Dark Cinematography as an Element of Postmodern Consumption: The Postmodern Extensions of the Sociology of Death in the Cinema Industry

Abstract

Changes in the value systems of contemporary societies resulted in new interpretations and the redefinition of the values, norms, and traditions. These changes made various impacts on personal meaningfulness and people became more vulnerable to death after attributions of the meanings to death, as many other things, had been removed from the social domain to the individual domain. In the context of this study, a new term called dark cinematography has been coined. This study aims to understand the motives behind the consumption of the dark products of cinema industry and seeks the postmodern extensions of the sociology of death in the cinema industry. Dark cinematography is defined as the supply and consumption of the movies in the cinema industry in which elements related to real or commodified death, suffering, and macabre events are made visible from an artistic perspective based on a plot and presented for the interests of the (dark) audience. Dark cinematography is a postmodern tool to cope with death and provides individuals a unique chance for the reconceptualization, neutralization, and control of it.