CINEJ Cinema Journal
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Bollywood in the Hollywood Era: Narratives of Ultra-nationalism, Terrorism and Violence
Get PDFThe study examines how some renowned Hollywood and Bollywood movies deal with geopolitical representations of empire and regional politics through the construction of discourses centered on the building of “empire” and “nation”. These movies reflect how government machineries evaluate the political situation and strategic policies of the country in managing geopolitical environments through the construction of security narratives, political rhetoric and geopolitical discourses. The narratives of specific Hollywood movies tend to explain contemporary geopolitics with an emphasis on America’s military power, strategy and world leadership while the genre of Bollywood movies reconnects the ideology of division through the establishment of geographies of ‘us’ and ‘them’ setting aside the so-called “secular face” of the state
Samsara documentary: narrative and discourse analysis and a possible interpretation
Get PDFThis article aims to present an analysis of Samsara\u27s documentaryproduced by Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson. This analysis was based using aspects of discourse analysis and the concepts about time and narrative elaborated by the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur. From the narrative construction of the film I was able to establish a possible reading through the assembling of a hypothetical narrative chain of the scenes and the search of a narrator, which is hidden in the film. Through the analysis I was able to understand how the producers intended to demonstrate contradictory aspects of human existence and its relationship with the environment. Following the story I was able to propose insights that helped to understand the purpose of the directors for a film without speeches
Reclaiming Subjectivities: A Psychoanalytic-Feminist Perspective on Item Songs in Contemporary Indian Cinema
Get PDFItem Songs have recently become established as new genre of songs in the mainstream Indian Cinema, although they have remained a part of Bollywood movies since at least the 1970s. Such songs, despite their widespread appeal to masses, have often been panned by Film critics (particularly from the Radical Feminist School) for their erotic dances, and an overly glamorized and sexualized depiction of half-nude female bodies. Based upon the textual analysis of two popular item songs in recent Indian cinema, Sheila ki Jawani from Tees Maar Khan (2010) and Munni Badnam Hui from Dabangg (2010), this paper seeks to problematize such readings which focus exclusively on the issue of the objectification of women through the concept of the male gaze. Drawing upon more recent studies in Psychoanalytic Feminist Scholarship, the paper departs from this conventional understanding. It argues that such item songs can also be interpreted as a means of liberation for women, and as devices for reclaiming the narrative on female sexuality, and a woman’s right to her body. More broadly, using Judith Butler’s concept of Gender Performativity in the Feminist Phenomenological tradition, the paper argues that items songs can be construed as performative acts that subvert the male gaze and viewed as constitutive of new feminine subjectivities in the contemporary Indian society
Inner and deeper: Motifs of fiction in Werner Herzog\u27s films
Get PDFThe emphasis on the mix of facts and inventions has prevailed in the studies about Bavarian director Werner Herzog’s treatment of fiction, leading to the same result again and again: for Herzog, poetic truth is more important than factual truth. But how can we go beyond this conclusion? This paper will try to open an alternative path of analysis more adequate to his philosophy of filmmaking, one that works through the detection of visual and narrative motifs in his films, thus searching the impact of Herzog’s idea of fiction into his poetics
Star Wars: The Force Awakens [the Western Pleasure Principle]
Get PDFIt is difficult to identify the contradictions that serve as the foundation for value propositions in the cultural branding model. To address this, I propose the use of psychoanalysissto analyze market- and cultural-level collectives. To demonstrate, I analyze a recent installment in the popular film franchise Star Wars in order to demonstrate how extant product preferences can be used as subjects of analysis much like dream images in traditional psychoanalysis. I find that the western market which enjoys the films likely does so due to a defense mechanism known as inversion. On the market level, this offers opportunities for identity-related branding. Implications for the cultural branding model and commercial mythologizing are discussed
Editorial
Get PDFVolume 7.2 (2019) includes six articles by Lauren Rohrs, Iqbal Shailo, Alexander S. Rose, Syed Zulkifil Haider Shah, Elijah Cory, Chantal Poch, and Ricardo Henrique Almeida Dias; and three book reviews by Engin Akdas, Joshua Louis Moss, and Diksha Mittal.
Women Trauma and Stereotype Tradition in Tunde Kelani’s Film, Thunderbolt
Get PDFStereotype tradition and gender injustice constitute the trauma that majority of women face in the marital relationship in Yoruba cultural setting. These issues was explore in Tunde Kelani’s film, Thunderbolt (Magun). Employing the narrative content analysis technique the film reveals various issues relating to women trauma in Yoruba stereotype tradition which empowers men against women. Suspicion, cultural chauvinism, betrayal, ambition, poor communication, lack of trust, wrong accusation and dominance constitute conflicts between couples in the film. This shows that the issue of conflict and gender injustice against women is a common traits in Yoruba cultural setting. The film is a lesson on many unresolved conflicts in marriages relationships while proposing trust and open communication which will improve and contribute to positive conjugal relationship development.