The Tides Between Chaos and Cosmos

An Evaluation of Immigrant Lives in Purgatory with Considering the Films “The Square” and “Capernaum

Abstract

During this study, the films Capernaum (2018) directed by Nadine Labaki and The Square (2017) directed by Ruben Östlund have been discussed around the theme of migration. The global inequalities that accelerate migration and the structural nature of the problem have been approached metaphorically with the concepts of chaos and cosmos from ancient Greek philosophy. Therefore, the movie "Capernaum", which illustrates daily life in poverty and deprivation, considered as the source of human movement, and the movie "The Square", which depicts the sheltered wealthy bourgeois lives that immigrants want to achieve, are selected. In both cinema examples, the directors' approach to the migration theme and the depiction of immigrants in their films were analyzed. Labaki's Capernaum takes place in Lebanon in an environment of chaos that brings Syrian refugee child Zain and Ethiopian Rahil characters together. With this chaotic daily life image, the Chaos aspect of structural inequality in which immigrant subjects are transformed into commodities with exchange value is discussed. Furthermore, with Östlund's movie "The Square" representing the safe zone, immigrants are evaluated within the framework of cosmos, which is tried to be described by the representation of welfare societies with definite borders and not including foreigners.