Framing the Subaltern: Humanitarian Violence in Liz Mermin’s documentary The Beauty Academy of Kabul
This paper examines how the encounter between the “First World American women” and “Third world Afghan women” is framed to inadvertently enact a form of representational violence in Liz Mermin’s documentary film, The Beauty Academy of Kabul. The paper shows that despite its ostensibly progressive s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pittsburgh
2023-12-01
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| Series: | CINEJ Cinema Journal |
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| Online Access: | http://cinej.pitt.edu/ojs/cinej/article/view/549 |
| _version_ | 1797384522679975936 |
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| author | Deepthi Siriwardena |
| author_facet | Deepthi Siriwardena |
| author_sort | Deepthi Siriwardena |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This paper examines how the encounter between the “First World American women” and “Third world Afghan women” is framed to inadvertently enact a form of representational violence in Liz Mermin’s documentary film, The Beauty Academy of Kabul. The paper shows that despite its ostensibly progressive stance of giving space to Afghan women’s voice, the film, serves to validate the new form the colonial self has taken in the globalized world - the humanitarian identity - and reaffirms the American imperial agenda. Employing Judith Butler’s insights in Frames of War, where she points out how the frame delimits the domain of representability and the confines of “reality” itself, the analysis explores how Mermin’s documentary frames the Afghan women as the first world audience is meant to recognize, grieve and intervene for.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:36:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0dfa8d5cf6ae48878d90b605059d9a79 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2158-8724 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:36:48Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | CINEJ Cinema Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-0dfa8d5cf6ae48878d90b605059d9a792023-12-20T21:41:17ZengUniversity of PittsburghCINEJ Cinema Journal2158-87242023-12-0111210.5195/cinej.2023.549Framing the Subaltern: Humanitarian Violence in Liz Mermin’s documentary The Beauty Academy of KabulDeepthi Siriwardena0University of Florida This paper examines how the encounter between the “First World American women” and “Third world Afghan women” is framed to inadvertently enact a form of representational violence in Liz Mermin’s documentary film, The Beauty Academy of Kabul. The paper shows that despite its ostensibly progressive stance of giving space to Afghan women’s voice, the film, serves to validate the new form the colonial self has taken in the globalized world - the humanitarian identity - and reaffirms the American imperial agenda. Employing Judith Butler’s insights in Frames of War, where she points out how the frame delimits the domain of representability and the confines of “reality” itself, the analysis explores how Mermin’s documentary frames the Afghan women as the first world audience is meant to recognize, grieve and intervene for. http://cinej.pitt.edu/ojs/cinej/article/view/549humanitarianismthird world womendocumentarycolonialismsubalternAfghanistan |
| spellingShingle | Deepthi Siriwardena Framing the Subaltern: Humanitarian Violence in Liz Mermin’s documentary The Beauty Academy of Kabul CINEJ Cinema Journal humanitarianism third world women documentary colonialism subaltern Afghanistan |
| title | Framing the Subaltern: Humanitarian Violence in Liz Mermin’s documentary The Beauty Academy of Kabul |
| title_full | Framing the Subaltern: Humanitarian Violence in Liz Mermin’s documentary The Beauty Academy of Kabul |
| title_fullStr | Framing the Subaltern: Humanitarian Violence in Liz Mermin’s documentary The Beauty Academy of Kabul |
| title_full_unstemmed | Framing the Subaltern: Humanitarian Violence in Liz Mermin’s documentary The Beauty Academy of Kabul |
| title_short | Framing the Subaltern: Humanitarian Violence in Liz Mermin’s documentary The Beauty Academy of Kabul |
| title_sort | framing the subaltern humanitarian violence in liz mermin s documentary the beauty academy of kabul |
| topic | humanitarianism third world women documentary colonialism subaltern Afghanistan |
| url | http://cinej.pitt.edu/ojs/cinej/article/view/549 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT deepthisiriwardena framingthesubalternhumanitarianviolenceinlizmerminsdocumentarythebeautyacademyofkabul |