Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Barbara (Motion picture) – Criticism and interpretation'

Often regarded as one of the eminent humanist directors working today, Japanese filmmaker Kore-eda Hirokazu has demonstrated consistent authorial intentions and thematic orientations throughout his filmography despite the variety of styles – from social documentary to period comedy – involved. Through in-depth textual analysis of his narrative strategies and exhaustive research on the English-language literature about the director, this study seeks to shed light on the first seven feature films in his career. Commentaries by Kore-eda on his creative impulse and filmmaking method, collected from both diverse sources of media interviews and insightful analyses published in academic journals, are meticulously examined. By taking a formalistic perspective, this thesis sets out to consolidate existing research in the field, while providing a systematic study that builds upon authoritative investigation. The study begins with an analysis of the filmmaking techniques utilised in Maborosi and Distance, both contemplative narratives that seek to capture the fragmented consciousness of the characters in mourning. With its seemingly naturalistic composition, Maborosi nonetheless presents a partially abstract narrative that is directly reflective of the grieving protagonist’s inner state. Distance, on the contrary, offers hints to the possible cause of the family members’ plans to join a religious cult and commit mass suicides – such as the emotional isolation in an urban society – while providing a final plot twist that confirms the slippery quality of any assumption. Both films imply that full comprehension of one’s family members is impossible. In the following chapter, the coherent authorial concerns in Kore-eda’s fourth to sixth feature – Nobody Knows, Hana and Still Walking – are illustrated along with his fascination with the process of forgetting. Kore-eda, who started out as a socio-documentarist, borrowed a real-life tragedy as the framework for Nobody Knows to construct a subversive take on the traditional perception of the Japanese family, extending a decidedly non-judgemental view on the irresponsible parents and celebrating the autonomy of the new generation. The solace of memory is highlighted in the anti-bushido comedy Hana, which is interpreted as Kore-eda’s protest against tradition and, by extension, the older generation. The director’s recurrent themes of broken promises, failed expectations and forgotten family legacies are highlighted with the slice-of-life domestic drama, Still Walking. The thesis then concludes with an analysis of the fantastic representations of the human condition in After Life and Air Doll, Kore-eda’s only two fantasy films to date. His use of quasi-realist documentary style in After Life facilitates a largely non-religious meditation on the importance of human co-dependence and recollection. The film’s metaphysical setting is compared to the absurd existence pondered in Albert Camus’s “The Myth of Sisyphus”, and its central premise – that the affirmation of one single memory can validate a person’s entire existence – is compared to Friedrich Nietzsche’s thesis of the eternal return. Also adopting the perspective of a non-human protagonist, Air Doll extends Kore-eda’s perception of the depressing prospects of modern life – substantiating the city dwellers’ pervasive sense of emptiness, while constantly looking for the beauty of living.
published_or_final_version
Comparative Literature
Master
Master of Philosophy

Thesis (MDram (Drama))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this thesis is to study the themes of identity and belonging in the films of Mira Nair. Three films form the basis of this study namely Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala and Monsoon Wedding. The approach is thematic, i.e using the film to explore different socio-political themes of identity rather than looking at the methodology she uses as a filmmaker. The analysis of each of the three films looks at a particular form of identity namely national, cultural or personal identity, and makes reference to Nair’s own comments on the films as well as academic articles on the films, her work and issues such as identity, nostalgia, home, belonging, marginalization, immigrants, street children and the like, in order to interrogate Nair’s exploration of the particular ideas within these films. It examines the films as if it were a work of literature, and looks at how it deals with these issues within a filmic context. What symbols does she use to show us we are dealing with cultural identity? Which character is symbolic of the modernist movement? Finally it examines the potential effect of these films on the society from which they derive, and comes to some conclusions about the effect these films may have in challenging, shaping and/or influencing ideas about nostalgia, home, identity, and so on. The discussions of the films show that she has been superbly able to exploit all the advantages of her chosen medium to bring her remarkable visual inventiveness and artistry into play in order to communicate this to an international audience and to make them think about the issues at hand. The filmmaker is finally established not only as simply a creator of film, but ultimately as a thinker and poet.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie tesis is om die temas van identiteit en ‘n gevoel van behoort in die films van Mira Nair te bestudeer. Drie films vorm die basis van die studie naamlik Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala en Monsoon Wedding. Die aanslag is tematies van aard, m.a.w. dit gebruik die films om die verskillende sosio-ekonomise temas van identiteit te identifiseer en ontleed, eerder as om die metodologie van haar as filmmaker te bestudeer. Die analise van elke van die drie films kyk na ‘n spesifieke vorm van identiteit, naamlik nasionale, kulturele of persoonlike identiteit en maak verwysing na kommentaar deur Nair haarself, sowel as akademiese artikels oor die films, haar werk en kwessies van identiteit, nostalgie, die konsep van ‘n tuiste, ‘n gevoel van behoort, marginalisasie, immigrante, straat kinders en dies meer. Die doel is om sodoende Nair se idees oor identiteit binne hierdie films te bevraagteken en ontleed. Die tesis ondersoek die films asof dit ‘n literere werk is, en neem in ag die maniere waarop dit na hierdie kwessies kyk binne ‘n filmiese konteks. Daar word byvoorbeeld gekyk na watter simbole sy gebruik wanneer sy verwys na kulturele identiteit. Watter karakter is die simbool vir die modernistiese beweging, ens. Uitendelik bevraagteken die tesis the potensiële effek van hierdie films op die omgewing en omstandighede waaruit dit ontstaan het, en kom tot sekere gevolgtrekkings met betrekking tot die mate waarin hierdie films kwessies van tuiste, nostalgie, identiteit ens beinvloed en/of vorm en bevraagteken. Die besprekings dui daarop dat sy baie bevoeg is om al die voordele van haar verkose medium tesame met haar indrukwekkende visuele verbeelding te gebruik om aan ‘n internasionale gehoor die kwessies te kommunikeer en hul te dwing om aktief te dink oor die kwessies aan hand. Uiteindelik word die filmmaker Nair nie slegs as ‘n skepper van film beskryf nie, maar ook as ‘n denker en digter.

This thesis is an evaluation of the extent to which theories of focalization are useful for the analysis of point of view in film. In it, I apply the small number of focalization models advanced within film studies to an analysis of the works of an internationally acclaimed Taiwanese director, Edward Yang. I reveal that Yang's films serve well to demonstrate how the conventional typologies of external and internal focalization are convenient labels that mask the considerable degree of ambiguity that is reflected by processes of focalization and narration in many films. Furthermore, I illustrate how an application of the alternative theory of auto-focalization to film analysis can generally free us from the limitations of these typologies, by drawing our attention to the iconic implications of film imagery. Finally, I determine that both models of focalization are largely useful for highlighting the degree to which the functions of character-focalizers and narrators can be indistinguishable, particularly in self-reflexive films.

This study explores how the context of an event can be reconstructed in order to change an event's meaning and how the recontextualization can influence perceptions of a community. The artifact examined is a documentary film produced by Appalshop, Stranger with a Camera directed by Elizabeth Barret.Chapter One includes an introduction to Stranger with a Camera, and work by scholars related to the study of documentary film. The research focus guiding the analysis is an examination of how Barret reconstructs the context of a murder in Jeremiah, Kentucky in order to alter the event's significance and meaning, and how her reconstruction may influence dominant social perceptions of a community.Chapter Two describes the method to be used in the analysis, cluster analysis developed by Kenneth Burke. The process of cluster analysis entails: 1) identifying the key terms in the rhetoric, 2) charting the terms that cluster around the key terms, 3) discovering emergent patterns in the clusters, and 4) naming the motive, or situation, based on the meanings of the key terms.Chapter Three is a cluster analysis of Stranger with a Camera. Key terms found in this analysis are "picture," "camera," "shooting," "media," "poverty," and "social action."Chapter Four contains conclusions pertaining to the analysis of the rhetorical artifact, conclusions for cluster analysis as a rhetorical methodology, and future considerations for academic scholarship.
Department of Communication Studies

Orientador: Claudiney Rodrigues Carrasco
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes
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Resumo: Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo analisar o filme O Fabuloso Destino de Amélie Poulain, sua trilha musical e apontar suas referências estéticas em filmes publicitários, a partir de materiais existentes em DVD, Internet, livros, CD das músicas e partituras. A música do filme é analisada por meio da interpretação dos momentos em que está presente na ação dramática. Os filmes publicitários são divididos em dois grupos: os que apresentam alguma referência estética e os que apresentam referência na trilha musical. A pesquisa é qualitativa, por meio da análise e da interpretação das músicas presentes no filme examinado
Abstract: This research aims to analyze the film Amélie, its soundtrack and its references in advertising films, from existing materials on DVD, Internet, books, CD of soundtrack and scores. Music of the film is analyzed by interpreting the moments that was present in the dramatic action. The commercials are divided into two groups: those who have some aesthetic reference and those who have reference in soundtrack. The research is qualitative, through analysis and interpretation of the songs in the film Amelie. It's a descriptive research
Mestrado
Multimeios
Mestra em Multimeios

This dissertation is an investigation on the realist film theory of Siegfried Kracauer. It was principally conducted through film practice as exemplified by the ten short films that compose the omnibus film project, Life-world Series (dir. Joni Gutierrez, 2017, 118 minutes). To supplement the study's examination of Kracauerian cinematic realism (KCR), film criticism of selected works of Lino Brocka was also accomplished. The methodology involved three components: (1) research-based production of Life-world Series; (2) textual analyses of the said film collection and selected Brocka films; and (3) meta-analysis of the scholarly criticism on the Brocka film. This dissertation is the first to use film-making practice which was a part of the research project and devised to investigate KCR, which avows that the cinematic experience of physical reality as an object of contemplation fosters an intuitive understanding of the Lebenswelt (life-world) and, in turn, brings about the redemptive potential of film vis-à-vis the modern condition. The emergent design of Life-world Series opened the study to a wide range of possibilities that it could not have encountered if it limited itself to applying a particular theory as a framework in doing film criticism of pre-existing works. This project - through both its film practice and criticism components - is an interweaving of key notions from Husserlian phenomenology and the seven KCR tropes identified in the study, namely: (1) the quotidian; (2) the transient; (3) the refuse; (4) the fortuitous; (5) the indeterminate; (6) the flow of life; and (7) the spiritual life itself. The phenomenological engagement of this investigation has provided opportunities for expanding the inventory of KCR tropes, to conceivably include characteristics of the Lebenswelt which form part of the project's overall findings; that is, the life-world as: (1) expansive; (2) multi-layered; (3) flowing; (4) in the process of becoming; (5) resonantly intersubjective; (6) a thing of beauty; (7) relating to essences; (8) cyclical; (9) transcendent; (10) meaning-laden; (11) fragmented; and (12) malleable. The dissertation explicates how its phenomenological approach in inspecting KCR led to the construction of a prospective model of cinematic realism - the integrated quadrant model of Kracauerian cinematic realism (IQMKCR) - and finally, determines the implications and prospects of using film practice as an instrument in interrogating KCR.

In this dissertation, I argue that Douglas Sirk was attempting to dissolve the boundaries of the cinematic medium by assimilating elements of avant-garde art, architecture and design into the colour, composition and settings of many of his most popular studio produced films. While the exaggerated artifice of this director�s formal style has often been remarked upon, it has yet to be interpreted in the light of his detailed cognisance of the major art and architectural movements of the period, which include German Expressionist painting and Machine Age Modernist design. This is a lacuna that my thesis should at least partially fill, since I have shown that Sirk�s highly self conscious visual approach was deeply influenced by the artistic debates that were taking place in Europe during the 1920s and �30s and in America after World War II. To my mind, there is no doubt that this director�s syncretic mise-en-scène was the result of an interdisciplinary, transnational dialogue, and I have sought to illuminate some of the social, philosophical and political meanings that it seems to convey.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2002.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis, an ontology of contemporary cinema is developed using the position assumed by postmodern thinkers (notably Jean Baudrillard) and contemporary filmmakers. Using Baudrillard's perspective it is argued that the cinematic apparatus is an expression of both human curiosity and a desire to place "reality" at a distance. While the spectator seeks involvement with the viewed subject, he or she remains detached from the images which simulate the various "realities" in which he or she becomes "involved" through the act of viewing. The contemporary Western subject is said to crave "meaning" in a universe which is increasingly secular, materialistic, individualistic and, to a certain extent, "virtual". Life is also said to be more ironic, providing illusory concessions such as communication in lieu of interaction, information instead of knowledge, choice in favour of quality, surfaces rather than depth, and images which ultimately extinguish "the real". Moving images may be said to allude to the artificial nature of a "reality" which is itself a human construction. This suggests that the role of the camera is to place both the world and human subjects "at a distance", thereby objectifying (and potentially dehumanising) the subject-objects of the gaze. Many postmodern films are concerned with the functioning of the cinematic apparatus itself, and these films - implicitly and explicitly - deal with the way in which subjectivity is established through the cinematic gaze. "Realism" in the cinema has to a large extent shifted from the documentation of the world, to techniques which problematise the viewer's experience of "reality". Interactivity, faux-verité and the hyperrealism of computer graphic imaging, have contributed to the confusion of various forms of screen "realism", arguably impacting on the viewer's experience of "reality". In another sense, "reality" has been transformed by the blurring of distinctions between high and low cultural paradigms, increasingly evident in work that privileges the showing of "perverse", "profane", "grotesque", "vulgar" and explicit "realities". Boundaries between private and publiC spaces are eroded as the cinematic apparatus takes spectators into increasingly intimate personal spaces, demystifying and popularising the unknown and previously hidden. Considering the influence of commercial and socio-economic factors on the development of contemporary cinema (emphasizing Hollywood), the thesis looks at the aesthetic, thematic and narrative concerns of both mainstream and niche-market films. Focus is given to the socalled postmodern aesthetic which is closely linked to what some critics call recycling (an inability to say anything "new"), some label "empty" (meaningless) and many see as "schizoid" (able to be read in various, often contradictory, ways). The thesis proposes that contemporary (postmodern) cinema is a "pure" form which increasingly sets "reality" at a distance so that it's illusory nature is emphasised. It also demonstrates how contemporary films serve as reflections of a world which is itself nothing but a reflection (artificial construction). Like dreams, fantasies and other "virtual realities", the cinema represents a form of "remembering" which is detached from any particular time or space. In this sense, cinematic moving images enable viewers to engage with aspects of their own humanity which may be quite independent of the "reality" status of the world.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie proefskrif word die uitgangpunte van postmoderne denkers (by uitstek Jean Beaudrillard) en kontemporêre filmmakers benut om 'n ontologie van die kontemporêre film te ontwikkel. Vanuit Beaudrillard se perspektief word geargumenteer dat die filmiese apparatuur 'n uitrukking is van die mens se Inherente nuuskierigheid en die behoefte om "realiteit" op 'n afstand te hou. Alhoewel die kyker streef na betrokkenheid by die subjek wat bekyk word, bly hy of sy altyd afsydig (detached) van die beelde wat die verskeie "werklikhede" simuleer waarby hy of sy in die proses van kyk "betrokke" raak. Daar word beweer dat die hedendaagse Westerse subjek verlang na "betekenis" in 'n heelal wat al meer sekulêr, materialisties, individualisties en, tot 'n sekere mate, "virtueel" word. Die lewe is deurspek met ironie en maak allerlei illusionêre toegewings aan die "werklikheid", byvoorbeeld deur voorkeur te gee aan kommunikasie in plaas van interaksie, inligting in plaas van kennis, keuse in plaas van kwaliteit, oppervlakkighede in plaas van diepgang en beelde wat uiteindelike "die werklikeid" uitwis. Daar kan gesê word dat filmiese beelde (moving images) verwys na die kunsmatige aard van "realiteit", wat op sigself 'n menslike konstruksie is. Hiermee word dus gesuggereer dat dit die funksie van die kamera is om beide die wêreld en menslike subjekte "op 'n afstand" te plaas, en daarmee te objektiviseer (en moontlik te dehumaniseer). Baie postmoderne films hou hulle besig met die manier wat die filmiese apparatuur self funksioneer, en hierdie films ondersoek die wyse waarop subjektiwiteit deur middel van die kamera verkry word. "Realisme" in die film het tot 'n groot mate verskuif van die dokumentasie van die wêreld na tegnieke om die kyker se ervaring van die "werklikheid" te problematiseer. Interaktiwiteit, faux-verité en die hiper-realiteit van rekenaar gegenereerde beelde het bygedra tot die verwarring oor die verskeie vorme van filmiese "realisme", wat mens sou kon argumenteer 'n impak op die kyker se siening van "die werklikheid" het. In 'n ander sin, is "die werklikheid" getransformeer deur paradigma verskuiwings waardeur die onderskeide tussen "hoë" en "lae" kulture vervaag, iets wat al meer gedemonstreer word deur werke wat verkies om die "perverse", "profane", "groteske", "vulgêre", en eksplisiete "realiteite" te wys. Die grense tussen private en publieke ruimtes vervalook waar die filiese apparatuur kykers in al hoe intiemer persoonlike ruimtes inneem, om daardeur dit wat voorheen onbekende en versteek was te demistifiseer en populariseer. Met inagname van die invloed wat die kommersiële en sosio-ekonomiese faktore op die ontwikkelling van die hedendaagse film (veral van Hollywood) het, kyk die proefskrif na die estetiese, tematiese en narratiewe kwessies wat beide hoofstroom en niche-mark films kenmerk. Daar word veral gefokus op die sogenaamde post-moderne estetiek wat gekoppel word aan wat sommige kritici recycling noem (dws die onvermoë om iets nuuts te sê), ander as "leeg" (dws betekenisloos) beskou, en baie ander weer "shizoid" brandmerk (dws dit kan in verskeie, menige kere kontradiktoriese wyses, gelees of verstaan word). Die proefskrif bevind uiteindelik dan dat die kontemporêre (postmoderne) film 'n "suiwer" vorm is wat dit geleidelik regkry om "realiteit" op 'n afstand te hou, om sodoende sy eie illusionêre wese te benadruk. Dit illustreer ook hoe kontemporêre films funksioneer as refleksies van 'n wêreld wat self niks meer is as refleksie (kunsmatige konstruksie) is nie. Nes drome, fantasieë, en ander "virtuele realiteite", verteenwoordig die film 'n tipe "onthou" (remembering) wat onafhanklik is van 'n spesifteke tyd of plek. In hierdie sin help filmiese beelde kykers om hulself te kontfronteer met aspekte van hulle eie menslikheid wat onafhanklik is van hul werklikheidsstatus in die wêreld.

This thesis takes a historical approach to its subject and focuses on Swedish cinema of the 1940s and 1950s. The thesis argues that Swedish cinema experienced a renaissance in the 1940s, lasting approximately from 1940 to 1953. It further suggests that one of the most important filmmakers in this renaissance was Hasse Ekman. By focussing upon Ekman and this renaissance, a much-needed contextualisation of Ingmar Bergman will be achieved. Ingmar Bergman is one of the most well-known and well-researched filmmakers of all time, but there are still gaps in the material surrounding him, and one such gap concerns his cinematic origins. Bergman was a part of the 1940s renaissance, during which Bergman worked with, and was influenced by, other filmmakers and in particular Ekman. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part introduces the relevant literature and discusses ideas of authorship and national cinema. It also provides a historic overview of Swedish society and cinema during the 1940s and 1950s, providing the context needed to better understand the films of Ekman, and Bergman too. This part also looks at the 1930s to illustrate what came before this renaissance, and how the films of the 1940s differed from what had gone before. The second part is a chronological overview of Ekman's career from the late-1930s to his move to Spain in 1964. The last part is a discussion of Ekman's relation to Swedish society and his view of the world, based on close textual readings of his films. The aim of the thesis is to present, for the first time, a coherent and extensive overview of Ekman's career and body of work, while also situating it in the specific context in which it emerged, thereby shedding new light on an important, though neglected, episode in cinema history.

As ownership of Hong Kong changed hands from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China in 1997, citizens and filmmakers of the city became highly aware of the political environment. Film director Wong Kar-Wai creates visually stimulating films that express the anxieties and frustrations of the citizens of Hong Kong during this period. This study provides a political reading of Days of Being Wild (1991), In the Mood for Love (2000), and 2046 (2004) through analyzing various story elements and details within the mise-en-scene. Story elements include setting, dialogue, character relationships, character identities, thematic motifs, musical references, numerology, and genre manipulation. Wong also uses details within the films' mise-en-scene, such as props and color, to express political frustrations. To provide color interpretations, various traditional aesthetic guidelines, such as those prescribed by Taoism, Cantonese and Beijing opera, and feng shui, are used to read the films' negative comments on the handover process and the governments involved. When studied together the three films illustrate how Wong Kar-Wai creates narrative and visual references to the time and atmosphere in which he works, namely pre-and-post handover Hong Kong.

In this thesis the process of adaptation from novel to film is examined. La Bête humaine by Emile Zola and the film version by Jean Renoir provide specific examples. The starting point is the assumption, often made by cinema audiences, that the film should be "faithful" to the novel upon which it is based. A statement made by Renoir regarding his efforts to be true to what he describes as the "spirit of the book" is quoted to illustrate the prevalence of this attitude. Novel and film are then compared in order to test Renoir's claim to fidelity. What is revealed are the differences between the two. Through an examination of character, action, and space some of the reasons for the director's departure from the novel begin to emerge and it becomes increasingly clear that Renoir was obliged to adopt a different approach. Theme and form are then examined and the organic nature of their relationship suggested. Finally, the departure of the film from the novel is traced to the very different ways in which the two media function — linearity in the written medium as opposed to simultaneity in the cinematic medium — and the indelible nature of the association of theme and form is confirmed. In conclusion, the view that the media should and do correspond is found to be mistaken, and Renoir's statement is re-evaluated and assessed as an attempt, by a director sensitive to the public's insistence on fidelity, to disarm criticism.
Arts, Faculty of
French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of
Graduate

The implication of space in film is worth exploring in detail particularly with regard to the films of Alfred Hitchcock, since he is, perhaps more than any other filmmaker, concerned with the dynamics of proximity. Possibly because of his experience as a set designer on Graham Cutt’s silent films Woman to Woman (1922), The White Shadow (1923), The Passionate Adventure (1924), The Blackguard, and The Prude’s Fall (both 1925), Hitchcock very early in his career was faced with the task of expressing himself - without words - through setting, set shape, and room size. In Francois Truffaut's book, Hitchcock, the Master relates an important (since he remembers his) childhood episode in which his father arranged for the chief of police to lock him in a jail cell for five or ten minutes, admonishing that, “This is what we do to naughty boys.” Consequently, we see in Hitchcock’s films (which were all visually designed by him in the storyboard process) a persuasive aura of claustrophobia which involves a certain amount of connotes guilt and fear. As I intend to explain, this claustrophobia has far-reaching implications in five hermeneutic contexts, proving to be an important key to his moral-aesthetic universe.

Advisor: Mary E. Wood. xii, 181 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm. Print copy also available for check out and consultation in the University of Oregon's library under the call number: PS374.S714 H37 2004.
The nineteenth-century American sentimental novel has only in the last twenty years received consideration from the academy as a legitimate literary tradition. During that time feminist scholars have argued that sentimental novels performed important cultural work and represent an important literary tradition. This dissertation contributes to the scholarship by placing the sentimental novel within a larger context of intellectual history as a tradition that draws upon theoretical sources and is a source itself for later cultural developments. In examining a variety of sentimental novels, I establish the moral sense philosophy as the theoretical basis of the sentimental novel's pathetic appeals and its theories of sociability and justice. The dissertation also addresses the aesthetic features of the sentimental novel and demonstrates again the tradition's connection to moral sense philosophy but within the context of the American elocution revolution. I look at natural language theory to render more legible the moments of emotional spectacle that are the signature of sentimental aesthetics. The second half of the dissertation demonstrates a connection between the sentimental novel and silent film. Both mediums rely on a common aesthetic storehouse for signifying emotions. The last two chapters of the dissertation compare silent film performance with emotional displays in the sentimental novel and in elocution and acting manuals. I also demonstrate that the films of D. W. Griffith, especially The Birth of a Nation, draw upon on the larger conventions of the sentimental novel.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the degree of Master of Arts in Dramatic Art. Johannesburg 1992.
It is the intention of this thesis to provide a reasoned analysis of the films of David Lynch, in order to locate Lynch as a Postmodern filmmaker. Although other filmmakers have been seen to include elements of Postmodernism in their work (Tim Burton is an example), few directors have attained Lynch's recent prominence or popularity. His recent television series, Twin Peaks, has created an even larger audience for his filmic style, and the guest directors employed were obviously encouraged to employ a similar technique, in order to create a coherent filmic philosophy. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version]
MT2017

The films of David Lynch are full of ambiguities that derive from his habitual distortion of time, inversion of characters, and creation of ironic, dreamlike worlds that are mired in crisis. While these ambiguities have been explored from numerous angles, scholars have only recently begun to closely examine music's role in Lynch's cinematic imagination. This dissertation explores the relationship between music and fantasy through the lens of Lacanian psychoanalysis where fantasy plays a crucial role in helping psychoanalytical subjects work through their psychical crises. In particular, I look at Blue Velvet (1986), Lost Highway (1996), and Mulholland Drive (2001), showing how Lynch employs music to manage and, in the case of Mulholland Drive, move beyond the particular crises of jouissance experienced by the Characters--and also the viewers. Before engaging in my analysis of Lynch's film music, however, I begin with an extended discussion of what Kevin Korsyn describes as the current crisis of music scholarship, examining how this crisis manifests itself in recent "postmodern" interpretations of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Few works are invested with as much cultural capital as this one and arguably the discourse around it exhibits the crisis more acutely than any other. Korsyn restricts his analysis to the fields of musicology and music theory, but I approach the crisis of music scholarship obliquely, through my Lacanian reading of Lynch's film music. This dissertation, then, has two goals. On one hand it attempts to examine music's role in Lynch's films, and on the other, it explores how Lynch's use of music might aid us in navigating and moving beyond the institutional crises of music scholarship. This Lynchian solution to our crisis provides a glimpse of what might lie beyond postmodernism, a new philosophical movement some are calling the "New Sincerity." This term covers several loosely related cultural or philosophical movements that have followed in the wake of postmodernism, the most notable being what Raoul Eshelman and Judith Butler refer to as "performatism." Finally, I return to Beethoven's Ninth to offer a second, performative reading, demonstrating how Lynch's use of music can be translated into current musical discourse.
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This thesis analyses the films of Pedro Almod{u00F3}var to identify what they express about time, history and memory. It situates Almod{u00F3}var's films in their historical and cultural context in order to detect traces of and breaks with the past within the films. It identifies a trajectory in Almod{u00F3}var's attitude towards the past: from disinterest and disavowal of the relevance of history in his earliest films that encapsulate the spirit of the movida, to a growing preoccupation with time and memory in the films from Live Flesh onwards. The thesis demonstrates that this trajectory reflects broader changes in Spain's attitude to its historical past, from the 'pact of oblivion' in the 1980s that sought to erase memories of the Franco period, to the Historical Memory Law that was enacted in the Spanish Parliament in 2007. Since Almod{u00F3}var's films reflect on the past more often through personal stories than direct reference to historical events, this thesis identifies where these personal stories can be read as allegories or at least allusions to historical circumstances, but also what the films are saying about the human experience oftime. To do this it draws on the work of Paul Ricoeur who, in Time and Narrative, elaborated on fiction's potential for ruminating on lived time. In particular, the thesis shows how in Almod{u00F3}var's recent cinema the past and future coincide with the present through memory and anticipation. Gilles Deleuze's Cinema books and relevant scholarship on Deleuze are also drawn on to argue that Bad Education and Talk to Her incorporate aspects of both the time-and movement-images, employing non-linear narrative structures that foreground time and at first confound understanding, but that ultimately work to restore coherence. Bad Education, in particular, fits within a cycle of films identified by David Martin-Jones: hybrid time-/movement-images that employ variations of non-linearity to produce, comment on or criticise national narratives. The thesis identifies interplay between the agency of characters and coincidence and chance events that undermines simplistic causal relationships in many of Almod{u00F3}var's films, arguing that this suggests a model of agency that underscores the crisis of the movement-image, yet ultimately seeks to retain it. It also demonstrates how repetition, music, colour and visual techniques contribute to the films' explorations of time, history and memory.

This thesis is an in-depth analysis of George Romero's 'Living Dead' tetralogy of films, comprising Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn ofthe-Bead (1978), Day of the Dead(\985) and Land of the Dead (2005), examined through the lensf of contemporary film genre theory. The project focuses specifically on issues of the representation of race, class, culture and violence in the four films, and how these representations, along with the concomitant social critique evident in Romero's work, change in response to the upheavals and developments which have occurred in the American social, cultural and political climate over the past four decades. It also focuses on how Romero's films respond to changes in the horror genre, and how Romero both structures his films on the binary oppositions which are central to the genre and deconstructs these oppositions, and the implications that this deconstruction (most notably that of the figure of the zombie, which occupies a zone of constantly shifting liminality between the human and the monstrous) has in relation to Romero's socio-cultural and political commentary implicit in the films.
Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008

Bollywood cinema continues to evolve. As a result, it has become a transnational/cultural role player for Indian audiences worldwide. There has always been a strong link between Bollywood cinema and Indian society. Over the years, it has contributed to the dialogue on women’s roles and position in Indian society. In the past, Bollywood filmmakers were faithful to representations of women who were bound by patriarchal structures in the sense that they were expected to be loyal to ancient Indian traditions and belief-systems. Based on the increase in Indian migration, contemporary Bollywood filmmakers are now catering to the demands of the Indian diaspora and therefore, a more global market. The impact of transnationalism on the representation of women in many Bollywood films has further added to the creation of open spaces for the Bollywood heroine. In this regard, the films of auteur director Karan Johar are valuable because they provide audiences with material that suggests re-thinking patriarchal structures in a transnational world. This study will examine the representation of women in three selected films of Johar within the framework of feminist theory (Indian context). The impact that transnationalism has had on the Indian diaspora and the manner in which this translates into the narratives and representations of female characters in Bollywood films will be discussed.
Afrikaans & Theory of Literature
D. Litt. et Phil. (Theory of Literature)