Formalism concepts in Bliss

After reading the article as well as some of my classmates posts, I would agree that as a whole I felt confused my what Christie was ultimately trying to say about formalism and neo-formalism and a comparison of the two.

However, this past week one of my friends had a party to screen his fathers film. His father is a Turkish filmaker, and we watched his film Bliss which is currently playing at certain theaters in the US. While reading Christie's article I found one concept especially salient after that specific viewing experience. In his section on neo-formalism, he references Bordwell's constructivist theory. In this theory, Bordwell draws on cognitive psychology to suggest that when viewing a film we utilize cognitive schemata to help us understand and process different aspects of the film. We must use this schemata to follow and film and identify basic situations, characters and events. When viewing Bliss, because it is a Turkish film set exclusively in Turkey, I found myself often confused with the plot as well as characters. Due to the fact that Turkish customs and behaviors are not part of my cognitive schema, following the film was much more difficult for me. Luckily, my friend was able to help me along and fill in the missing pieces and knowledge that I did not go to the film screening equipped with.

I am including a screen shot from the film. In this picture we see Cemal about to shoot Mereyem (his cousin) because after being raped, she is considered a shame on her family and must be gotten rid of. Cemal is given the duty of killing Mereyam to cleanse his family of her sin. This is the central story of the movie and however not an American costume, is unfortunately still practiced in certain parts of Turkey. I won't tell you what happens because I highly recommend that you see the movie!