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Includes bibliographical references. / The Djinn is the final film in the series “Bunnychow Memoirs". This series consists of five feature films, three of which I wrote over the course of my Honours and Masters Degrees in English language and Literature and later, Masters in Film Theory and Practice. Two films in the series, namely “Babelgirl" and "Meatfood" were not written by me, but by Zinaid Meeran, but l shall mention them here so as to give a fuller description of the progression of the series. These films depict South African life within the 'Bunnychow Culture' spanning a period of three decades. The 'Bunnychow World‘ is a world in which traditional notions of identity are subverted and transcended. Race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality - all are turned on their heads in the realm of the Bunnychow. The films depict the experiences of a motley collection of young Muslims in South Africa, ranging from the early eighties to the beginning of the 21st century. Each film can and does stand alone, as a distinct entity, but all are linked by the common themes of the characters' identity struggles with race, gender, sexuality and ethnicity within the context of the massive and powerful entity that is Islam. The series is built on a progression and eventual resolution of the main themes, using as a vehicle the changing political, spiritual and social trends during these three decades, and the psychology of growing up of the characters. "P-I-G" is about a child's desire against politicised religious fanaticism. "The Concubine" handles forbidden teenage sexuality. “Babelgirl" (written by Zinaid Meeran) shows the attempted taming of a child's freedom from ethnicity, and a women's tussle with her own feminism. “Meatfood" (also by Zinaid Meeran) resolves the horror of racist alienation and psychological self destruction. Finally, "The Djinn" looks at the reconciliation of religious and personal identity through a magical spiritual freedom. In the case of "The Djinn" the relationship between a human and a djinn, and between the djinn world and the human world, catapults the thematic struggles of the previous films, into an otherworldly context. This process symbolises the ultimate subversion, and the final resolution of the themes. Moreover the motif of Bonanza Fruiterers, a takeaway specialising in bunnychow, and the brushing up of each of the protagonists with these bunnychows appears in each of the movies. The movies, in other words, are all linked by the same motif, primarily, the urgent, silly, celebrated cultural icon of the Bunnychow. This dish, essential to the South African urban experience, is of course, a half loaf of bread with the insides scooped out and the resulting cavity filled with curry, insanely hot and floating in oil.

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This thesis discusses the gift in terms of presence and interpretation using varied examples of image that form a visual culture. It contextualises the term "giftness" by analysing its use and our socio-cultural understanding of its function as it relates to the gift process. The hermeneutic processes attached to both the gift, and gifting, are multifarious and require examination of moments of instability present in the act of interpretation and meaning. The gift relationship is juxtaposed against the relationship between image and reader/observer to highlight the abstract quality of the gift and its inherent instability that exists within gift interpretation in general. The fundamental structure and unity of the gift, as is based upon relations between subjects, helps to identify and analyse systems of power and subjectivity developed in terms of investment in order to emphasise the complexities that arise through inter-subjective relations, particularly gift exchange, and those between subject and image. Certain theoretical models help to exemplify and illuminate this thesis, predominantly post-structuralist and psychoanalytic theories. The gift’s condition of instability is further examined in terms of discursive formation and function, looking at how the gift is enunciated so that one can recognise a gift and giving, and acknowledge its problematic status. The relationship between subject and image is investigated to see if we are able to read this investment as a gift relationship within the context of giftness, that is when giftness operates as an instable and challenging element to discursive exchange in visual mediums such as film, painting, television, art and photography. An examination of the gift aporia in this thesis is directed towards a subject’s investment in the image. What transpires between subject and image is akin to what circulates between giver and receiver, on the basis of investment. On this basis, the present configuration of giftness is utilised in terms of the image.

With twelve films released over the last thirty years, the Friday the 13th series has proved a popular mainstay of the slasher sub-genre of horror, in spite of negative critical reception and minimal academic engagement. The academic discourses that do address the series often frame their arguments based on socio-political function, socioeconomic platforms, psychoanalytic traditions, and cultural relevance. While there is some work that attempts to understand the generic positioning and function of the Friday the 13th films, little work has engaged with the film texts in order to understand and explain the form and structure of each instalment in the series. This thesis not only aims to explore and describe the aesthetic form of the slasher sub-genre of horror, but also to argue the central significance of perspective on the aesthetic effect of the slasher. Perspective, a term that builds upon theories of point of view and subjectivity, permeates the formal design of the slasher film. Therefore, this relationship will be the driving focus of the analysis undertaken with regards to the Friday the 13th films, which will include chapters focusing on specific uses of the camera, sound, editing, and sequences creating a narrative understanding of preceding films in the series. Following this analysis, the aesthetic development of the Friday the 13th series will be contextualised within contemporary generic trends, demonstrating to what extent this franchise is representative of the slasher, and where it proves anomalous or progressive. This will not only demonstrate the role the Friday the 13th films play within the slasher, but also how the slasher has aesthetically evolved over more than three decades. Ultimately, the relevance of this analysis and formal historicizing will be suggestive of the wider context of film studies and cinema as a whole.

For my project I shall be writing a feature length screenplay in the horror genre. The screenplay will be entitled

This study compares independent films from different countries (Turkey, Denmark, Iran and Spain) in a transnational context. Making use of schizoanalytic concepts, it presents an analysis of filmic space in relation to character construction in the internationally acclaimed contemporary films: Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, 2002), Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, 2002), Two Girls (Kutluğ Ataman, 2005), Allegro (Christoffer Boe, 2005), The Others (Alejandro Amenábar, 2001), Destiny (Zeki Demirkubuz, 2006), Offside (Jafar Panahi, 2006), Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003) and Climates (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2006). I argue that these films are feminist texts, in which becoming-woman of the female character deterritorializes the patriarchal ideal of home(land) as a political statement. In the above listed films filmic space is never configured as a harmonious unity of a righteous woman and a peaceful home. Despite the pervading homelessness, the female characters turn the male dominated public space into a habitable place through the filmic assemblages with space, objects and other characters. I also argue that the homelessness and the problematic connection between the female character and the storyworld posits a metaphor for the disconnection between the auteur-filmmakers and their home(land)s.