Research Article
Year 2026,
Issue: 15, 151 - 172, 23.02.2026
Abstract
Bu çalışma, Kalvinist Protestan etik anlayışı ile kültürel tarihin Amsterdam’ın mimari karakterini nasıl şekillendirdiğini, sinemayı eleştirel bir mercek olarak kullanarak incelemektedir. On yedinci yüzyıla tarihlenen, büyük ve çoğu zaman perdesiz pencereleriyle dikkat çeken kanal evleri, ahlaki ideallerin gündelik mekânlarda görünür hâle geldiği alanlar olarak ele alınmaktadır. Bu mimari özellik, yalnızca estetik bir tercih olarak değildir. Weber’in Protestan Ahlakı ve Kapitalizmin Ruhu çalışmasından hareketle, disiplin, özdenetim ve toplumsal sorumlulukla ilişkili bir pratik olarak yorumlanmaktadır. Çalışma, Paul Verhoeven’ın Business is Business ve Turkish Delight, Dick Maas’ın Amsterdamned, Joram Lürsen’in Public Works ve Robert Jan Westdijk’in Little Sister filmleri üzerinden, pencere, cephe ve iç mekânların görünürlük ile gizlenme arasındaki gerilimi nasıl temsil ettiğini analiz etmektedir. Bu filmler, Amsterdam’u erdem ile aşırılık, gözetim ile mahremiyet arasında salınan bir kent olarak resmeder. Mimarlık tarihi, kültürel analiz ve film çalışmalarını bir araya getiren bu çalışma, kentin kentsel imgelemine yerleşmiş ahlaki ve görsel çelişkileri görünür kılmayı amaçlamaktadır.
Keywords
References
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- Abrahamse, J. E. (2019). Het aanzien van Amsterdam: De stadsuitbreidingen in de zeventiende eeuw. Thoth.
- Akyol, Ö. (2020). Eus. Prometheus.
- Braudel, F. (1979). Civilization and capitalism, 15th-18th century: Vol. 3. The perspective of the world. University of California.
- Buck-Morss, S. (2010). Görmenin diyalektiği, Walter Benjamin ve pasajlar projesi (Trans. F. B. Aydar). Metis.
- Burke, EK (2015). Burke, E. K. (2015). Unsettling space: Trauma and architecture in contemporary art [Doctoral dissertation, University of Tasmania]. Thesis. https://doi.org/10.25959/23239058.v1
- Chlup, R. (2023). Conspiracism and the shadows of transparency. Central European journal for contemporary religion 5 (1). 1-23. 10.14712/25704893.2023.1.
- Cieraad, IG. (2006). Dutch windows: Female virtue and female vice. In I. Cieraad (Ed.), At home: an anthropology of domestic space (pp. 31-52). Syracuse University.
- Condon, D. (2013). Understanding Dutch film culture: A comparative approach. Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, 6, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.6.01
- Couperus, L. (1992). Eline vere. G.A. van Oorschot.
- Cowie, P. (1990). Dutch cinema: An illustrated history. BFI.
- de Jongh, E. (1990). Real Dutch art and not-so-real Dutch art: Some nationalistic views of seventeenth-century Netherlandish painting. Simiolus: Netherlands quarterly for the history of art, 20(2/3), 197-206. https://doi.org/10.2307/3780743
- de Valck, M. (2006). Film festivals: From European geopolitics to global cinephilia. Amsterdam University. https://doi.org/10.5117/9789053561928
- De Vries, J. & van der Woude, A. (1997). The first modern economy: Success, failure, and perseverance of the Dutch economy, 1500-1815. Cambridge University. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511666841
- Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Pantheon.
- Frijhoff, W. T. M. (2004). Calvinism, literacy, and reading culture in the early Modern northern Netherlands: Towards a reassessment. archiv für reformationsgeschichte, 95, 252-265. https://doi.org/10.14315/arg-2004-0111
- Frijhoff, W., & Spies, M. (2004). 1650: Hard-won unity. Royal Van Gorcum.
- Garland, D. (1990). Punishment and modern society: A study in social theory. Oxford University.
- Gül, L. (2021). Ik ga leven. Prometheus.
- Huizinga, J. (1941). Dutch civilization in the seventeenth century, and other essays. Collins.
- Israel, J. I. (1995). The Dutch Republic: Its rise, greatness, and fall, 1477-1806. Oxford University.
- Kostof, S. (1991). The city shaped: Urban patterns and meanings through history. Thames & Hudson.
- Kristeva, J., & Lechte, J. (1982). Approaching abjection. Oxford Literary Review, 5(1/2), 125-149. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43973647
- Lee, Y. (2010). The roles of haptic perception in visual arts (Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Illinois, USA). https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/18352
- Lijphart, A. (2022). The politics of accommodation: Pluralism and democracy in the Netherlands. University of California.
- Lürsen, J. (Director). (2015). Publieke werken [Movie]. KeyFilm; Column Film.
- Maas, D. (Director). (1988). Amsterdamned [Movie]. First Floor Features.
- Mak, G. (2018). Amsterdam: A brief life of the city. Panther.
- Özgen, A. (2024). Screen memories: The audiovisual heritage of Turkish migrant families in the Netherlands. TMG Journal for Media History, 27(1), 1-32. https://tmgonline.nl/articles/10.18146/tmg.871
- Peker, O. (2023). Mahremiyet ve kamusallık kesişiminde bir geçiş: Pencere. Premium Sosyal Bilimler E-Dergisi. 7 (37). pp. 1807-181.
- Pleij, H. (2001). Dreaming of cockaigne: Medieval fantasies of the perfect life. Colombia University.
- Pollmann, J. (2009). The bond of Christian piety: The individual practice of tolerance and intolerance in the Dutch Republic. In R. Po-Chia Hsia & H. Van Nierop (Eds.), Calvinism and religious toleration in the Dutch golden age (pp. 53-71). Cambridge University.
- Roodenburg, H. (2004). Social control viewed from below: New perspectives In H. Roodenburg & P. Spierenburg (Eds.), Social control in Europe 1500-1800 p. 145-158). Ohio State University.
- Sandberg, R. (2018). Reading windows. https://sandberg.nl/media/document/original/thesis_final_corrected_15857395841591193320.pdf
- Schama, S. (1987). The embarrassment of riches: An interpretation of Dutch culture in the Golden Age. Alfred A. Knopf.
- Sennett, R. (2000). Kamusal insanın çöküşü (Çev. S. Durak & A. Yılmaz). Ayrıntı.
- Shorto, R. (2013). Amsterdam: A history of the world’s most liberal city. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
- Sloterdijk, P. (2005). Foam: Spheres III. MIT.
- Spohnholz, J., & Prak, M. (2006). Review of The Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century: The golden age. Renaissance Quarterly, 59(3), 921-923. https://doi.org/10.1353/ren.2008.0435
- Tatlı, M. (2024). A reflection on the interior plan of social housing through Dutch expressionist architecture: “Het Schip” by Michel de Klerk. Digital International Journal of Architecture Art Heritage, 3(2), 1-19.
- Thissen, J. (2019). Faith, fun and fear in the Dutch orthodox protestant milieu: Towards a non-cinema centred approach to cinema history. Participations: Journal of audience & reception studies, 16(2), 500-523.
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre. (2010). Seventeenth-century canal ring area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1349
- Verhoeven, P. (Director). (1971). Wat zien ik [Movie]. Rob Houwer Film & TV.
- Verhoeven, P. (Director). (1973). Turks fruit [Movie]. Verenigde Nederlandsche Film compagnie.
- Wallerstein, I. (1974). The modern world-system I: Capitalist agriculture and the origins of the European world-economy in the sixteenth century. Academic.
- Weber, M. (2002). Protestan ahlakı ve kapitalizmin ruhu (Çev. Z. Aruoba). Hil. (Original work published 1904-1905).
- Westdijk, R. J. (Director). (1995). Zusje [Movie]. All Right Film Productions.
- Yıldırım, A. B. (2012). Eurimages and Turkish cinema: History, identity, culture [Doktora tezi, University of Amsterdam]. UvA-DARE. https://dare.uva.nl
Year 2026,
Issue: 15, 151 - 172, 23.02.2026
Abstract
This study explores how Calvinist Protestant ethics and cultural history have shaped Amsterdam’s architectural character, using cinema as a critical lens. The city’s seventeenth-century canal houses, with their large, often uncurtained windows, are approached as everyday spaces where moral ideals become visible. Rather than treating this architectural feature as a stylistic choice, the article draws on Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism to interpret transparency as a sign of discipline, self control, and social accountability. Through close readings of films such as Paul Verhoeven’s Business is Business and Turkish Delight, Dick Maas’ Amsterdamned, Joram Lürsen’s Public Works, and Robert Jan Westdijk’s Little Sister, the study examines how windows, façades, and interiors function as metaphors of visibility and concealment. These films reveal Amsterdam as a city suspended between virtue and excess, surveillance and intimacy. Combining architectural history, cultural analysis, and film studies, the article highlights the moral and visual tensions embedded in Amsterdam’s urban imagination.
Keywords
References
- Abrahamse, J. E. (2010). De grote uitleg van Amsterdam: Stadsontwikkeling in de zeventiende eeuw [Doctoral dissertation, University of Amsterdam]. UvA-DARE. https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/4296848/71913_thesis_.pdf
- Abrahamse, J. E. (2019). Het aanzien van Amsterdam: De stadsuitbreidingen in de zeventiende eeuw. Thoth.
- Akyol, Ö. (2020). Eus. Prometheus.
- Braudel, F. (1979). Civilization and capitalism, 15th-18th century: Vol. 3. The perspective of the world. University of California.
- Buck-Morss, S. (2010). Görmenin diyalektiği, Walter Benjamin ve pasajlar projesi (Trans. F. B. Aydar). Metis.
- Burke, EK (2015). Burke, E. K. (2015). Unsettling space: Trauma and architecture in contemporary art [Doctoral dissertation, University of Tasmania]. Thesis. https://doi.org/10.25959/23239058.v1
- Chlup, R. (2023). Conspiracism and the shadows of transparency. Central European journal for contemporary religion 5 (1). 1-23. 10.14712/25704893.2023.1.
- Cieraad, IG. (2006). Dutch windows: Female virtue and female vice. In I. Cieraad (Ed.), At home: an anthropology of domestic space (pp. 31-52). Syracuse University.
- Condon, D. (2013). Understanding Dutch film culture: A comparative approach. Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, 6, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.6.01
- Couperus, L. (1992). Eline vere. G.A. van Oorschot.
- Cowie, P. (1990). Dutch cinema: An illustrated history. BFI.
- de Jongh, E. (1990). Real Dutch art and not-so-real Dutch art: Some nationalistic views of seventeenth-century Netherlandish painting. Simiolus: Netherlands quarterly for the history of art, 20(2/3), 197-206. https://doi.org/10.2307/3780743
- de Valck, M. (2006). Film festivals: From European geopolitics to global cinephilia. Amsterdam University. https://doi.org/10.5117/9789053561928
- De Vries, J. & van der Woude, A. (1997). The first modern economy: Success, failure, and perseverance of the Dutch economy, 1500-1815. Cambridge University. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511666841
- Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Pantheon.
- Frijhoff, W. T. M. (2004). Calvinism, literacy, and reading culture in the early Modern northern Netherlands: Towards a reassessment. archiv für reformationsgeschichte, 95, 252-265. https://doi.org/10.14315/arg-2004-0111
- Frijhoff, W., & Spies, M. (2004). 1650: Hard-won unity. Royal Van Gorcum.
- Garland, D. (1990). Punishment and modern society: A study in social theory. Oxford University.
- Gül, L. (2021). Ik ga leven. Prometheus.
- Huizinga, J. (1941). Dutch civilization in the seventeenth century, and other essays. Collins.
- Israel, J. I. (1995). The Dutch Republic: Its rise, greatness, and fall, 1477-1806. Oxford University.
- Kostof, S. (1991). The city shaped: Urban patterns and meanings through history. Thames & Hudson.
- Kristeva, J., & Lechte, J. (1982). Approaching abjection. Oxford Literary Review, 5(1/2), 125-149. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43973647
- Lee, Y. (2010). The roles of haptic perception in visual arts (Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Illinois, USA). https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/18352
- Lijphart, A. (2022). The politics of accommodation: Pluralism and democracy in the Netherlands. University of California.
- Lürsen, J. (Director). (2015). Publieke werken [Movie]. KeyFilm; Column Film.
- Maas, D. (Director). (1988). Amsterdamned [Movie]. First Floor Features.
- Mak, G. (2018). Amsterdam: A brief life of the city. Panther.
- Özgen, A. (2024). Screen memories: The audiovisual heritage of Turkish migrant families in the Netherlands. TMG Journal for Media History, 27(1), 1-32. https://tmgonline.nl/articles/10.18146/tmg.871
- Peker, O. (2023). Mahremiyet ve kamusallık kesişiminde bir geçiş: Pencere. Premium Sosyal Bilimler E-Dergisi. 7 (37). pp. 1807-181.
- Pleij, H. (2001). Dreaming of cockaigne: Medieval fantasies of the perfect life. Colombia University.
- Pollmann, J. (2009). The bond of Christian piety: The individual practice of tolerance and intolerance in the Dutch Republic. In R. Po-Chia Hsia & H. Van Nierop (Eds.), Calvinism and religious toleration in the Dutch golden age (pp. 53-71). Cambridge University.
- Roodenburg, H. (2004). Social control viewed from below: New perspectives In H. Roodenburg & P. Spierenburg (Eds.), Social control in Europe 1500-1800 p. 145-158). Ohio State University.
- Sandberg, R. (2018). Reading windows. https://sandberg.nl/media/document/original/thesis_final_corrected_15857395841591193320.pdf
- Schama, S. (1987). The embarrassment of riches: An interpretation of Dutch culture in the Golden Age. Alfred A. Knopf.
- Sennett, R. (2000). Kamusal insanın çöküşü (Çev. S. Durak & A. Yılmaz). Ayrıntı.
- Shorto, R. (2013). Amsterdam: A history of the world’s most liberal city. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
- Sloterdijk, P. (2005). Foam: Spheres III. MIT.
- Spohnholz, J., & Prak, M. (2006). Review of The Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century: The golden age. Renaissance Quarterly, 59(3), 921-923. https://doi.org/10.1353/ren.2008.0435
- Tatlı, M. (2024). A reflection on the interior plan of social housing through Dutch expressionist architecture: “Het Schip” by Michel de Klerk. Digital International Journal of Architecture Art Heritage, 3(2), 1-19.
- Thissen, J. (2019). Faith, fun and fear in the Dutch orthodox protestant milieu: Towards a non-cinema centred approach to cinema history. Participations: Journal of audience & reception studies, 16(2), 500-523.
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre. (2010). Seventeenth-century canal ring area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1349
- Verhoeven, P. (Director). (1971). Wat zien ik [Movie]. Rob Houwer Film & TV.
- Verhoeven, P. (Director). (1973). Turks fruit [Movie]. Verenigde Nederlandsche Film compagnie.
- Wallerstein, I. (1974). The modern world-system I: Capitalist agriculture and the origins of the European world-economy in the sixteenth century. Academic.
- Weber, M. (2002). Protestan ahlakı ve kapitalizmin ruhu (Çev. Z. Aruoba). Hil. (Original work published 1904-1905).
- Westdijk, R. J. (Director). (1995). Zusje [Movie]. All Right Film Productions.
- Yıldırım, A. B. (2012). Eurimages and Turkish cinema: History, identity, culture [Doktora tezi, University of Amsterdam]. UvA-DARE. https://dare.uva.nl
There are 48 citations in total.
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | Cinema and Aesthetics, Cinema Studies (Other) |
| Journal Section | Research Article |
| Authors | |
| Submission Date | January 7, 2026 |
| Acceptance Date | February 21, 2026 |
| Publication Date | February 23, 2026 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.46372/arts.1858261 |
| IZ | https://izlik.org/JA39NR23AW |
| Published in Issue | Year 2026 Issue: 15 |
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