis but ultimately gets caught up in the antithesis and does not manage to achieve the synthesis stage, causing his early self-destruction.

Journal of Turkish Language and Literature (TUDED), 2021

Adalet Ağaoğlu’s Fikrimin İnce Gülü is one of the most celebrated novels of contemporary Turkish ... more Adalet Ağaoğlu’s Fikrimin İnce Gülü is one of the most celebrated novels of contemporary Turkish literature. Published in 1976 and dealing with a variety of themes, the novel tells the story of Bayram, a Turkish immigrant worker’s journey from the Turkish border gate to his native village. This study aims to analyse Bayram’s narrative under two major headings: inferiority and alienation. Specifically, the article argues that the ultimate cause of Bayram’s actions is the inferiority complex which, combined with his obsessive commodity fetishism, eventually ends up with his total alienation from society. To this end, the research initially scrutinises the concept of inferiority complex through the window of individual psychology and its founder, Alfred Adler. In addition, the study also examines the notion of alienation with references to several influential thinkers. Thus, the article reveals that Bayram has become the victim of his traumatic childhood, youth experiences and social background, which give rise to his chronic feelings of inferiority. These feelings of inferiority in turn are aggravated by the capitalist system of production, eventually leading to the alienation, extreme disillusionment and isolation of Bayram as an individual. This research concludes that Bayram is an unconscious victim of his alienation and finally completes the cycle to a self-conscious state of mind after being left on his own, desperate and void of meaningful purpose or hope.

Uluslararası Toplumsal Bilimler Dergisi (TOBIDER), 2021

James Graham Ballard was a contemporary British author mostly known for his dystopian works deali... more James Graham Ballard was a contemporary British author mostly known for his dystopian works dealing with climatic disasters, uncanny catastrophes and the negative effects of technological modernity. Ballard’s fourth novel, The Crystal World (1966) tells the unusual story of Edward Sanders, a medical doctor treating leprosy patients in Cameroon. Together with his friends, Sanders encounters a strange phenomenon in the African jungle that slowly turns everything into crystal. This study aims to interpret Ballard’s The Crystal World from the window of Aldo Leopold’s land ethic and the notion of anthropocentrism. The theoretical section of the article gives a detailed account of Aldo Leopold’s land ethic referring to various texts and sources. The land ethic proposes a formulation for the preservation of land from the perspective of environmental ethics whereas anthropocentrism strongly insists on the central position of humans in the universe. Specifically, the article argues that through the allegorical narrative, Ballard deconstructs anthropocentric human thought and reveals the immediate necessity for a land ethic by revealing the exploitation of land and the exaltation of human speciesism/chauvinism. To this end, the study examines how Ballard deconstructs anthropocentrism in The Crystal World and implies the necessity for a land ethic, combined with an ecological conscience.

SÖYLEM Filoloji Dergisi, 2021

The Purloined Letter" is the third of the three Dupin stories that Edgar A. Poe wrote and publish... more The Purloined Letter" is the third of the three Dupin stories that Edgar A. Poe wrote and published in 1844. Contrary to being a typical example of detective fiction which usually involves an investigation to find out what is being kept hidden, "The Purloined Letter" is rather concerned with finding out what is being kept in plain sight. Dupin's familiarity with logic, math and physics enables him to look at the matter at hand from an exceptionally distinct perspective. Unlike the chief police officer of the Paris Police Department, Dupin firmly believes that the purloined letter has never been concealed at all. To prove his point, he emphasizes the ability to identify with the opponent and draws an analogy from a game of guessing in which one player is expected to make a correct guess about what the other player is thinking of. Dupin also makes a philosophical point regarding the failure of human mind to notice the obvious, which is a result of its tendency to believe that it can find the obvious in minute details. Dupin also believes that the only way to obtain the letter is to purloin it back from the robber who purloined it. And hence he purloins the letter in almost the same way as it was first purloined. The purloining of the letter is mirrored in the re-purloining of it. In the light of all this, this paper aims to discuss and resolve the moral ambiguity which surrounds Dupin's identification of himself with the robber and his consequent purloining of the letter in exactly the same way as the robber has previously done in order to recover the purloined letter from the hands of the robber.

Uluslararası Dil Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi (UDEKAD), 2021

Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus is one of the most celebrated novels of the 19 th century a... more Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus is one of the most celebrated novels of the 19 th century and of speculative fiction. The novel represents a philosophical journey to the inner depths of the human experience. While the novel focuses on a variety of issues in Frankenstein acts and eventually leading to his catastrophic downfall. In the theoretical framework, the Don Quixote. concept. To this end, the study compares Victor the conclusion that both are equivalent characters whose actions are void of moral concerns. Finally, the article aims to expose that irrationality and immorality are the consequences of quixotic idealism which result in disastrous consequences.

International Journal of Human Studies (IJHS), 2021

Scottish playwright Stef Smith's Human Animals (2016) recounts the fictional story of a governmen... more Scottish playwright Stef Smith's Human Animals (2016) recounts the fictional story of a government exterminating all animals in London with the pragmatic pursuit of building commercial construction sites on their natural habitats. In line with recent trends of thought, dramatic texts are getting more engaged with different natures of the relationship between human animals and non-human animals. In this context, animal studies posit a focal place in the analysis of Smith's contemporary play, Human Animals. Animal studies take into account the interconnections between humans and animals, thereby making it possible to problematise the concepts of anthropocentrism and speciesism in works of literature. This study aims to analyse Stef Smith’s Human Animals as an example by using critical animal studies perspectives with an emphasis on the essentialist human-animal divide. In a more specific context, the article reveals the impact of anthropocentrism through a case study that exemplifies humanity’s vicious plans to eradicate all non-human beings for the sake of profit and personal interest. Stef Smith presents different characters which embody disparate viewpoints and exposes the anthropocentric nature of humanity. Smith’s portrayal of a dystopian setting not only aims at criticising anthropocentric line of thought but also exposes humanity’s tendencies towards speciesism.

Journal of Human and Social Sciences (JOHASS), 2021

James Graham Ballard was a contemporary British novelist who published a wide variety of works ra... more James Graham Ballard was a contemporary British novelist who published a wide variety of works ranging from climate fiction to transgressive fiction. "The Ultimate City" (1976) is one of Ballard's short stories that portrays a dystopian vision where a utopian urban experiment transforms into a catastrophe. The story tells the attempt of the protagonist, Halloway and his company to reanimate a city that was abandoned years ago due to oil depletion. Halloway aims to bring the city back to life through the limited amount of oil left in the city, only to confront chaos and disorder. Using the concepts of Ecotopia and petroculture, this article aims to explore the ways in which oil shapes and destroys modern societies and possible alternatives to this predicament in Ballard's work. To this end, after a theoretical discussion of these concepts, the article examines the ecotopian features in the ecological community in the text and compares it to the consumerist culture of the metropolis; and later addresses the problem of oil that is an essential component of modern urban life. This part of the article reveals the degree of dependence on oil and the transformative power associated with it through examples from the story. The article argues that "The Ultimate City" is a premonition to the reader concerning the current energy politics that may culminate in a total disaster unless necessary steps are taken.

Bilimkurguyu Anlamak, 2021

Bilimkurguyu Anlamak kitabının içinde bilimkurgu türlerini tanıtan ve örneklerinin analizini yapa... more Bilimkurguyu Anlamak kitabının içinde bilimkurgu türlerini tanıtan ve örneklerinin analizini yapan çalışmalarının yanı sıra bilimkurguya farklı kuramsal perspektiflerden okuma önerileri getiren çalışmalara da rastlamak mümkün. Bu okumalardan birini de Cenk Tan, “Tüketicilikten Yamyamlığa Uzanan bir Modernite Eleştirisi: Yeni Dalga BK ve J. G. Ballard’ın Gökdelen Romanı” adlı yazısında sunuyor. Tan, yeni dalga akımını etraflıca ele aldıktan sonra Ballard’ın Gökdelen’ini Nietzsche ve Russell’ın güç/iktidar ve Weber’in statüye ilişkin görüşleri üzerinden sınıfsal çatışma-ötekileştirme dolayımında değerlendiriyor.

ASOS JOURNAL, 2021

Caryl Churchill is one of Britain’s most prominent and talented contemporary playwrights. Since t... more Caryl Churchill is one of Britain’s most prominent and talented contemporary playwrights. Since the 1960s, the author has published thirty plays dealing with a wide variety of subjects from political matters to gender issues and ecological problems. Amongst the many issues and social problems of Churchill’s dramatic oeuvre, natural concerns and environmental catastrophes stand out as the dramatist displays significant awareness towards issues concerning the destruction of nature. To that end, particular themes related to the Anthropocene and Capitalocene come forward in Churchill’s ecological plays. Briefly defined as the era of observable human impact on Earth, the Anthropocene was coined in 2000 and reformulated by scholars various times. The most notable reinterpretation of the Anthropocene resulted in the coining of the Capitalocene which argues that this epoch was largely shaped by the detrimental effects of capitalism on the human society and naturally, on Earth as a whole. This article’s main purpose is to expose specific depictions of the Capitalocene in Churchill’s Not not not not not enough oxygen and Far Away to reveal why and how these depictions are presented in the author’s plays. Therefore, the study demonstrates Churchill’s theatre as a theatre of the Anthropocene and reveals the dramatist’s critique of capitalism in order to raise awareness towards environmental issues in the British society and public opinion.

Ankara University DTCF Journal, 2021

John Christopher's Empty World (1977) is an apocalyptic novel which depicts a fatal pandemic thro... more John Christopher's Empty World (1977) is an apocalyptic novel which depicts a fatal pandemic through the eyes of adolescent children. In specifc, the story is presented through the perspective of fifteen-year-old Neil Miller who loses his family and heads off to the streets of London to seek company in his quest for survival in a desolated city. Neil finally meets Lucy and Billie, two girls his age and the children then decide to move in together. This study aims to analyse Christopher's Empty World from a philosophical, in particular, Nietzschean point of view. Friedrich Nietzsche is a philosopher who had an immense impact in all areas of the social sciences and the humanities. This article thereby discusses three Nietzschean doctrines: the will to power, the eternal recurrence and amor fati. All these three notions are interrelated in Nietzsche's cosmological theory and his metaphysical hypothesis. Thus, the ultimate purpose of this article is to reveal how and to what extent Nietzschean doctrines are manifested in John Christopher's Empty World. These manifestations will be discussed with relevant references to the text in association with the setting and prevalent themes of the novel.

Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, 2021

Todd Phillips’ Joker (2019) is an origin story which not only portrays a psychological drama but ... more Todd Phillips’ Joker (2019) is an origin story which not only portrays a psychological drama but also forms a good example of a detailed character study case. The film embodies two main layers which are psychological and social. Within the context of the psychological layer, the viewers witness the gradual metamorphosis of a mentally ill person into an evil villain. This article aims to analyse Todd Phillips’ Joker from a Jungian and Nietzschean perspective. By interpreting Arthur Fleck’s mental condition through the window of Jungian archetypes, the article reveals that Arthur experiences an intense inner struggle against his shadow, which he ultimately loses. His efforts to resist these attacks using his persona, ego, and self are in vain. To that end, Jung’s views are interconnected with Friedrich Nietzsche’s notion of nihilistic delusions which are referred to with an overview of Nietzsche’s nihilism. In addition, the nihilistic delusions are associated with the cotard syndrome and the notion of depersonalization within the field of psychiatry. The study also exposes the common ground between Nietzsche and Jung by exploring the interactions in specific periods of their lives. Thus, it has been concluded that Arthur’s nihilistic delusions are the ultimate cause of the events leading to the supremacy of the shadow in Joker.