published_or_final_version / Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

本文是關於泰國導演阿比查邦·魏拉希沙可在2000 年至2010 年間作品的整體性研究，包括電影、短片和錄影裝置等不同形式。我們將討論阿比查邦的現代主義電影風格如何回應當下泰國的社會政治現實和歷史處境，並產生其文化政治效應。同時，我們也試圖借此重申和強調電影的美學研究在把握作品形式與外在歷史社會條件上的融貫性和理論重要性，尤其是在以時間為現代思想和經驗的內在線索這點上。 / 首先我們將阿比查邦置於世界電影史和泰國電影史交匯的座標之下，然後從個三方面考察他如何將泰國的"非同步"、複調節奏的社會現實納入對"非順時性時間"探索（與戰後現代主義電影的譜系一致）的美學風格中。第一個方面，是他在早期作品中關於"講故事"形式的實驗，據此他發展出一種新的敘事性，打破傳統敘事中統一的"敘述時間"，而替代以一種"居中性"的"時差"效應；同時發展出對分離的聲畫關係的各種新嘗試。第二個方面，是他中期作品中對感性經驗的重塑，包括引入異質化多元的時延、非個人知覺和情感模式。第三個方面，是貫穿電影長片和錄影裝置作品的"分叉"結構（或二分結構）。通過這一結構，他引入對時間性三維（過去現在未來）的靜態綜合和重新分配，即，將編年歷史的順時時間內攝於各種元素差異與重複建立起的超歷史（或非歷史）的時間分化；無論是過去還是當下的事件，都被體驗為一種對先在的純粹的事件如同儀式一般的召喚。這正是阿比查邦式的非歷史性的時間觀念和神話式敘述機制。同時，每一個方面都包含了阿比查邦在相應的作品中處理回應的泰國社會現實問題，將在論文中詳細展開。 / This dissertation has three ambitions. The first is to provide an interpretation of the works by Apichatpong Weerasethakul in the 2000s as an auteur study, including feature films, experimental shorts, and video installations, which requires a new vision for film criticism for the compelling mode of filmmaking practice. The second is to discuss the social-political function of the modernist cinema in a contemporary society with specific historical trajectory of modernity, by investigating how Apichatpong’s works relate/respond to Thai historical-social-politic circumstance. The third is to make an argument for the theoretical importance of aesthetics study of cinema in the light of the concern for time that is intrinsic to both thought and being and underlies modern experience. / By locating Apichatpong in the junction of global and local cinema with historical contextualization, this study will unfold around how Apichatpong registers the polyrhythm of the "non-synchronicity" of contemporary Thai reality on his artistic innovative of the non-chronological temporality in three main parts. The first is the "storytelling device" which creates a new narrativity by transforming the "diegetic time" into a pure "time-lag" or "in-between" with an experiment of the disparity of sound and image. The second is a reconfiguration of the sensible, which consists of heterogeneity of durations and impersonal perceptive and affective expression. The third is the "bifurcated structure" as structural composition which sets up an inter-assemblage relation. It redistributes the series of time (past-present-future) in virtual sense and leads toward a kind of dynamic mythology, that the historical event is experienced as ritualistic evocation of a pre-existing event. In so doing, Apichatpong links a supra-historical concept of time with the post-historical situation of our time. Correspondingly, each part thematically covers a set of social-political concerns in contemporary Thailand that Apichatpong tends to respond. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Wang, Yuanyuan. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-164). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Wang, Yuanyuan.

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African Cinema is an entity as diverse as the various countries, languages and cultures on this continent. The entertainment value of Cinema has been more popular than the study of its ideological significance, but nevertheless in a contemporary Africa where politics affect the social, cultural and economical survival of its citizens, Cinema can be used as a valuable asset and a powerful means of communication that can conscientize and educate African audiences. Thomas Hobbes’s leadership model and political theory of sovereignty, though a XVIIth century framework, can theoretically contribute in the analysis of the representation of African leadership styles in Cinema. This article analyzes four fiction films representing four different political leaders in, respectively, South Africa, Uganda, Cameroon and Nigeria. A film content analysis will explore the different representation of leadership styles, the personality of each leader, the power struggles in each society and how this may suggest value judgments about African leadership to the films’ various target audiences.

Why is authoritarian propaganda often uninspiring, and how can states create captivating content that competes in the modern information landscape? This dissertation theorizes that dictators must strike a balance between controlling the creative process of cultural elites to promote a specific ideology and unleashing their creative potential. Overbearing ideological constraints can suppress creativity, thus necessitating powerful incentives to produce engaging propaganda. This research empirically focuses on the resurgence of propaganda films in Chinese cinemas from the mid- to late-2010s, particularly following the 2018 administrative reform when the Central Propaganda Department assumed control of the film industry. This serves as a case study demonstrating how an authoritarian state can make propaganda interesting. Utilizing novel film industry data and qualitative fieldwork, I uncover a state propaganda strategy that effectively shapes popular culture in China. I show that the Chinese government has successfully enlisted the cultural expertise of the private sector to craft entertaining and marketable propaganda through direct mandates and through shaping a market environment favorable to propaganda. Additionally, I conducted an online field experiment that demonstrates that such propagandist entertainment likely sways the majority of viewers' opinions toward the regime. However, it is worth noting that these propaganda movies may backfire among a small portion of the audience — approximately 20% of participants — who already harbor a distaste for propaganda before watching the movie. The production and reception of propagandist entertainment beyond the film industry and outside China are also discussed in this dissertation.

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published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Master / Master of Philosophy

A research report submitted to the faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Wits University, Johannesburg, 2017 / In blackface colonial history, “amusing” white blackface performances that depicted black people as the “natural born fool” were popular with white audiences during a time when whites perceived their racial superiority to be threatened. In Post-1994 South Africa, white supremacy is no longer an uncontested “fact”. As a result, white identities that are premised on “old” legislated notions of racial superiority are made insecure by perceived threats posed against whiteness. The previously disenfranchised and excluded black is now the central focus of South African power and politics and the loss of white centrality creates the “victim” perception that all post-apartheid societal pressures and changes are put on, and against whites. Their power has been “confiscated” and thereby no longer unique to white identity. Blackface is utilised by Leon Schuster in the post-apartheid film, Mama Jack (2005) to reproduce old ideologies of whiteness that remind viewers of its presence, privilege and power. As in the colonial past, it is through the principle white character Jack Theron and his mobilisation of blackface that white supremacy remains intact throughout the film. / XL2018