CINEJ Cinema Journal
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For Western Eyes: Nelofer Pazira\u27s Accented Returns to Afghanistan
Get PDFAppropriating relevant elements from Iranian film scholar Hamid Naficy’s formulation of an ‘Accented Cinema’ (2001) that addresses various aspects of diasporic filmmaking and filmmakers ‘situated in the interstices of social formations and cinematic practices’ (4) as guiding tropes for analysis, this paper focuses on the depiction of the post-Taliban period through a contextual and critical reading of Nelofer Pazira’s first documentary film Return to Kandahar (2003) and her debut feature film Act of Dishonour (2009) on the topic of \u27honour-killing.\u27 The paper examines how these films portray ‘accented’ images captured and relayed by a diaspora Afghan woman filmmaker to appeal to distant and unversed Western/foreign audiences and film festivals. In addition to Naficy\u27s formulation of the \u27accented cinema\u27, I argue that Pazira uses a formulaic accent and variances (also to be read as her emphases) in her depictions that are aimed specifically at appealing to Western audiences
When Silence Becomes Overstretched: Exploring the Loud Silence in Women\u27s Struggle for Liberation in Contemporary Nollywood
Get PDFLots of debates, contestations and criticisms have continued to trail the subjugation of women in Nollywood narratives. Film scholars and critics, especially those who tow the feminist line, keep bemoaning the manner in which patriarchy and male hegemony take centre stage in many Nollywood movies to the detriment of women. Employing the mixed research methodology (qualitative content analysis and key informant interview), this study explores the loud silence in women’s struggle for liberation in contemporary Nollywood narratives. Three widely acclaimed and contemporary movies – Muna (2019), Omo Ghetto: The Saga (2020) and Fine Wine (2021) – were content analysed to foreground and highlight male chauvinism and hegemony as well as women’s struggle for their liberation. Though women’s silence in the movies is as prolonged as it is loud, the fierce fight they later put up against male oppression comes as a great solace. Therefore, it is concluded that Nollywood film-makers should continue to give preeminence to such issues in subsequent narratives
Beyond The “Joker” Movie: Cinema As A Politainment Agent
Get PDFIn the scope of this study; Joker (2019) film will be analyzed and examined as a political entertainment medium through cinematic narration. The film is assessed both in terms of scene analysis and in terms of the film\u27s current discourse. Within the framework of this study, Joker film evaluated thematically as a political entertainment thus this article aims to enlighten the relationship between cinematic representation and political circumstances through the perspective of Douglas Kellner\u27s Cinema Wars narrative. The goal of this study was to break down Joker film to examine its ideological and aesthetic representations within the social, political and cultural context in the timeframe when the film was released to build up a bridge between political reality through the employment of cinematographic machinery
From “Makers of Images” to Cineastes? Looking Critically at Festivals and Critics’ Reception of Nollywood
Get PDFAt its inception in the early 1990s, the Nollywood film movement did not attract a positive appraisal from most “learned” critics. Its non-conformist approach to filmmaking made most critics to associate it with the act of just “making images” as well as a lack of respect for cinema. Even major film festivals seemed “not friendly” to Nollywood films. Today, the quality of Nollywood films has remarkably improved even though much is still to be done. However, it remains important to examine if such improvement in quality has affected international film critics’ reception of Nollywood films. Using secondary sources and critical observations this author examines how Nollywood film criticism has evolved over these last years. The author focuses specifically on how the FESPACO and Cannes Festival have received Nollywood productions.
Cinematic Views on Critical Representations of the Economic Policies of the Democrat Party Era: Social Realist Film Initiatives in Turkish Cinema
Get PDFThe Democrat Party era (1950-1960) sparked radical changes in Turkey. The economic practices of the party administration during the country\u27s administration, as well as some of the negativities it created in the political and social field, have long been on Turkey\u27s agenda. This agenda continued even after the May 27th 1960 Military Coup removed the party from power. The Turkish Constitution of 1961, which was put into effect after the coup, created an environment suitable for looking at various problems of society from different perspectives. This environment was also reflected in the cinema, paving the way for the birth of a movement called Social Realism in Turkish Cinema. It is thought that the Social Realist Movement (1960-1965) and some of the films shot under the influence of this movement mirror the economic policies implemented during the Democrat Party era and the adverse developments it brought with it. In the study, the reflections on the harmful effects of the Democrat Party\u27s economic policies on social realist films in Turkish Cinema are discussed. The films selected within the scope of the study were criticized through critical discourse analysis, historical, sociological, and ideological criticism methods, and the political, sociological, and class aspects of the Democrat Party\u27s policies, as well as their economic aspects, were analyzed
Short History of Industrialization: A Cinematographic Approach
Get PDFThe ultimate purpose of this study is to scrutinize industrialization via movies in a thematic ways. Actually, industrialization, which occurs at the end of the 18th and the outbreak of the 19th century, is the process of mechanization of production and the rationalization of policy as a whole. It is economically the onset of mechanization, commercialization or fabrication of goods in a massive way and the utilization of logic on a political basis. Without logic or ration, it is quite impossible that there will be no transformation like this. At the same time, it is the direct outbreak of capital accumulation. There are a great many factors for its emergence to be debated; however, there is a green reality that this is not a linear process. In the stark contrast, it is eclectical as well as progressive. History also whispers us that this innovative stage ranging from Industry 1.0 to Industry 4.0 converts into a development culture, which has been dominated by the West since Renaissance and Reform. Comprehending the reasons for the formation of this innovative culture is of great significance for all of us. In this study, our main objective is to read these spheres of improvement on the basis of four movies for four stages. Industry 1.0, associated with steam power is represented by Oliver Twist (2005); Industry 2.0 is related to Modern Times (1936), as for Industry 3.0, it is based upon A Beautiful Mind (2001) while Industry 4.0 is overviewed with Replicas (2018)
A Corpus-Based Socio-Onomastic Analysis On Turkish And American Horror Film Naming
Get PDFBoth fear and horror have been extensively explored as universal unpleasant emotions with significant effects on psychological well-being. It is believed that horror is the feeling aroused when watching a horror film, and a sense of suspense and resolution is behind it. The present study explores how cultural, social, interactive, and cognitive contexts influence Turkish and American horror film naming. The present study aims to analyze Turkish and American horror film titles based on a socio-onomastic approach. So, 223 Turkish (1949-2021) and 2840 American (1898-2023) horror movie titles were investigated. The hypothesis was that Turkish horror film naming uses religious elements due to religious background. But according to the present study\u27s findings, religious elements are also available in USA horror film naming. Yet, while making and naming their films, American horror film producers pay more attention to cultural events than Turkish filmmakers. On the other hand, the keywords used in naming Turkish and American horror films, regardless of their languages, were the same.
The Songs of Pyaasa - A Narrative within a Narrative
Get PDFThis article analyses how the songs of Pyaasa,1957 including musical and cinematic elements not only contribute to further the film’s narrative but also stands apart weaving its own narrative and themes relevant to current Indian politics and society. Five songs from Pyaasa are used to examine the objective of research. Each song including its lyrics and picturization is explored to understand the ways in which the song promoted the overall narrative of the film. Further, the songs are juxtaposed to the current Indian political and civilizational climate to highlight its relevance
Slow Steps: The Institutional Development of Slovak Film From Proto-National to National Film 1939-1950
Get PDFFrom 1939 to 1950, Slovak cinema underwent a massive institutional development, war-related setbacks, and finally became nationalized under the control of the Czechoslovak Ministry of Information. This article aims to thematize this understudied time period of Slovak cinema and to reveal how Slovak cinema transformed from a proto-national cinema into a national one
Exploring Time Travel Rules in Time Travel Films
No full textThroughout film history, time travel has been an intriguing concept revisited time and again by film productions, creating a universe of time travel principles and becoming a discipline of scientific import. With some of the greatest minds and thinkers of our time contributing to the living discourse, time travel has gained global significance and has developed several rules films attempt to follow. Time travel theory postulates several theories concerning the effect of an individual traveling through time and coming into contact with themselves; some benign, some many catastrophic. This study reviews time travel films to determine the cinematic consistency of three of these rules; the grandfather paradox, time-traveling for self-benefit, and meeting oneself in an alternate time