From orality to visuality: the question of aesthetics in African cinema

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	From orality to visuality: the question of aesthetics in African cinema
Author:	Papaioannou, P. Julie
Year:	2009
Periodical:	Journal of African Cinemas
Volume:	1
Issue:	2
Pages:	141-157
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Africa
Subjects:	cinema aesthetics oral traditions
Abstract:	In this essay, the author argues against the schism between tradition and modernity in African film criticism that has produced a discourse on the indigenization of the medium based on African oral traditions and performances. In turn, this discourse of orality has preserved dichotomies that need to be contested in order to address current expressions in African film. The author's aim is to shift the theoretical paradigm towards a deconstructive postcolonial project to assess, rework and negotiate the oppositional positions and confrontational practices that have characterized most critical approaches. The analysis also draws attention to Third (World) Cinema aesthetics and cinematic semiotics, for the questions of spatiality and temporality are pivotal in the multidimensional and dynamic relationship between the filmmaker and the viewer. The author concludes that African film criticism that has simplistically viewed the African filmmaker's use of cinematic techniques as analogous to griot orality has yet to address the multidimensional role of the filmmaker. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract]