Understanding the World as a Limited Whole: Facts and Values in the First Part of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Television Miniseries Dekalog
Deniz TelekThe Dekalog television miniseries shot by Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski for Polish Television takes the form of a loop consisting of the stories of unrelated characters shaped around a theme, as opposed to presenting an episodic structure in which the same characters are carried from one episode to another. The 10 Commandments inspired the miniseries deals with the violation of the boundaries drawn for human life; with each episode addressing one of the 10 Commandments and the difficult situations the characters face within these boundaries in this context. The first episode forms the center of a loop that unfolds throughout the series. The reason for this is faith in God, which is the starting principle of the field of values imposed by all commandments. In this respect, Kieślowski structurally investigates the boundaries between values and facts while dealing with the imposition of a rational point of view in the form of a false God in the opening episode of the series. The aim of this study is to examine the first episode of Dekalog (Dekalog, jeden, 1988) with reference to the relations between facts and values in order to reveal the structural differences between these fields and the director’s approach to these relations. The theoretical basis of the study consists of the ideas present in Ludwig Wittgenstein’s (1961) early work Tractatus Logico- Philosophicus, which examines the structural differences between fields of facts and values through the method of language criticism. Wittgenstein grasped the world as a limited whole and drew sharp boundaries between facts and values based on language in his early period. The study discusses the relations between the facts and values that form the center of the narrative on the basis of language criticism, with the narrative of the first episode of Dekalog serving as canon.
Sınırlı Bütün Olarak Dünya Kavrayışı: Krzysztof Kieślowski’nin Televizyon Dizisi Dekalog’un Birinci Bölümünde Olgular ve Değerler
Deniz TelekPolonyalı yönetmen Krzysztof Kieślowski’nin Polonya televizyonu için çekmiş olduğu Dekalog dizisi, televizyon için üretilmiş filmlerde alışkın olduğumuz aynı karakterlerin bir filmden diğerine taşındığı epizodik bir yapı sunmaktan ziyade birbiriyle ilişkisiz karakterlerin hikâyelerinin bir tema etrafında şekillenmesinden meydana gelen bir döngü biçimindedir. Diziye esin kaynağı olan On Emir, her bir hikâyede On Emir ile insan yaşamı için çizilen sınırların ihlalini ve bu bağlamda bu sınırlar içerisindeki karakterlerin zorlu koşullarını ele alır. Birinci film, tüm dizide ortaya çıkan döngü açısından merkezi bir yer kaplar. Bunun nedeni bütün emirlerin dayattığı ‘değerler’ alanının başlangıç ilkesi olan Tanrı inancıdır. Kieślowski bu bakımdan dizinin başlangıç filminde rasyonel bakış açısının bir sahte Tanrı biçiminde kendini dayatmasını konu edinirken, ‘değerler’ ve ‘olgular’ arasındaki yapısal sınırları soruşturur. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Dekalog-1 (Dekalog, jeden, 1988 filmini olgular ve değerler alanı arasındaki ilişkilerden hareketle incelerken, bu alanlar arasındaki yapısal farklılıkları gün yüzüne çıkarmak ve yönetmenin bu ilişkilere yönelik yaklaşımını ortaya koymaktır. Çalışmanın teorik zeminini olgular ve değerler alanı arasındaki yapısal farklılıkları dil eleştirisi yöntemiyle inceleyen Ludwig Wittgenstein’ın erken dönem eseri Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus’taki düşünceleri oluşturmaktadır. Erken dönemde dünyayı sınırlı bir bütün olarak kavrayan Wittgenstein, olgular ve değerler alanı arasında dil temelli keskin sınırlar çizer. Çalışmada Dekalog-1 filminin anlatısı bir kanon görevi görürken, anlatının merkezini oluşturan olgular ve değerler arasındaki ilişkiler dil eleştirisi temelinde ele alınmaya çalışılacaktır.
The Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski mentions about a story that he saw an elephant in the street when he was five or six years old. He also adds that there were no reason why, in 1946, after the war, an elephant should appear in Poland, where it was hard even to get potatoes. Krzysztof Kieślowski’s elephant story reveals his attitude towards the mystical existence of the inexpressible. The inexpressible reveals itself to a metaphysical subject. In other words, the inexpressible can only be grasped from the point of view of the metaphysical self. The figures of the father and aunt, the protagonist in the first episode of Dekalog (Dekalog, jeden, 1988), present the point of view of two different subjects toward the world. While the father sees the events from the point of view of the empirical self, the aunt approaches the events from the perspective of the metaphysical self. The director’s attitude is actually aimed at recognizing the differences between both points of view because the empirical and metaphysical selves are part of the same world. While some events require the perspective of the empirical self, other events require the perspective of the metaphysical self. For example, the event of death, which forms the basis of the episode, cannot be grasped simply from the point of view of the empirical self. The father realizes the inadequateness of the empirical self’s point of view towards death only when it comes to his own.
The investigation in Episode 1 of Dekalog opens one up to the idea that the subject must grasp the world as a limited whole. Upon doing so, values such as ethics and religion emerge that form the basis of the episode. The empirical self’s understanding of the world is incapable of sensing the transcendent. Life is almost separated from these two by their different perspectives. Only one subject is present, but two points of view occur within this subject. The sharp boundary between facts and values is drawn here. Facts should be conceived as facts; in this respect, they should not try to cross into the realm of values for by its very nature, all such attempts will hit their limit and return. The field of values, on the other hand, should recognize the boundaries drawn from the world of facts. Again, whatever from the field of values in an attempt to enter the field of facts is doomed to return from the borders.
The television miniseries Dekalog, shot by Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski (1988) for Polish Television, forms a loop consisting of the stories of unrelated characters that are shaped around a theme, as opposed presenting an episodic structure in which the same characters one is accustomed to in a television series being present in consecutive episodes. The 10 Commandments, inspired the miniseries, and deals with the violations of the boundaries drawn for human life, with each episode addressing one of the 10 Commandments, and the difficult situations the characters encounter within these boundaries in this context. The first episode forms the center of a loop that unfolds throughout the series. The reason for this is faith in God, which is the starting principle of the field of values imposed by all 10 Commandments. In this respect, Kieślowski, investigates the structurally inviolable boundaries between values and facts while dealing with the imposition of the rational point of view in the form of a false God in the opening episode of the series. The aim of this study is to examine the first episode of Decalog with reference to the relations between facts and values, in order to reveal the structural differences between these fields and the director’s approach to these relations. The theoretical basis of the study consists of the ideas in Ludwig Wittgenstein’s (1921) early work Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, which examines the structural differences between the fields of facts and values through the method of language criticism. Wittgenstein, grasped the world as a limited whole and drew sharp boundaries between facts and values based on language in his early period. The current study discusses the relations between the facts and values that form the center of the narrative on the basis of language criticism, with the narrative of the first episode of the television miniseries Dekalog: One serving as canon.
