Denna uppsats syftar till att studera filmmediets retorik i Kae Tempest musikvideo till låten Europe is Lost. Den retoriska situationen närmas genom att studera hur Tempest använder sig av filmklipp från nyhetsmedia och populärkultur som semiotiska tecken. I detta analyseras även Tempest användning av satir och humor. Resultatet visar att Tempest visuella retorik lägger tyngd vid en känslostyrande argumentationsteknik. Det visar sig även att artisten använder sig av videons strukturella form för att anpassa visuella och verbala semiotiska tecken. För att understryka realismen och stärka ett inbyggt ethos använder Tempest sig av ett dokumentärt filmspråk och ett svartvitt fotografi.

This thesis conducts a comparative and ecocritical examination of Blackfish and Grizzly Man, two nature documentary films dealing with separate cases of human fatalities caused by wild animals. The aim was to show how nature and non-human animals as well as the relationship between humans/civilization and non-human animals/nature are represented in the films. Additionally, the effects of the representations of non-human animals on a viewer are also examined. For examining representations, the main theoretical frameworks used were: Frans De Waal’s understanding of the concepts of animalcentric and anthropocentric anthropomorphism, and Hillevi Ganetz’s understanding and use of the concept of natursyn (english: view on nature), meaning cultural interpretations of nature, which divides into three views: beautiful, sublime and picturesque. For the additional aim, the concepts of trans-species empathy and false-intimacy were used, the former via Alexa Weik von Mossner’s understanding and use, the latter via Derek Bousé’s. Essentially, the related concepts refer to the human ability to engage emotionally with non-human characters.  What the results show is that both Grizzly Man and Blackfish have ambivalent attitudes toward nature. In both Grizzly Man and Blackfish there are signs of different kinds of anthropomorphism. In terms of natursyn, Grizzly Man consists of a picturesque and a sublime view, articulated verbally and visually, whereas Blackfish consists of a beautiful and a picturesque view, articulated verbally, visually and sonically. The thesis also shows that the representations of orcas as human-like and close-ups of orcas with physical injuries in Blackfish have the potential of creating trans-species empathy. In Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog’s indifferent conception of nature, proclaimed through spoken narration as close-ups of a bear face are shown, discourages the potential effects of such imagery, namely false intimacy.

We live fully embedded in Petroculture - in a society shaped by oil and its outcomes, meanwhile the substance itself stays practically invisible to us. This invisibility impedes our ability to rapidly address environmental issues, while narrating us into large networks of unequal power structures. In this study, I emphasize the necessity of making oil part of our visual vocabulary and attempting to pierce its veiling cloak of invisibility through radical subjectivity, I investigate how might we contextualise the human-fossil fuel industry relationship in a way which will challenge oppressive binary structures and instigate action, in relation to climate crisis.  By asking What do I need to see? I advocate for empowering body-centric practice of self-enquiry through visual thinking, using filmmaking as an intervention tool to point fingers back at oil and facilitate reflection upon the structures that sustain its persistence.  The result of this inquiry is “The 5th Element”, a film installation made with a process of visual questioning and  mapping the experience of living in Petroculture.

This thesis offers a feminist perspective on the character development on Daenerys Targaryen in the TV-series Game of Thrones and Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon. It mobilizes Laura Mulvey’s notion of the male gaze, which addresses the objectification of female character in classical Hollywood film, as well as Clarie Johnston’s critical take on the cinematic ideological construction of the image of woman. Another source of inspiration is the so-called Bechdel test, which was initially suggested by graphic novelist Alison Bechdel, but the widely adapted by feminist cinephiles as a useful tool to study the representation of woman in film. Examining the character development of Daenerys and Rhaenyra Targaryen in Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon on their journey towards claiming the Iron Throne, this thesis examines three episodes of Game of Thrones and two episodes of House of the Dragon.  The analysis shows that the male gaze is still present in the control, coercion and disciplining of the series’ female characters. Claire Johnston’s theorizations about the objectification of the female characters are echoed in the representation of two female characters’ struggle to lead a country as a woman. Moreover, not each of the series’ episodes would pass the Bechdel test.

Since the 1990’s the Swedish gender equality work has been characterized by management-inspired models, where New Public Management (NPM) has been particularly influential. An NPM-influenced method for gender equality is called gender mainstreaming – the idea that gender equality should shape all decisions within an organization. This thesis analyzes the Swedish Film Institute’s gender equality reports by highlighting the aspects which the Film Institute believes can measure gender equality and diversity. The analysis looks at these aspects through the lens of organizational theory, with a special focus on NPM and gender mainstreaming. The analysis shows that the Film Institute’s gender equality and diversity goal (as a result of being pursued within the framework of gender mainstreaming) paradoxically is to be interpreted as a method for the goal fulfillment that the Film Institute wants to achieve with the method. The analysis also shows that the work related to gender equality is depoliticized when it takes place within the framework of gender mainstreaming. Thus, gender mainstreaming, rather than benefitting equality and diversity, prioritizes NPM-centered performance management, which inevitably shifts the actual meaning of gender equality and diversity and its perceived relationship to quality – a concept of great importance within the film industry.

Syftet med undersökningen är att se hur filmen The Father (2020) av Florian Zeller gestaltar en subjektiv upplevelse av demenssymtom och ifall de gestaltningsmetoderna kan leda till att åskådarna lättare relaterar till huvudkaraktärernas subjektiva upplevelse. Undersökningen är en fallstudie av scen 2 ur filmen eftersom denna scen visar på störst temporal dissonans mellan story och plot. Scen 2 analyseras kvalitativt baserat på teorier om filmtekniker och koncept som cirkulerar kring ämnena tid och förvirring. Resultatet visar att The Father använder sig av empuzzlement, deceptive continuity, analeps, proleps, repetitiv förekomst, déjà vu, likvärdighet mellan karaktärer, kopian och ihopblandning av personer för att sätta åskådaren i samma situation som huvudkaraktären befinner sig i vilket kan leda till ökad kognitiv empati för huvudkaraktären. Diskussionen föreslår starten för användningen av begreppet “Incertuleps” för obestämda tidshopp i narratologi och diskuterar också hur vidare forskning bör använda sig av att intervjua personer som sett The Father. / This thesis aims to see how the movie The Father (2020) by Florian Zeller visualizes a subjective experience of the symptoms of dementia and if these ways of visualizing it can result in the audience more easily relating to the main character's subjective experience. The method for this study is a case study of scene 2 in the movie since it shows the biggest temporal dissonance between the story and the plot. Scene 2 is analyzed qualitatively based on theories of filmmaking techniques and concepts revolving around time and confusion. The result shows that The Father uses empuzzlement, deceptive continuity, analepsis, prolepsis, repetitive occurrance, déjà vu, equivalence between characters, the copy and the mixing of people to place the audience in the same situation as the main character which then can lead to the audience having more cognitive empathy for the main character. The diskussion proposes the start of using the term “Incertulepsis” for undefinable jumps in time in narration and also discusses how future research should use interviews on people that have watched The Father.

After World War II, Europe has only experienced two wars, in the 1990s when Yugoslavia dissolved and now in 2022 when Russia went to war with Ukraine. Regardless of the outcomes of wars, it is clear that wars continue to recur in a continent that prides itself on its peaceful aspirations. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, the war in Bosnia was, in terms of scale,  the most terrible of all wars in the Balkans. In addition, it was the war that received extensive media coverage. This affordance has not been fully utilized. After the war ended, the Bosnians went a long way in rebuilding their devastated community. Based on a semiotic analysis of media representation of war-torn reality in this community, it was found that community subjectivity built up at a similar rate to the media's representation of their reality. The results show the five most commonly used terms to describe Bosnians in connection with the Bosnian War. These terms are 1. Genocide 2. Crime 3. Tragedy 4. Invaders 5. Victims. And,  results show that realistic depictions of war presented in the media reduce victim identification in war-devastated communities.

In the field of Cinema studies recent and updated studies on Swedish 1930s cinema has been absent. The aim of this thesis is to provide new insights into the period by examining the films starring actor Edvard Persson released between 1930 and 1939. In total the study analyses 17 feature films with Persson in a leading or minor role in how they portray modernity and modernisation. The focus of the research lies on certain aspects of modernity such as machines, borders, class differences, national identity, and the role of women. The goal is to shed new light on Persson’s films in the 1930s and give updated research on a period of Swedish film history that is in need of newer scholarly work.

Uppsatsen beskriver den moderna iranska filmens utveckling med utgångspunkt från några betydande iranska filmer i det iranska samhället. Syftet är att belysa vilka neorealistiska drag som präglar den iranska filmen under olika tidsperioder och vilket inflytande den italienska neorealismen har haft på den iranska filmen från 1960-talet fram till idag. Tre iranska filmer analyseras ur ett neorealistiskt perspektiv samt med utgångspunkt i narrationsteori. Utvecklingen av den digitala tekniken under 2000-talets första decennier lyfts fram som en viktig faktor för unga filmare i dagens Iran liksom betydelsen av iranska filmregissörers internationella framgångar. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att de neorealistiska dragen i iransk film inte är lika framträdande idag som de har varit en gång i tiden. Iransk film har utvecklats i likhet med filmen i övriga världen och har kommit långt från den tid då neorealistisk film spelade en viktig roll i landet.

Following developments in the last decades in the philosophical and theological studies of film, this study investigates film noir from the classic Hollywood era (1940-1959) from this perspective. It presents the key ideas behind the fields of film-philosophy and film-theology. Turning more specifically to film noir, the study addresses themes that come to the fore in these films, focusing especially on the depiction of human existence as characterized by a need for escape, that is at the same time impossible. The set of questions that arises with this starting point is developed through readings of a number of films, most lengthily Laura (directed by Otto Preminger, 1944) and Criss Cross (Robert Siodmak, 1949). It is suggested that film noir in interesting ways problematizes the persistent post-Enlightenment view of the subject as first and foremost rational and autonomous, and further, that film noir can be seen as following the Christian doctrine of original sin in seeing human existence as standing in need of redemption, while holding that it is at best uncertain if such redemption is possible.