The viewer as conscript: dynamic struggles for ideological supremacy in the South African Border War film, 1971-1988

Craig, Dylan

The viewer as conscript: dynamic struggles for ideological supremacy in the South African Border War film, 1971-1988

Thesis / Dissertation

2003

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Historical Studies

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

Fourteen South African films made between 1971 and 1988, and dealing with the Border War, are examined. The focus ofthis examination is on the ways in which films were used to persuade the white public to accept the legitimacy of the Border War. The period under examination is one during which the Apartheid government moved South African society ever closer to what has been termed a 'garrison state'. Rather than following the approach indicated by the notion of 'film as history', the current work attempts to use films as sources of data to explicate the nature of the ideological manipulation at stake in each case. The literature reviewed clarifies the socio-political context around both the Border War and South African Border War film, and justifies the use of these films as sources of data for a historical analysis. A close analysis of the films reveals the appearance, growth in prominence, and disappearance of several critical themes in Border War films during each of the war's main phases (1971-5; 1975-80; 1980-8). Moreover, what is clear from the analysis is the relationship between each film's thematic composition and particular developments in the Border War and/or the South African government's strategies for fighting it, at the time. By subjecting the critical themes identified and the changes in these to further theoretical refinement, three analytic categories are suggested: changes in the structures of power, social transformation, and the government's shifting ideological agenda. These categories allow the dissertation to be concluded with an evaluation of the thesis that locally made films between 1971 and 1988 portray dynamic struggles for control over the ideology that sanctioned the legitimacy of the Border War.