“War on Terror”: The Limitation of Representation of the Film

History was always written by the winners. Despite the fact that the history of the War on Terror is relatively new, Hollywood is quick to develop a visual history of the conflict. Hollywood’s excellent realism aesthetics were successful in justifying the goal and method of the “war on terror,” interrupting ongoing reality to influence and reconstruct public memory about what happened. This dissertation will use three awarded and influential case studies: The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty and American Sniper to demonstrate the fragmentation of film representation, that the film only speaks for “us.” The dissertation aims to uncover the hidden political unawareness behind film representations, the manner in which those films provide limited versions of what happened, and how the films emphasise the self-subjectivity while objectifying the other.

The Origins of Recycled Films

At the beginning of cinema, in his early twentieth-century research the Soviet director and film theorist Sergei Eisenstein developed his theory of associative montage “1+1=3.” Nowadays, new methods have been added to this theory. These variables include the creative re-use of allusions to film history. In contemporary cinema, when a new archive film uses sequences from cinema heritage, it quotes from the past and can activate visually and content-wise complex cultural memories. In these films, the successive placement of two sequences, beyond their association, creates new associative meaning, thus, it calls forth metacinematic associations. This additional meaning is the imprint of cinematic heritage. Final Cut by György Pálfi and Péter Lichter’s works make use of the archives of cinematic heritage through a reinterpreted film language, attempting to create independent, innovative works of art. They use the same starting point, based on a directorial concept, but the two attempts resulted in completely different motion pictures. Due to the approach at the basis of their conception, these films illustrate both the linear, i.e., the archetypal narrative film representation and the nonlinear narration. However, these films are not only defined by the scenes they are compiled of, but also bear the particularities of the original motion pictures, referring to and going far beyond the individual characteristics of the scenes themselves. Despite being linear narrative films, the cinematic rhetoric of neither motion picture is continuous but associative - they bring into play layers of film culture. Overall, Eisenstein’s formula can be extended in the following way: 1 afs (archive film sequence) + 1 afs (archive film sequence) = 3 mca (metacinematic associations).

Religion and Film: Representation, Experience, Meaning

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Representasi Kemiskinan dalam Film Korea Selatan (Analisis Semiotika Model Saussure pada Film Parasite)

This study discusses the social problems that occur in South Korea that represents poverty in the film Parasite by identifying the signs used in the film. The director as a mass communicator makes a film as a mass message delivering a message to a mass audience or audience about their representation of reality. The theory used in this research is the theory of mass communication, film, representation, discourse, and poverty. This study uses a qualitative approach with Ferdinand de Saussure semiotic analysis technique which divides the signs into two, namely signifier and signified. In this study it was found that the film Parasite represented poverty depicting the figure of a family who lived a difficult life, a small house that was dirty and cramped, difficulty in finding decent work, living in a slum area, a house flooded. Kim's family poverty in this film is relative poverty which explains even though their basic needs are met, but the difference is clearly seen when compared to the economy with the Park family. Some poverty indicators according to the World Bank are portrayed in the film such as land ownership and limited capital, limited infrastructure needed, development bias in cities, differences in human resources and economic sectors, poor living culture and poor governance. Penelitian ini membahas tentang adanya masalah sosial yang terjadi di Korea Selatan dalam sebuah film yang merepresentasikan kemiskinan dalam film Parasite dengan mengidentifikasi tanda-tanda yang digunakan dalam film tersebut. Sutradara sebagai komunikator massa membuat film menyampaikan pesan kepada audiens massa atau penonton tentang representasinya terhadap realitas. Teori yang digunakan penelitian ini adalah teori komunikasi massa, film, representasi, wacana, dan kemiskinan. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan teknik analisis semiotika Ferdinand de Saussure yang membagi tanda menjadi dua yaitu signifier dan signified. Dalam penelitian ini ditemukan bahwa film Parasite merepresentasikan kemiskinan menggambarkan sosok keluarga yang hidup sulit, rumah yang kecil kotor dan sempit, kesulitan dalam mencari pekerjaan yang layak, tinggal di daerah yang kumuh, rumah yang kebanjiran. Kemiskinan keluarga Kim dalam film ini adalah kemiskinan relatif yang menjelaskan meskipun kebutuhan pokok mereka terpenuhi, namun perbedaan terlihat jelas jika dibandingkan dengan ekonomi dengan keluarga Park. Film seperti kepemilikan tanah dan modal yang terbatas, sarana prasarana yang dibutuhkan terbatas, pembangunan yang bias di kota, perbedaan sumber daya manusia dan sektor ekonomi, budaya hidup yang jelek serta tata pemerintahan yang buruk.

Cinema Pessimism

Cinema Pessimism uses the medium of film to explore the dilemmas of democratic representation. When is representation an aid to democracy, and when is it an obstacle? Why are democratic populations so perpetually dissatisfied with their representatives? An exploration of film representation gives us a unique standpoint from which to answer these and other questions. Representation contains dangers for democracy, including its ability to foster illusions of power and freedom in a citizenry rather than genuine autonomy. Film itself can be a powerful political narcotic, suppressing rather than expressing the humanity that is supposed to flourish in democracy. Most popular films today, like many elected representatives, frustrate and interrupt democracy rather than sustain it. In its best form, however, representation, both filmic and political, can add something irreplaceable to our political life. Democratic citizens are hard to represent because human beings only reveal themselves over time. Representing them thus holds special challenges that this work explores. Great representatives and great representations are rare, but when they do appear, they enhance our politics by sustaining the reciprocity and equality that are at the heart of any well-ordered human society. We can draw these lessons from films even as we resist the increasing saturation of modern life with representations that distract or degrade us.

Transnational Chinese Masculinity in Film Representation

The chapter traces the evolution of the depiction of transnational Chinese masculinity in selected films directed by Hong Kong directors from the early 1990s to the present time. It focuses particularly on three films: Farewell China (Ai zai bie xiang de jijie 爱在別鄉的季節‎,1990), directed by Clara Law 罗卓瑶‎; Comrades Almost a Love Story (Tian mimi 甜蜜蜜‎, 1996), directed by Peter Chan 陈可辛‎; and American Dreams in China (Zhongguo hehuoren 中國合夥人‎, 2013), also directed by Peter Chan. Although the directors are Hong Kong directors and some of the films are classified as Hong Kong films, the films themselves portray male figures originating from mainland China. All these films tell the stories of Chinese nationals and their attempted journeys overseas in pursuit of some dream.