Intellectual characters representation in the cinema of Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Before the concept of intellectual, various concepts were mentioned instead. Although the existence of philosophers and intellectuals is mentioned among these concepts, the concept of intellectual gained its modern definition with the French Revolution. The French Revolution was a period in which intellectuals acted together with the people and engaged in a common social movement. In this respect, we can say that the closest meaning of the intellectual to the present day dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. The Enlightenment Period, which is defined as modernization, took place in different periods and by encountering different crises in every society. We can observe that the intellectual and the discussions about him have taken a central role in the history of Turkey. The understanding of modernization, which has been constantly discussed until today and questioned its compatibility with society, the view of the administration and the public towards the intellectual, and different forms of judgment have been represented in both cinema, literature and various mass media. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who has an important place in recent Turkish Cinema, often includes characters that we can define as "intellectual" in his films. Based on the assumption that the artist is not independent of the historical, cultural and social problems of the society he lives in, we can ask how these characters relate to the real conditions of the "intellectual" in Turkey. Although they have a fictional content, films gain meaning by referring to the impressions of reality. In this context, this thesis aims to compare the historical, social and political meanings of the concept of "intellectual" in Turkey and the meanings attributed to it today with the characters in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's cinema. In this context, the way Nuri Bilge Ceylan is positioned as "intellectual" in Turkey will be described by analyzing the way in which the director constructs meaning through the choices of the director within the given socio-cultural repertoire.