An analysis of acting according to the "nature of acting" model: The example of Robert De Niro

The existence of art continues from the first people to the present day. Early humans had drew pictures on cave walls in order to communicate. In the future, along with the development of humanity, there have been developments in art. It is seen that the importance given to art increased in the Ancient Greek and Roman periods. The art of drama came to the fore especially in the Ancient Greek and Roman periods. Names such as Diderot, Plato and Aristotle had worked on art, theater and acting. Starting from these periods until the First World War, there had an exaggerated and unrealistic understanding of fictional events in theater and acting. Realism movement emerged with the effect of the changing economic and social structure after the First World War. This movement was influential on theater and acting as well as in all other arts. Along with realism, the understanding that the plays shown on the stage should reflect the facts has come to the fore. For this reason, the understanding of acting, which is exaggerated and consisting of imitation, had begun to leave its place to the understanding of realistic acting. The first theoretical study on the art of acting was made by Konstantin Stanislavski, with the idea of realistic acting. Stanislavski's theoretical work later influenced names such as Lee Starsberg and led to the emergence of different acting understandings. Acting is not just an important thing in theatre. Since the beginning of cinema, acting has been a very important factor for cinema. The actor is the most important thing in conveying the feelings and thoughts that are wanted to be given to the audience in the cinema. Especially if the actor is a character actor, this importance increases even more. When looking abroad, it is seen that the analysis of acting has been studied, but the analysis of acting has been limited only to Turkish Cinema and Turkish actors in our country. Therefore, in this thesis, the acting of foreign and character actor who is Robert De Niro will be examined according to the "Nature of Acting" model, which is shaped by Konstantin Stanislavski's "System" and Lee Starsberg's "Method" acting methods. It will be checked whether the five items in this model are included or not in the actor's acting. If these items are included, it is aimed to revealed the role of the actor in ensuring the credibility and reality of the characters he plays. In this thesis, the historical processes of the art of acting will be explained in the first part. In the second part, acting methods in the 20th century will be explained. In the third and the last part, Robert De Niro's acting in eight films, which are the subject of the thesis, will be analyzed through selected scenes according to the "Nature of Acting" model.