Hollywood's Africa After 1994

by Higgins, Maryellen

• ISBN13: 9780821420157
• ISBN10: 0821420151
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-10-30
• Publisher: Ohio Univ Pr

Summary

Hollywood's Africa after 1994investigates Hollywood's colonial film legacy in the postapartheid era, and contemplates what has changed in the West's representations of Africa. How do we read twenty-first-century projections of human rights issues-child soldiers, genocide, the exploitation of the poor by multinational corporations, dictatorial rule, truth and reconciliation-within the contexts of celebrity humanitarianism, "new" military humanitarianism, and Western support for regime change in Africa and beyond? A number of films after 1994, such as Black Hawk Down, Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond, The Last King of Scotland, The Constant Gardener, Shake Hands with the Devil, Tears of the Sun, and District 9,construct explicit and implicit arguments about the effects of Western intervention in Africa. Do the emphases on human rights in the films offer a poignant expression of our shared humanity? Do they echo the colonial tropes of former "civilizing missions?" Or do human rights violations operate as yet another mine of sensational images for Hollywood's spectacular storytelling? The volume provides analyses by academics and activists in the fields of African studies, English, film and media studies, international relations, and sociology across continents. This thoughtful and highly engaging book is a valuable resource for those who seek new and varied approaches to films about Africa. Contributors: Harry Garuba and Natasha Himmelman; Margaret R. Higonnet, with Ethel R. Higgonet; Joyce B. Ashuntant∠ Kenneth W. Harrow; Christopher Odhiambo; Ricardo Guthrie; Clifford T. Manlove; Earl Conteh-Morgan; Bennetta Jules-Rosette, J. R. Osborn, and Lea Marie Ruiz-Ade; Christopher Garl∧ Kimberly Nichele Brown; Jane Bryce; Iyunolu Osagie; and Dayna Oscherwitz.

Author Biography

MaryEllen Higgins is an associate professor of English at the Greater Allegheny Campus of Pennsylvania State University. She is the coauthor of The Historical Dictionary of French Cinema.

Table of Contents

Introduction: African Blood, Hollywood's Diamonds? Hollywood's Africa after 1994	p. 1
The Cited and the Uncited: Toward an Emancipatory Reading of Representations of Africa	p. 15
The Troubled Terrain of Human Rights Films: Blood Diamond, The Last King of Scotland, and The Devil Came on Horseback	p. 35
Hollywood's Representations of Human Rights: The Case of Terry George's Hotel Rwanda	p. 54
Hollywood's Cowboy Humanitarianism in Black Hawk Down and Tears of the Sun	p. 68
Again, the Darkness: Shake Hands with the Devil	p. 83
Ambiguities and Paradoxes: Framing Northern Intervention in The Constant Gardener	p. 96
Minstrelsy and Mythic Appetites: The Last King of Scotland's Heart of Darkness in the Jubilee Year of African Independence	p. 110
ôAn Image of Africa": Representations of Modern Colonialism in Africa in Peter Jackson s King Kong	p. 125
Plus Ça Change, Plus C'est la Même Chose: Hollywood's Constructions of Africa in Lord of War	p. 143
New Jack African Cinema: Dangerous Ground; Cry, the Beloved Country; and Blood Diamond	p. 157
"It Is a Very Rough Game, Almost as Rough as Politics": Rugby as Visual Metaphor and the Future of the New South Africa in Invictus	p. 177
"Every Brother Ain't a Brother": Cultural Dissonance and Nigerian Malaise in District g's New South Africa	p. 193
Coaxing the Beast Out of the Cage: Secrecy and Disclosure in Red Dust and Catch a Fire	p. 207
Situating Agency in Blood Diamond and Ezra	p. 222
Bye Bye Hollywood: African Cinema and Its Double in Mahamet-Saleh Haroun's Bye Bye Africa	p. 240
List of Contributors	p. 261
Index	p. 267
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.