In today's world of communication technology, film and television more
than ever inform and persuade us about our world through a wealth of images.
The purpose of this study is to explore "the various way that film narratives
function to construct the social reality that constitutes the lived world of
social actors" (Mumby, 1993:5). The thesis argues that film narratives and video
productions are historical social/political artifacts incorporating important
social and political issues through the use of ideology, rhetoric and genre in
the "politics of representation."
The study examines a number of theoretical positions proposed by adult
educators in relation to five poststructural perspectives chosen for this
research. The analysis begins with a Lacanian interpretation of subjectivity in
the complexities of female bonding with the Other, then follows with
Foucault's concepts of knowledge and power, Derrida's perspective on
differance, Baudrillard's thesis on "simulacra" and closes with Lyotard's
philosophy on the "postmodern condition." The study argues that objects of
knowledge are locally and historically specific, and that they become available
for human understanding only within certain "language games," "paradigms"
and "discursive formations." Following the lead of these French thinkers, the
study investigates the central role language plays in the process of
socialization while questioning simultaneously, the ideological processes
forming our subjectivities. Also the study challenges the foundational basis for
historical knowledge and the existing state of cultural power, one that
structures identities of Self and Other within societal forms of domination and
exploitation.
The research concludes with reasons why a postmodern position extends
the imaginary spaces for cultural narratives and offers alternative models for
adult education. These positions are "necessary illusions" grounded upon our
understanding of cultural identities, and focus upon a new engagement of
adult education through a "politics of difference." The thesis attempts to help
adult learners comprehend their own cultural situation through an explicit
understanding of how narrative discourses operate within the "politics of
representation" on two levels: one, as a communication phenomenon that
pedagogically and culturally constructs human identities through role-playing,
and two, as a social phenomenon that both reinforces and challenges the
social order.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/6673 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Gazetas, Aristides |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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