Browsing by Author "Botha, Martin P"
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- ItemOpen AccessAbsences, exclusivities and utopias: Afrikaans film as a cinema of political impotence, 1994 - 2014(2016) Broodryk, Chris Willem; Botha, Martin PThis thesis develops a conceptual and theoretical framework within which to position contemporary Afrikaans cinema as a cinema of political impotence. Afrikaans cinema is first located within the tensions of democratic post-transitional South African society and linked to the identity politics of being identified as 'Afrikaner' or 'Afrikaans speaking'. The thesis provides a critical overview of film scholar Thomas Elsaesser's studies of (New) German Cinema and Hollywood, identifying key notions such as double occupancy to inform the study's vocabulary, and discussing how certain cultures have responded to traumatic events in which they were complicit. The thesis then links Elsaesser's studies to Fredric Jameson's views on political cinema and the political failures of postmodernism. This conceptual and theoretical framework identifies and problematises the neoliberal structures that guide much of Afrikaans filmmaking, and offers a historical overview of key moments and figures in South African (primarily Afrikaans) filmmaking in order to demonstrate that there Afrikaans cinema.
- ItemOpen AccessDie ongelooflike avonture van Afrikaanse filmaanpassings: filmic adaptations of Afrikaans literature with specific focus on novels, youth literature and stage plays(2014) Du Plooy, Alta; Botha, Martin PSouth African cinemas, and Afrikaans cinemas in particular, have mostly been studied for its political, representational and socio-political value and its often-problematic furnishing in these categories. This dissertation explores different lenses through which Afrikaans cinemas can be studied. It models itself on Alexie Tcheuyap’s framework in Postnationalist African Cinemas (2011) which directly questions the notion that African cinemas have to be revolutionary, nationalistic, subversive and/or post-colonialist. These demands were clearly set out by FEPACI in the 1960s and many scholars never revised their strategies of scholarship or kept up with the vast political, social and cultural shifts of most of the continent’s cinemas and audiences. Tcheuyap argues for a new way of studying these cinemas that allows for emphases on genre, myth construction, sexuality, dance and the refraction of some cultural practices in the imagination of filmmakers, audiences and the screen (2011). Because this study models itself on new frameworks of investigating African cinemas, it contextualises Afrikaans cinemas within African cinemas. Afrikaans as a language should own its connections of a history of oppression and terrorisation of around 90% of South Africans for a very long time before, during and even after apartheid. It is however imperative that the language’s function, representation and literary and artistic contribution to South African culture is revised and included in studies of African cinemas. The unabashed subversiveness of Afrikaans filmmakers like Jans Rautenbach and Manie van Rensburg during the height of apartheid is often overlooked. Even though scholarship of Afrikaans cinemas is relatively limited, the domain of the discipline is rather large with a history that spans across 83 years. The parameters for this study beacon off one sector namely that of filmic adaptations of Afrikaans literature. Specific focus will be given to adaptations of novels, youth literature and stage plays. Adaptation theory has, like the study of African cinemas, only very recently moved away from the popular essentialist, page- to -screen view of what filmic adaptions should be or do. Kamilla Elliott teases out a complex history and development of scholarship and tendencies in adaptation studies in her book, Rethinking the Novel/Film debate (2003). I unpack Elliott’s tracing of interart wars and interart analogies and concepts of adaptation in chapter two. This proposed framework for adaptation studies is used to map some of the primary texts ’ film aesthetics and strategies of thematic moulding in Roepman (2011) in chapter two. Chapter three explores the special interaction between adaptation and particular narrative component and how the director uses a mixed film aesthetic to move between a character’s interiority and exterior environment in Die Ongelooflike Avonture van Hanna Hoekom (2010) . This chapter also analyses how Afrikaans films have posed challenges to the nuclear family – both Skilpoppe (2004) and Hanna Hoekom feature overt explorations of this theme. A contemporary stage play has never been adapted for Afrikaans film. Chapter four regards two adaptations from stage plays – Moedertjie (1931) and Siener in die Suburbs (1975) to observe how space and genre, with specific reference to melodrama, has entered into and functions in these texts.
- ItemOpen AccessDuiwelsdorp (2015): a Sangoma's story of South Africa(2015) Espost, Carla Inez; Botha, Martin P"I live my life with stories that came before me. I tell stories because of stories that were told before. I wrote a story, a screenplay, called Duiwelsdorp 'Devil Town' because of stories that were told before me, to me and now a story lives within me. I am a storyteller because I am a woman, born from woman, alive through story. I am a woman because I give birth - to story, who actually first gave birth to me…It is in this sense that I then take up my place next to this "new generation of post-apartheid South African filmmakers" (storytellers/historians) and assume the duty of reminding my society "of its near and distant origins, of the experiences that shaped it, of its cultural wellsprings" (Confino, 1997: 1187). I took it upon myself to tell another real story of South Africa, the story of Johannesburg, the story of Duiwelsdorp (2015)… By choosing to tell the story of Jack McKeone and other white outlaw heroes, Duiwelsdorp (2015) challenges the popular notion of criminality and delinquency in South Africa. " - Carla Espost in Duiwelsdorp (2015): A Sangoma's Story of South Africa.
- ItemOpen AccessResponsible filmmaking: ethics and spectatorship through the lens of Michael Haneke(2017) Weys, Daniël Jan; Botha, Martin PMy dissertation uses, as starting point, an interview with Michael Haneke in which the Austrian filmmaker criticises Downfall and Schindler's List for manipulating audiences and for generating entertainment from real-life and unspeakable horrors. He argues that filmmakers have a responsibility to enable audiences to form their own opinion regarding a film and its subject matter. I set forth to engage, theorise and develop Haneke's call for responsibility by asking the following questions as I move chronologically through his films: why is responsible filmmaking important, how does Haneke approach his own filmmaking and how does a responsible approach to filmmaking influence the position of spectators. Firstly, I draw from Stanley Cavell's film theory to read our current experience in a media saturated society, describing the ways in which the media positions and influences the characters' understanding of the world and their relationships with each other in The Seventh Continent, Benny's Video and 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance. Thereafter, I discuss Haneke's use of genre in Funny Games, the long take and continuity editing in Code Unknown, music in The Piano Teacher and sound in Time of the Wolf to analyse Haneke's approach to filmmaking. My readings are underpinned by Cavell's understanding of automatism and the manner in which Haneke uses and reflects upon film's automatisms. Finally, I illustrate Levinas' concept of responsibility for the Other through a reading of Georges and Majid's relationship in Caché, Kelly Oliver's work on witnessing in The White Ribbon and Judith Butler's work on responsibility in Amour in order to demonstrate how Haneke's responsibility ensures the audience's response-ability.
- ItemOpen AccessThe Relevance of the Biopic Krotoa (2017): A Mis-Representation of History?(2021) Sheldon, Amy Gabrielle; Botha, Martin PThis dissertation examines the representation the Khoi woman Krotoa in the film of the same name directed by Roberta Durrant (2017). It draws on scholarship by Pamela Scully (2005) and Julia C. Wells (1997), who argue that Krotoa adapted well to her circumstances, following the arrival of Jan Van Riebeeck at the Cape in 1652. Krotoa used her gender to influence Van Riebeeck's decision-making, regarding trade relations with the Khoi people. This thesis shows these views to be complicated and contested, especially considering evidence of victimisation and sexual assault of indigenous women by colonial authorities – as Pamela Scully (2005) has noted. Yvette Abrahams (1996) also wrote that Krotoa's alcoholism indicated some form of trauma. Simultaneously, indigenous people were also stereotyped based on race. They were deemed immoral and generally inferior to Europeans. These ideologies were perpetuated by European writings on encounters with indigenous people, as scholars like Nicholas Hudson (2004) write. Additionally, indigenous women such as Sarah Baartman, were perceived by Europeans as sexually deviant and hyper-sexual – as written by Zine Magubane (2001). It is for this reason therefore, that issues of identity, sexuality and gender are significant to this study on, Krotoa (2017). Furthermore, in bringing together the narratives of Sarah Baartman and Krotoa, it emphasizes how indigenous women have been marginalised and abused within a colonial society. Critical analysis of the film indicates that history has been distorted by the way Krotoa is represented. This was largely due to the perception that the film is told from the perspective of a ‘white' man, as Rusana Philander (2017) discusses. Moreover, due to the extent to which Durrant's film has been influenced by the past, I argue that Krotoa is mis-represented – both in history and in her representation on-screen.
- ItemOpen AccessWe’ll have a gay ol’ time : transgressive sexuality and sexual taboo in adult television animation(2014) De Beer, Adam; Botha, Martin PThis thesis develops an understanding of animation as transgression based on the work of Christopher Jenks. The research focuses on adult animation, specifically North American primetime television series, as manifestations of a social need to violate and thereby interrogate aspects of contemporary hetero-normative conformity in terms of identity and representation. A thematic analysis of four animated television series, namely Family Guy, Queer Duck, Drawn Together, and Rick & Steve, focuses on the texts themselves and various metatexts that surround these series. The analysis focuses specifically on expressions and manifestations of gay sexuality and sexual taboos and how these are articulated within the animated diegesis. The findings reveal the mutuality between the plasticity of animation, which lends itself to shaping physical representations of reality, and the complex social processes of non-violent cathartic ideological expressions that redefine sociopolitical boundaries. The argument contextualizes the changing face of sexuality and the limits of sexual taboo in terms of current contestations and acceptability and the relationship to animation. Contemporary animation both represents this social performance of transgression and is itself a transgressive product disrupting accepted conventions.