Western Cinematic Representations of Sub-Saharan Post-Colonial Africa: An in-depth qualitative content analysis of Blood Diamond, Hotel Rwanda and The Last King of Scotland
2018 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
This thesis aims to analyze the representation of how the colonial past, in itself and in its consequences, is portrayed in Blood Diamond, Hotel Rwanda and The Last King of Scotland. All three movies are produced in Hollywood and they will be analyzed in an in-depth Small-N study. Our analytical framework is drawn from theories on how film creates meaning, postcolonial theory that includes concepts from Fanon, Said and Young, colonial patterns regarding Sub-Saharan Africa and finally Eurocentrism. Our three movies which serve as data, are analyzed with a qualitative content analysis through themes extracted from our theories in order for us to see how the colonial past is represented. Our findings show that in all three movies it was a representation of a colonial past portrayed in different ways regarding which theme that was being analyzed. The analysis further shows that the representation of the colonial past was seen as an underlying meaning, in the portrayal in the direct dialogues, or it was represented differently depending on whose perspective that was being told in all three movies. The intention of this thesis is to contribute to the field of Western representation of “the other” in movies and the representation of its colonial heritage.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2018. , p. 48
Keywords [en]
Postcolonial theory, Colonial past, Sub-Saharan Africa, Representation, Film
National Category
Political Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-12727Local ID: EIS501OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hv-12727DiVA, id: diva2:1232040
Subject / course
Political science
Educational program
International Programme in Politics and Economics
Supervisors
Examiners
2018-07-262018-07-102018-07-26Bibliographically approved