The thesis analyses representations of the ‘Rainbow Nation’ and dominant postapartheid themes in South African films between 1987 and 2014. The term South African films or cinema is used to encompass films that are co-produced between South Africa and other nations, as well as films that may find their South African articulation only in content and narrative composition. Drawing on Raymond Williams’ scholarship, the thesis sets out to explore whether a new structure of feeling can be identified in post-apartheid films. The thesis also engages trauma in the post-apartheid films about the ‘Rainbow Nation’. In being able to identify how new South African films show and grapple with post-apartheid identities as ‘acting out’, ‘working through’ and ‘making sense’ of the past, the thesis concludes that post-apartheid films are in some ways critical of the past and in other ways, hopeful for the future. However, the more the country settles into its new national identities, the more variations are present in filmic representations and the more possibilities exist for seeing the complexities of post-apartheid cinema. The thesis is divided into three sections and follows a thematic approach as well as a form of periodisation that has not been used in previous scholarship about South African cinema. Section One considers the moment before the end of apartheid in the films A Dry White Season (Euzhan Palcy, 1989), Cry Freedom (Richard Attenborough, 1987) and Mapantsula (Oliver Schmitz, 1988). Section Two is constituted of two chapters which focus on the representations of the end of apartheid, trauma, guilt and ‘acting out’ seen in the films Red Dust (Tom Hooper, 2004), In My Country (John Boorman, 2004), Forgiveness (Ian Gabriel, 2004), Zulu Love Letter (Ramadan Suleman, 2004), Disgrace (Steve Jacobs, 2008) and Skoonheid (Oliver Hermanus, 2011). Section Three explores the possibility of a new structure of feeling through analysis of the representations of youth identities and coming to terms with the past in Hijack Stories (Oliver Schmitz, 2001), Tsotsi (Gavin Hood, 2005) and Disgrace (Steve Jacobs, 2008). In the final chapter, the films Disgrace (Steve Jacobs, 2008), Fanie Fourie’s Lobola (Henk Pretorius, 2013) and Elelwani (Ntshavheni wa Luruli, 2012) are analysed to show how traditions and rituals are fashioned as important, unexpected vehicles, through which to navigate emergent post-apartheid South Africa and its identities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:693244 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Marco, Derilene |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/81400/ |
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