Critical realism and socialist realism in cinema: the example of “Yol Ayrımı” movie

Realism in art, when associated with political economy and philosophy, is not a field that has received much academic study. A work of art necessarily reflects a particular ideology or a particular worldview and is therefore political. The motion picture also reflects a particular worldview and mainstream motion pictures are often shaped by the dominant ideology, which is the reality of an idealistic worldview. When the production phase of a movie, the director and the director's worldview, the script, the budget, the advertising relations, in other words the production relations, are evaluated as a whole, it is seen that they are shaped in line with the dominant ideology and the capitalist system. Therefore, production relations have an impact on the reality reflected in a movie. Since mainstream cinema films are made with commercial concerns in mind, films with class representation in mainstream cinema does not contain an alternative political and philosophical critique when the relations of production are taken into account. This study shows that the socialist realist approach to art is integrally linked to philosophy, content and form, political economy and materialist philosophy as a worldview, while the critical realist theory of projection only ensures the reproduction of the existing system and the continuation of the dominant ideology. In this study, first of all, the relationship between artwork and realism will be evaluated and then the relationship between artwork and philosophy will be discussed. In conclusion, the film "Yol Ayrımı" (2017) will be analysed through the representations of realism in art.