W7. Northwest Africa Film as 'Third Cinema'

Have you ever seen the African film? If I do not take unit ‘cinemas and culture’, I also do not take the opportunity to see the Africa movie like most of people who are used to Hollywood movie. This unit deals emerging national and transnational cinemas across four regions and Francophone Northwest Africa is one of them. This week, I will explore Northwest Africa film as third cinema in relation with local identity.

According to Mestman (2011, p. 29), ‘Third Cinema’ referred to a cinema of ‘cultural decolonisation’ for the Third World that was defined in opposition to the cinema of Hollywood (First Cinema) and sought to overcome the limitations attributed to the so-called ‘auteur cinema’ (Second Cinema). African characters in early West African film were predominantly absent and/or voiceless (Thackway 2007, p. 458). Thus after that, film became a means of challenging Western hegemony for many filmmakers (Thackway 2007, p. 459). Film offered filmmakers a medium in which to restore African dignity by establishing perspectives and voices that portray African realities from an African point of view (Thackway 2007, p. 459).

The NW Africa film, Keita: The Heritage of the Griot can be a good example. This film is based on the African oral epic Sundjata and deals the conflict between the old and the new legacies (Ogwang 1997, p. 110). Many people in African communities and nations have faced a grievous issue how to balance between tradition and modern world (Ogwang 1997 p. 110). In this context, Keita raises a question about local identity as Northwest African living in a global world.

References

Mestman, M 2011, 'Third Cinema/Militant Cinema: At the Origins of the Argentinian Experience (1968-1971)', Third Text, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 29-40, retrieved 27 August 2012, Art & Architecture Complete, EBSCOhost.

Ogwang, EO 1997, ‘Review Keita: The Heritage of the Griot’, Dir: DaniKouyate, in Folklore Forum, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 109-110, retrieved 27 August 2012,

Thackway, M 2007 ‘Future Past: Integrating orality into Francophone West African film’, Codell, J (ed) Genre, Gender, Race, and world cinema, Malden, MA, Blackwell.

Resources

http://iubfesa.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/movie-night-keita/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikQWscrpCao&feature=share&list=PL37F3988FEB615385

mubi.com

(W6) The Old Public Sphere VS The New Public Sphere

Jurgen Habermas defined the term ‘public sphere’ as:

A domain of our social life where such a thing as public opinion can be formed [where] citizens… deal with matters of general interest without being subject to coercion…[to] express and publicize their views

At first time, in the nineteenth century, it was a place such as coffee houses where private individuals coming together to discuss (Sinekopova 2006, p. 505).

Nowadays, a transnational public sphere has appeared thanks to the rapid spread of globalized media communication throughout the world (Mules 1998, p. 24). The social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have replaced the old way of communication (Deepa et. al 2012, p. 66). As a result, social media have received a significant amount of attention as public sphere in recent years. Virtual spaces like Twittersphere allow communities to form organically around topics and shared interests as old public sphere (Gunton & Davis 2012, 226).

The presence or absence of physical spaces is the biggest difference between the old public sphere and the new. In many cases, these online-communities could not exist in physical spaces because of geographic distance between members (Gunton & Davis 2012, 226). Pro-virtual sphere argue that this new public sphere increases the power to act by providing information and creating contact with other. Also the new public sphere can improve democracy and be an ‘electronic agora’. However, some people worried about virtual spaces. They said that issues of concern are mainly to the community and it causes expertise to undermine.

Reference

Deepa S., D, Chopade, N & Ranjith, P 2012, ‘Social Networking Sites-A New Era of 21^st Century’, SIES Journal Of Management, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 66-73, retrieved 19 August 2012, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.

Gunton, L, & Davis, K 2012, 'Beyond broadcasting Customer service, community and information experience in the Twittersphere', Reference Services Review, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 224-227, retrieved 19 August 2012, Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, EBSCOhost.

Mules, W 1998, 'Media Publics and the Transnational Public Sphere', Critical Arts: A South-North Journal Of Cultural & Media Studies, vol. 12, no. 1/2, p. 24, retrieved 19 August 2012, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.

Sinekopova, GV 2006, 'Building the Public Sphere: Bases and Biases', Journal Of Communication, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 505-522, retrieved 19 August 2012, Communication & Mass Media Complete, EBSCOhost.

Sources

http://www.iconspedia.com/icon/twitter-sphere-icon-29074.html

W5

Koreans have long believed in the myth that Korea is a homogenous nation. There is no doubt that Korea is a homogeneous nation speaking one language. I am not alone in this belief. A research shows that most of Koreans feel the same. 2000 Koreans were asked a question, ‘do you think that Korea is a homogeneous nation?’; 65.2% believe that we are a homogeneous nation. Shockingly, however, Wook Kim surveying origin of Korea commented that Korea is not a single race country, but a multi-race nation (SBS special 2006). Also Korea is not free from multicultural society anymore because of Southeast Asian women’s marriages to Koreans. Today I will explore a transnational culture associated with cultural identity, language and nationality.

In our globalised environment, there are physical flows, cultural flows and media flows. All the parts of flows affect each other and change dynamically. Transnationalization of Korean popular culture can be a good example. The term ‘transnationalism’ was coined by Koichi Iwabuchi and he used this term to mention the nationalistic ways in which the export of Japanese popular culture (JOO 2011, p. 489).

Recently K-pop concerts in Paris ended in great success. I can even feel the effects of K-pop culture because fans who have yet to see it on stage were formed flash mobs to hope more concerts (Chung 2011). The popularity of K-pop culture has truly become international. What makes Korean wave so-called ‘hallyu’ possible? That is a media such as the internet! Fans make K-pop expansion to share and reproduce music videos on YouTube and social networking sites (AHN 2011, p. 82).

 

References

AHN, S 2011, 'Girls' Generation and the New Korean Wave', SERI Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 80-86, retrieved 14 August 2012, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.

Chung, A 2011, ‘Book probes transnational identity of ‘hallyu’’, Korea Times, 29 July, retrieved 14 August 2012, <ttp://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2011/07/142_91849.html>

JOO, J 2011, 'Transnationalization of Korean Popular Culture and the Rise of 'Pop Nationalism' in Korea', Journal Of Popular Culture, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 489-504, retrieved 13 August 2012, academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost,.

SBS special, television program, SBS, Seoul, 5 November.

Sources

kimgiza.com

W4. Are the Olympics a Truly Global Event?

These days, when I met friends, they said “Did you see the Olympic game yesterday?” before “How are you?” There is no doubt that the hot issue is The London Olympic!

Then, are the Olympics a truly global event? In my opinion, the answer is “yes, definitely it is”.  I will explore the Olympics associated with a global event. As dealing with the concept of globalisation in the first posting, there are cultural flows, media flows, and flows of capital in the process of globalisation. Increasing exports can be an example as flows of capital (Rose & Spiegel 2011, p. 652). Specifically, Preuss (cited in Rose & Spiege 2011, p. 653) shows how the Seoul Olympic in 1988 were intended not only to raise international awareness of Korean manufactured products but also to improve international relations between South Korea and the Soviet Bloc countries in order to promote Korean exports.

Who and why invented the modern Olympic Games? A French bureaucrat Pierre de Coubertin invented the modern Olympic Games (Short 2008 p. 322). What we have to focus is that a certain form of internationalism influenced to invent it (Short 2008 p. 322). There was increased competition between major powers for overseas markets and colonial possessions in the last third of the nineteenth century (Short 2008 p. 322). Short (2008, p. 322) notes that ‘This growing interaction in international space initiated a new wave of globalization as new organizations were set up to establish rules for how nations were to interact with each other’.

References.

Rose, A, & Spiegel, M 2011, 'The Olympic Effect', Economic Journal, vol. 121, no. 553, pp. 652-677, retrieved 4 August 2012, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.

Short, JR 2008, 'Globalization, cities and the Summer Olympics', City, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 321-340, retrieved 4 August 2012, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.

Picture sources

digjack.com

forexspace.com