It is interesting to note that in the decade after South Africa became a republic (1961-1969), seven films set against this backdrop were released. It will show how each of them challenges and ironises the core values of the older narratives and their traditional representations in particular ways. Then two recent case studies will be discussed. In this paper the author firstly contextualises her discussion by highlighting the typical ideological profile of traditional film representations of the Anglo-Boer War. Browne states that pictures, as history, are exceptionally effective because, whereas words lie flat and dormant to some readers, it is difficult to miss messages carried in a motion picture. Rosenstone explains that visual media are a legitimate way of representing, interpreting and making meaning from history. However, at present, it is mostly media representations that function as social carriers of ideology through the stories they tell on screen. Scholars like Roland Barthes have written that in the past, archetypical myths and folktales were some of the main sources used to order chaos and gain insight into life. It proceeds from the assumption that film, and more generally narrative, plays a fundamental role in the creation, dispersal and negotiation of ideological meaning. In this paper the author will engage with the construction of ideology in Anglo-Boer War films with the aim of elucidating how recent short films challenge traditional forms of value-creation and “normalisation”.
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