This dissertation examines the representation the Khoi woman Krotoa in the film of the same name directed by Roberta Durrant (2017). It draws on scholarship by Pamela Scully (2005) and Julia C. Wells (1997), who argue that Krotoa adapted well to her circumstances, following the arrival of Jan Van Riebeeck at the Cape in 1652. Krotoa used her gender to influence Van Riebeeck's decision-making, regarding trade relations with the Khoi people. This thesis shows these views to be complicated and contested, especially considering evidence of victimisation and sexual assault of indigenous women by colonial authorities – as Pamela Scully (2005) has noted. Yvette Abrahams (1996) also wrote that Krotoa's alcoholism indicated some form of trauma. Simultaneously, indigenous people were also stereotyped based on race. They were deemed immoral and generally inferior to Europeans. These ideologies were perpetuated by European writings on encounters with indigenous people, as scholars like Nicholas Hudson (2004) write. Additionally, indigenous women such as Sarah Baartman, were perceived by Europeans as sexually deviant and hyper-sexual – as written by Zine Magubane (2001). It is for this reason therefore, that issues of identity, sexuality and gender are significant to this study on, Krotoa (2017). Furthermore, in bringing together the narratives of Sarah Baartman and Krotoa, it emphasizes how indigenous women have been marginalised and abused within a colonial society. Critical analysis of the film indicates that history has been distorted by the way Krotoa is represented. This was largely due to the perception that the film is told from the perspective of a ‘white' man, as Rusana Philander (2017) discusses. Moreover, due to the extent to which Durrant's film has been influenced by the past, I argue that Krotoa is mis-represented – both in history and in her representation on-screen.

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This thesis explores and examines one text, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975) through the frameworks of three genres with which it engages: musical, science fiction, and horror. Based on a theoretical foundation of Rick Altman’s semantic/syntactic approach to genres and genre films, I consider how Rocky Horror fits into and/or resists inclusion in each genre. As Altman’s dual-focus approach makes possible, the film contains some semantic elements of each genre while overall resisting the syntactic narrative structures and formulas typical of any. However, through combining elements of a musical, science fiction, and horror film into one campy creation, Rocky Horror is able to use the elements associated with each genre toward its own purposes of social discourse. As part musical, part sci-fi, and part horror, it has many avenues through which to criticize the (American) culture of its production and release, including repressive heteropatriarchy, xenophobia, and technological anxiety. As a product of the early 1970s, it is actively engaged with the countercultural ideologies of its time, imagining and offering a view into a world where these real-world social concerns are exaggerated to the point of comedy. Although Rocky Horror ultimately does not fit into any one of the three genres I use as frameworks for analysis, indicating a need for more flexible approaches, its use of them to engage in cultural commentary also shows the importance of film and genre as a medium which responds to and reflects culture.

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<p> This dissertation seeks to create a theory of narrative balance based upon the connection between economics and literary narrative, and to apply that theory to postmodern texts, which confront issues of space, economics, and narrative. I use sources in both postmodern economic and cultural theory, as well as the more modern influences of cognitive science, narratology, and evolutionary psychology. My work will build on the work of several cognitive and evolutionary scholars, including David Herman, Lisa Zunshine, Blakey Vermeule, Nancy Easterlin, and Merlin Donald, but the concept of &ldquo;space&rdquo; creates a gap through which I blend theories of the postmodern with cognitive psychology. I argue that narrative fictions have an &ldquo;economic&rdquo; quality to them and that causality becomes increasingly conflated with what some would call &ldquo;meaning,&rdquo; others, &ldquo;literariness.&rdquo; </p>