Existentialism in Zeki Demirkubuz cinema: Traces of Dostoevsky

Existentialism, along with the material spiritual collapse caused by the First World War, emerged as a philosophy intellection with Kierkegaard in the 20th century as the accumulation and transformation of the teachings that started with Socrates, which laid the foundation of the human being forced to live in an unstable, insecure world which is full of dangers like war, disease, demise. Existentialist views converge on the point that human beings are multilayered, cannot be reduced to a single mind, and that "existence precedes essence". Along with economic-social problems and modernization, man has become alienated from himself and society and has become individualized according to his shell. Awareness of the society increased affected by the philosophers and writers presenting the individual's existence problem and interpreting their thoughts with art, transformation of the masses has been achieved. We can see the desperation, depression and struggle of shouting of the people thrown into the world first in Dostoevsky's works. There are many philosophers, writers and directors influenced by Dostoevsky's stance and style. Zeki Demirkubuz, one of the auteur directors who embodies the reflection of this philosophy in Turkish cinema, also mentions in his interviews that he is often influenced by Dostoevsky. In this context, films related to a qualitative research were evaluated with critical discourse analysis, considering purposeful sampling method Dostoevsky'esque attitudes in chronological order and unity, parallel to the flow of Yazgi and Yeralti filmswhere predominantly existentialist themes are presented individually by a detailed analysis and deciphered in existential terms in an interpretivist manner. With this study, for Zeki Demirkubuz Cinema, in the light of philosophy and literature, with existential connotations, a new perspective has been presented and depth is gained to literature. Keywords: Existentialism, Dostoevsky, Zeki Demirkubuz, Literature, Cinematography