PHD Thesis - Arts / Intertextuality is used to engage with the ‘already said’, which according to Umberto Eco is the hallmark of postmodernism. African popular culture in 2005 is frequently created through a dialogue between multiple partners. It is heteroglossic in expression, is capable of withstanding multifocal scrutiny and is fluent in the conventions of the form it chooses. It expresses itself by allusion to the ‘already said’ and through inclusion of increasingly sophisticated popular audiences. Intertextuality is generally used as a smart tool to express and comment upon hidden narratives relating to, for example, African identities, class relations, corruption and the taboo: abuse, incest, Aids, archaic traditional law practices as well as the not-so-hidden topics of necropower, global capitalism and so on. This study looks at the various uses of intertextuality, including the way it is used as a mechanism to access political memory, in the South African youth TV drama Yizo Yizo. It is argued that a text must be read in relation to the dynamic and interaction between the producer of the text, the text and the audiences of the text. To understand what producers bring to the text, one must understand the universe of the producers. In trying to understand why Yizo Yizo appears to depict “violence”, one needs to understand the experiences and ideologies of the producers in the physical space known as South Africa and reproduced as memory in the chronotope occupied by Yizo Yizo. In analysing the term “violence”, it becomes clear the word is inadequate if it is used in the singular only. What is explored here is rather, a hierarchy of violences. Violence is embedded in the very construct of the rainbow nation and returned as the political memory of violence in representation. The pecking order of these violences is identified as political violence, the relations of abuse, sexual violence, violence silence, dialogic violence, violence towards the self, traumatic violence revisited, lifestyle violence, criminal violence and retributive and restorative violence. Yizo Yizo works with the consequences of the apartheid iii past in the present and forces one male character after another to take a stand against the continuing violences of their present. Two characters (Papa Action and Chester) become the archetypes of criminal violence. Another two (Thulani and Gunman) answer reactionary and victimising and criminal violence with violence intended to free those it oppresses. But the proof of the pudding is in the audience tasting. We know from Henry Jenkins that fans rewrite texts in ten different ways—by recontextualisation, expanding the series timeline, refocalisation, moral realignment, genre shifting, cross overs, character dislocation, personalisation, emotional intensification and eroticisation. Using comments by fans, focus group results and media reports, the research looks at the way these rewrites take place in relation to Yizo Yizo. Ultimately it is suggested that the producers of this particular text are able to reach their audiences because they are also fans of movie and TV and of African popular culture. Moreover, they share a country in which a multitude of violences are experienced but invisible, hence the need for the development of a language and aesthetic of violence.

Yizo Yizo, a South African drama series aired in 1999, received extraordinary positive and negative attention for its gritty depictions of township school life. The dissertation explores the relationship between the context, programme/text, the viewers/audiences, the content and the form of Yizo Yizo. Representations of violence and gender relations in Yizo Yizo are the primary concern of the dissertation. Contextual analysis is followed by an outline of the narrative needed to engage viewers' responses. This outline forms the basis for a discussion on representations of violence and gender relations, utilising textual and audience analysis to interrogate the nature of images. Concluding chapters connect issues of representation and reality, completing the critical circle introduced in the opening chapters through an analysis of the programme's title. Yizo Yizo is examined using a cultural studies approach, assessing "the relationship between texts -- representations that produce meanings--- and their contexts" (Tomaselli, 1989:38). The methodology employed to deconstruct representations of violence, gender relations and realism, follows recent work on 'facticity' and essentialism in African-American cultural production (Smith, 1992; Lubiano, 1997). In reference to depictions of violence and gender relations, the dissertation follows the established monographs of the British Broadcasting Standards Council (BSC), the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) of the United Kingdom, and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa (Gunter, 1986, 1987; Gunter & Wober, 1988; Cumberbatch & Howitt, 1989; Glanz 1994, respectively). Utilising textual and reception analysis, the study found Yizo Yizo's use of violence is substantiated through its dramatic intent. However, the drama fell short of exposing the 'myths' of township high schools. Thus, the viewer is left with dominant depictions of evil as responsible for the state of disequilibrium, leaving little room for an interrogation of the 'real' issues at Supatselo High. The series also side steps the historical context that impacts the present conditions of township learning. Moreover, the portrayal of female characters in the series perpetuates dominant patriarchal ideology by regurgitation myths and stereotypes. Research also highlighted the problem of viewing Yizo Yizo in an educational framework. The substantial drop in audience ratings for the final episode, which focused on a school that established or restored the 'culture of learning and teaching', indicates the series fell short of its educative potential. The series does not truly interrogate the socio-economic and political context of education in South Africa. Instead, the 'crisis' in education is paralleled with issues of delinquency rather than socio-economic inequalities of an educational system with a history tainted by the legacy of apartheid. A further finding indicates that due to violent content, language and other issues, the SABC should have scheduled the programme after 9pm, during the watershed period. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 2000.