This thesis examines the cinematic cyborg as a figure which embodies technophobic fears expressed in film. By exploring the cyborg's representation, I will show how its portrayal in film expresses...Show moreThis thesis examines the cinematic cyborg as a figure which embodies technophobic fears expressed in film. By exploring the cyborg's representation, I will show how its portrayal in film expresses these technophobic fears, which are, as I will show, interwoven with xenophobia. The cyborg is viewed here as a figure in which technophobia and xenophobia collide. I will examine the so-called preferred meaning expressed in my case studies, which are eight films featuring a cyborg protagonist released in a period of three decades. Moreover, I will compare these messages to see if and how the expressions of technophobia differ and whether they change over time.Show less
This thesis argues that within the medium of photography during Protectorate Morocco, four agents of power (French protectorate policy, French social science, commercial tourism, and the...Show moreThis thesis argues that within the medium of photography during Protectorate Morocco, four agents of power (French protectorate policy, French social science, commercial tourism, and the photographer himself) are connected and collaborate in constructing and using photography for their own interests. By analysing part of the photo collection of the French photographer Jacques Belin, who worked in Morocco between 1939 and 1961, I argue in what way these four domains were of influence in the production, construction, and use of Belin’s work. I state that these four collaborated and reinforced each other and resulted in the construction of Belin’s work. At times, France’s mission civilisatrice was the bigger picture holding the whole project together; at other times the aesthetic value or ethnographic interests were more dominant than those of the colonial mission. It is thus a much-needed contextualization of an individual photographer and the specific conditions to his work, to understand the workings of power within a larger context of photography and that of twentieth-century French colonialism.Show less
Casting the Other in a villainous light has been a trend long known in the U.S. entertainment business. Asian villains have been employed since the late 19th century, leading to the birth of the...Show moreCasting the Other in a villainous light has been a trend long known in the U.S. entertainment business. Asian villains have been employed since the late 19th century, leading to the birth of the yellow peril trope in entertainment narratives. More recently a trend of shifting this yellow peril trope from Chinese, Japanese, or any other Asian nationality to North Korean has appeared. Since the late 20th, but mostly 21st, century there has been an increase of North Korean antagonism in entertainment media. This thesis examines this shift and attempts to explain and explore this, including the effects essentialist representations (could) have on the consumer. This is done by analysing 3 films and 2 video games, all dealing with North Korean antagonism as narrative. There are also parallels drawn between the increase of North Korean antagonism in fiction and real politics, as fiction often feeds off of reality to create dramatic storylines.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
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In 2004, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh made the anti-Islam film Submission. Four years later, Geert Wilders published his own anti-Islam film, Fitna. These movies were both a reason for and a...Show moreIn 2004, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh made the anti-Islam film Submission. Four years later, Geert Wilders published his own anti-Islam film, Fitna. These movies were both a reason for and a consequence of a Dutch sociopolitical climate in which anti-Islam sentiments were widely spread. Using academic literature about orientalism, media and gender, such as described by Edward Said as well as many others, I researched the use of orientalist characteristics in representing Muslims and the Islam in both of these movies, paying attention to the texts, visual aspects and implications of the films, as well as looking at the intentions of the makers and the place of the movies in the wider Dutch context.Show less
