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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Images of childhood in southern Africa: a study of three films
Author:Carklin, Michael
Year:2010
Periodical:Journal of African Cinemas (ISSN 1754-923X)
Volume:2
Issue:2
Pages:137-149
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:films
children
images
Abstract:A striking characteristic of many films from across the African continent is their focus on childhood experience and the centrality of child protagonists. Unlike many films in the West, such films are not necessarily produced for young audiences, but express broader social, communal and cosmological concerns. This article focuses on South Africa and has two broad points of focus - the one is what the author calls 'lived geographies', a focus on the representation of children in the context of space and place; the other is what he thinks of as 'rites of passage', in this case, not those formal ceremonies that bring about a transformation in identity, but the circumstances and experiences of children that are so profoundly life changing. In discussing the films 'Malunde' (Stefanie Sycholt, 2001), 'Yesterday' (Darrell James Roodt, 2003), and 'The Wooden Camera' (Ntshavheni wa Luruli, 2003) in particular, the author argues that rather than trying to formally categorize childhood representations, it is important to recognize such representations as transformative and dynamic. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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