Responses to the Film

Heroines, Victims and Survivors: Female Minors as Active Agents in Films about African Colonial and Postcolonial Conflicts. by Norita Mdege Town Thesis Presented forCape the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Film Studies in the Centre for Filmof and Media Studies UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN September 2017 Supervisor:University Associate Professor Martin Botha The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derivedTown from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes Capeonly. of Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University Abstract This thesis analyses the representations of girls as active agents in fictional films about African colonial and postcolonial conflicts. Representations of these girls are located within local and global contexts, and viewed through an intersectional lens that sees girls as trebly marginalised as “female,” “child soldiers” and “African.” A cultural approach that combines textual and contextual analyses is used to draw links between the case study films and the societies within which they are produced and consumed. The thesis notes the shift that occurs between the representations of girls in anti-colonial struggles and postcolonial wars as a demonstration of ideological underpinnings that link these representations to their socio- political contexts. For films about African anti-colonial conflicts, the author looks at Sarafina! (Darrell Roodt, 1992) and Flame (Ingrid Sinclair, 1996). Representations in the optimistic Sarafina! are used to mark a trajectory that leads to the representations in Flame, which is characterised by postcolonial disillusionment. On the other hand, Heart of Fire/Feuerherz (Luigi Falorni, 2008) and War Witch/Rebelle (Kim Nguyen, 2012), which are produced within the context of postcolonial wars, demonstrate the influences of global politics on the representations of the African girl and the wars she is caught up in. The thesis finds that films about anti-colonial wars are largely presented from an African perspective, although that perspective is at times male and more symbolic than an exploration of girls’ multiple voices and subject positions. In these films, girls who participate in the conflicts are often represented as brave and heroic, a powerful indication of the moral strength of the African nationalists’ cause. On the contrary, films about African postcolonial i wars largely represent girls as innocent and sometimes helpless victims of these “unjust wars.” The representations in the four case study films are significant in bringing to the fore some of the experiences of girls in African political conflicts. However, they also indicate that sometimes representations of girls become signifiers of ideas relating to local and global socio-political, economic, and other interests rather than a means for expressing the voices of the girls that these films purport to represent. ii Acknowledgements I extend my gratitude to the following people and organisations: The University of Cape Town’s Postgraduate Funding Office for their financial support. The Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town for the incredible amount of support, financial and otherwise, I received throughout my studies. My academic supervisor, Associate Professor Martin Botha, for his invaluable support, vast knowledge and mentorship, and for being a source of inspiration. It has been a privilege to do this study under his guidance. Associate Professor Lesley Marx, for her constant encouragement and tireless support. Petros Ndlela and Soraya Shaffie, for always going above and beyond the call of duty, and for making me believe I was good at handling all the pressure. My friends, for their emotional support and for occasionally dragging me outside for some fresh air. Lastly, but crucially, my parents, Norman Ngoni and Enisiah Mdege, my sisters, Netsayi, Noreen and Norah, and my brothers Nobert and Norman, for their love, sacrifice, encouragement, support and confidence in me. Thank you. This study is dedicated to the memory of my grandmother, Georgina Molai. iii Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. iii Chapter One Representing the Female Child in African Political Conflicts ............................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Females and War ................................................................................................................ 2 The Case Study Films ......................................................................................................... 4 Significance of the Study .................................................................................................... 8 Concepts ............................................................................................................................... 15 Methods and Methodology................................................................................................... 38 Chapter Outline .................................................................................................................... 42 Chapter Two Women, Girls and the Child Soldier: Ideological Framing ............................................... 44 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 44 Production and Consumption Conditions ............................................................................ 48 Socio-Political Conditions ................................................................................................ 48 Production Conditions ...................................................................................................... 50 The Child Soldier and Afro-pessimism ............................................................................ 56 Child Soldiers and “the Single Story” .................................................................................. 59 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 70 Chapter Three Sarafina!: The Girl as a Tool for Nation Building .............................................................. 73 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 73 Production and Consumption Contexts ................................................................................ 76 The Play, the Late 1980s and the Film ............................................................................. 76 The Genre and the Film .................................................................................................... 84 iv The Film and Hollywood .................................................................................................. 86 The Film and the Early 1990s........................................................................................... 88 Category “Female” ............................................................................................................... 93 Representations of the Girl ................................................................................................. 100 Sarafina and Nationalism ................................................................................................ 100 Sarafina and the “New” South Africa ............................................................................. 114 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 116 Chapter Four Flame and the Feminist View of Girl Soldiers .................................................................. 119 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 119 Production Context ............................................................................................................. 120 Censorship ...................................................................................................................... 123 Creative Expression as a Double-edged Sword .............................................................. 127 Funding and Global Influences ....................................................................................... 133 Postcolonial Disillusionment .......................................................................................... 135 Responses to the Film ........................................................................................................ 137 Certain Types of Girls ........................................................................................................ 143 Why Girls Joined the War .................................................................................................. 146 Contact with Guerrilla Fighters ...................................................................................... 146 “Push”

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