“Ek sal jou heeltyd dophou.” (I'll be watching you the whole time) Surveillance and the Male Gaze in Films by Black South African Women

dc.contributor.advisorSmit, Alexia
dc.contributor.authorSmith, Tina-Louise
dc.date.accessioned2022-01-18T09:26:33Z
dc.date.available2022-01-18T09:26:33Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.date.updated2022-01-12T12:10:44Z
dc.description.abstractIn this study I focus on the representation of women in crime films by Black South African women to understand how Black South African women directors represent women onscreen. Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay, ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,' on the male gaze in Classical Hollywood cinema serves as the springboard for a close textual analysis of Jyoti Mistry's Impunity (2015) and Nosipho Dumisa's Nommer 37 (Number 37) (2018). I set out to determine how Mistry and Dumisa use the camera to represent the women protagonists in the two films, and whether they reproduce, transform, or comment on the patriarchal conventions of representation. This study finds that both directors include aspects of unconventional representation in their films, but that overall, Mistry and Dumisa direct viewers to regard the women onscreen through a heterosexual patriarchal male gaze. Strikingly, in both films, this male gaze is one of surveillance. In Nommer 37 the surveillance of the woman includes the threat of punitive sexual violence, and in Impunity the woman performs her femininity for the benefit of the surveilling male gaze. Through the self-conscious application of surveillance in Impunity, Mistry also implicates the spectator in the violence meted out to the woman. I conclude that while both filmmakers comment on the position of women in society, that by and large, they reproduce patriarchal conventions without offering new ways to regard women onscreen.
dc.identifier.apacitationSmith, T. (2021). <i>“Ek sal jou heeltyd dophou.” (I'll be watching you the whole time) Surveillance and the Male Gaze in Films by Black South African Women</i>. (). ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35510en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationSmith, Tina-Louise. <i>"“Ek sal jou heeltyd dophou.” (I'll be watching you the whole time) Surveillance and the Male Gaze in Films by Black South African Women."</i> ., ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35510en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationSmith, T. 2021. “Ek sal jou heeltyd dophou.” (I'll be watching you the whole time) Surveillance and the Male Gaze in Films by Black South African Women. . ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35510en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Master Thesis AU - Smith, Tina-Louise AB - In this study I focus on the representation of women in crime films by Black South African women to understand how Black South African women directors represent women onscreen. Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay, ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,' on the male gaze in Classical Hollywood cinema serves as the springboard for a close textual analysis of Jyoti Mistry's Impunity (2015) and Nosipho Dumisa's Nommer 37 (Number 37) (2018). I set out to determine how Mistry and Dumisa use the camera to represent the women protagonists in the two films, and whether they reproduce, transform, or comment on the patriarchal conventions of representation. This study finds that both directors include aspects of unconventional representation in their films, but that overall, Mistry and Dumisa direct viewers to regard the women onscreen through a heterosexual patriarchal male gaze. Strikingly, in both films, this male gaze is one of surveillance. In Nommer 37 the surveillance of the woman includes the threat of punitive sexual violence, and in Impunity the woman performs her femininity for the benefit of the surveilling male gaze. Through the self-conscious application of surveillance in Impunity, Mistry also implicates the spectator in the violence meted out to the woman. I conclude that while both filmmakers comment on the position of women in society, that by and large, they reproduce patriarchal conventions without offering new ways to regard women onscreen. DA - 2021_ DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Film And Television Studies LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PY - 2021 T1 - “Ek sal jou heeltyd dophou.” (I'll be watching you the whole time) Surveillance and the Male Gaze in Films by Black South African Women TI - “Ek sal jou heeltyd dophou.” (I'll be watching you the whole time) Surveillance and the Male Gaze in Films by Black South African Women UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35510 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/35510
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationSmith T. “Ek sal jou heeltyd dophou.” (I'll be watching you the whole time) Surveillance and the Male Gaze in Films by Black South African Women. []. ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies, 2021 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35510en_ZA
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentCentre for Film and Media Studies
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanities
dc.subjectFilm And Television Studies
dc.title“Ek sal jou heeltyd dophou.” (I'll be watching you the whole time) Surveillance and the Male Gaze in Films by Black South African Women
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMSocSci
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_hum_2021_smith tina louise.pdf
Size:
3.31 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
0 B
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Collections