The post-heroism of Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux and Verraaiers
There is much scholarship on the linkages between Afrikaner nationalism and South African (Afrikaans-language) filmmaking. Within the context of a sustained post-apartheid renegotiation of Afrikaans or Afrikaner nationalism in the popular imagination, in this article we argue that two feature film h...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Afrikaans |
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Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Association
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Tydskrif vir Letterkunde |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://letterkunde.africa/article/view/15059 |
| _version_ | 1797830933337866240 |
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| author | Danielle Britz Chris Broodryk |
| author_facet | Danielle Britz Chris Broodryk |
| author_sort | Danielle Britz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There is much scholarship on the linkages between Afrikaner nationalism and South African (Afrikaans-language) filmmaking. Within the context of a sustained post-apartheid renegotiation of Afrikaans or Afrikaner nationalism in the popular imagination, in this article we argue that two feature film historical dramas from the production company Bosbok Ses Films, Stuur groete aan Mannetjies Roux (2013) and Verraaiers (2013), resonate thematically and aesthetically with Thomas Elsaesser’s notion of post-heroic cinema. While a number of pre-1994 Afrikaans-language films celebrated Afrikaner nationalism as personified in the figure of the hero, this article positions and uses Elsaesser’s post-heroism as a critical lens through which to demonstrate the ways in which these two films call attention to a post-hero whose actions and behaviour (often inadvertently) renders a productive renegotiating of the hero figure within a post-apartheid cinematic context. To supplement Elsaesser, we also draw on Johan Degenaar’s writing on political pluralism. In this article, we find that an Elsaesserian post-heroic approach to the two films allows the following constitutive components of post-heroic cinema to surface: atemporality as opposed to linear narrative time, parapraxis (productive failure) as opposed to traditional iterations of heroic acts and valour, and conceiving of the film screen as a surface in flux as opposed to the screen as a mirror. The article’s contribution to existing scholarship on contemporary Afrikaans-language cinema is three-fold: it is the first to utilise an Elsaesserian approach to Afrikaans film and as such to foreground and investigate the figure of the post-hero, it provides a critical account of two independently-made feature films that remain under-researched in current South African film scholarship, and it contributes to discourse around the ways in which popular media inform and respond to the renegotiation of Afrikaans (or Afrikaans) identity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T13:44:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ab0a82717e1942329f75f940ba1f9c41 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0041-476X 2309-9070 |
| language | Afrikaans |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T13:44:08Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Association |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Tydskrif vir Letterkunde |
| spelling | doaj.art-ab0a82717e1942329f75f940ba1f9c412023-05-09T06:34:18ZafrTydskrif vir Letterkunde AssociationTydskrif vir Letterkunde0041-476X2309-90702023-05-0160110.17159/tl.v60i1.15059The post-heroism of Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux and VerraaiersDanielle Britz0Chris Broodryk1University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South AfricaUniversity of Pretoria, Pretoria, South AfricaThere is much scholarship on the linkages between Afrikaner nationalism and South African (Afrikaans-language) filmmaking. Within the context of a sustained post-apartheid renegotiation of Afrikaans or Afrikaner nationalism in the popular imagination, in this article we argue that two feature film historical dramas from the production company Bosbok Ses Films, Stuur groete aan Mannetjies Roux (2013) and Verraaiers (2013), resonate thematically and aesthetically with Thomas Elsaesser’s notion of post-heroic cinema. While a number of pre-1994 Afrikaans-language films celebrated Afrikaner nationalism as personified in the figure of the hero, this article positions and uses Elsaesser’s post-heroism as a critical lens through which to demonstrate the ways in which these two films call attention to a post-hero whose actions and behaviour (often inadvertently) renders a productive renegotiating of the hero figure within a post-apartheid cinematic context. To supplement Elsaesser, we also draw on Johan Degenaar’s writing on political pluralism. In this article, we find that an Elsaesserian post-heroic approach to the two films allows the following constitutive components of post-heroic cinema to surface: atemporality as opposed to linear narrative time, parapraxis (productive failure) as opposed to traditional iterations of heroic acts and valour, and conceiving of the film screen as a surface in flux as opposed to the screen as a mirror. The article’s contribution to existing scholarship on contemporary Afrikaans-language cinema is three-fold: it is the first to utilise an Elsaesserian approach to Afrikaans film and as such to foreground and investigate the figure of the post-hero, it provides a critical account of two independently-made feature films that remain under-researched in current South African film scholarship, and it contributes to discourse around the ways in which popular media inform and respond to the renegotiation of Afrikaans (or Afrikaans) identity.https://letterkunde.africa/article/view/15059Afrikaner nationalismatemporalityBosbok Ses Filmsparapraxispost-heroismStuur groete aan Mannetjies Roux |
| spellingShingle | Danielle Britz Chris Broodryk The post-heroism of Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux and Verraaiers Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Afrikaner nationalism atemporality Bosbok Ses Films parapraxis post-heroism Stuur groete aan Mannetjies Roux |
| title | The post-heroism of Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux and Verraaiers |
| title_full | The post-heroism of Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux and Verraaiers |
| title_fullStr | The post-heroism of Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux and Verraaiers |
| title_full_unstemmed | The post-heroism of Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux and Verraaiers |
| title_short | The post-heroism of Stuur Groete aan Mannetjies Roux and Verraaiers |
| title_sort | post heroism of stuur groete aan mannetjies roux and verraaiers |
| topic | Afrikaner nationalism atemporality Bosbok Ses Films parapraxis post-heroism Stuur groete aan Mannetjies Roux |
| url | https://letterkunde.africa/article/view/15059 |
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