Humanism and Mechanics in Critical Theory: How Alex Murphy Becomes RoboCop? Cover Image

Eleştirel Teori Açısından Hümanizm ve Mekanik: Alex Murphy Nasıl RoboCop Olur?
Humanism and Mechanics in Critical Theory: How Alex Murphy Becomes RoboCop?

Author(s): Deniz Kurtyılmaz
Subject(s): Evaluation research, Film / Cinema / Cinematography
Published by: Serdar Öztürk
Keywords: Humanism; Mechanism; Robocop; Critical Theory;

Summary/Abstract: Adorno and Horkheimer, in their book Dialectic Of Enlightenment, emphasize that the equality of man and nature has been established to form an equality in modern ages. Moreover, mentioned parity is narrowed persistently, so that both sides fit together in precision. While nature is commodificated with instrumental rationality, commodification also causes the human to turn into machine elements involved in production. Thus, from the point of view of existence, there is nothing but a rational mind and a functional hand that makes mass production are back from humankind. It is possible to see these views of two philosophers in Robocop, 4. film of the series, directed by José Padilha in 2014. In the film, it is a thought-provoking detail that only the head and right hand are left behind from police officer Alex Murphy who will transform into a cybernetic organism soon. Our work, aims to analyze the RoboCop in the context of the thoughts of critical theory. The philosophical debates about the transformation of man into a machine by a process and reduction of modern era will be examined by a methonimic film reading.

  • Issue Year: 3/2018
  • Issue No: 6
  • Page Range: 115-134
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: Turkish
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