Abstract
(A revised, full paper will be published in the journal Mediekultur, spring 2014)
This paper explores two examples of narratives representing memories of acts of mass violence: Gzim Rewind (Sweden, 2011, director Knutte Wester) about 1990’s Kosovo, and The Act of Killing (Denmark, 2012, director Joshua Oppenheimer) about 1960’s Indonesia. The two films, in very different ways, focus on persons who tell about their involvement in acts of mass violence. Both films are told as "a film within a film" and experiment with “documentary” as genre.
The two film projects and audiences are analyzed from perspectives of semiosis (meaning-making) in relation to the films as redefining genres and what sorts of meanings different audiences create about the films.
Acts of mass violence, including murder on civilians, genocide, and wars, can be seen as seeds for memories of the involved persons and following generations. Acts of mass violence also construct a sort of looking glass of culturally dominant memories that are mediated through stories: retold as oral stories through generations, as myths or sagas, or remediated in contemporary documentary or fiction films. In these processes of retelling acts of violence, there are transformations of meanings across time, media, cultural, social and political contexts – which influence audience reception.
The theoretical perspectives are on the construction of meaning-making, culture, and self as dialogic (Bakhtin) and socially constructed (Gergen), and on media culture as convergent with evolving genres. From a socio-cultural linguistic perspective, a standardization of meaning-making (Machin and van Leeuwen) affects our reading, viewing, sense of identity within families, culture, nation-states, and notions of enemy. In the discussion, we consider how mediated memories affect audiences differently, and generate political and cultural understandings through reflectivity about past acts of violence.
This paper explores two examples of narratives representing memories of acts of mass violence: Gzim Rewind (Sweden, 2011, director Knutte Wester) about 1990’s Kosovo, and The Act of Killing (Denmark, 2012, director Joshua Oppenheimer) about 1960’s Indonesia. The two films, in very different ways, focus on persons who tell about their involvement in acts of mass violence. Both films are told as "a film within a film" and experiment with “documentary” as genre.
The two film projects and audiences are analyzed from perspectives of semiosis (meaning-making) in relation to the films as redefining genres and what sorts of meanings different audiences create about the films.
Acts of mass violence, including murder on civilians, genocide, and wars, can be seen as seeds for memories of the involved persons and following generations. Acts of mass violence also construct a sort of looking glass of culturally dominant memories that are mediated through stories: retold as oral stories through generations, as myths or sagas, or remediated in contemporary documentary or fiction films. In these processes of retelling acts of violence, there are transformations of meanings across time, media, cultural, social and political contexts – which influence audience reception.
The theoretical perspectives are on the construction of meaning-making, culture, and self as dialogic (Bakhtin) and socially constructed (Gergen), and on media culture as convergent with evolving genres. From a socio-cultural linguistic perspective, a standardization of meaning-making (Machin and van Leeuwen) affects our reading, viewing, sense of identity within families, culture, nation-states, and notions of enemy. In the discussion, we consider how mediated memories affect audiences differently, and generate political and cultural understandings through reflectivity about past acts of violence.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Book of Abstracts for CCCS 2013 Conference “Cultural Memory” |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Place of Publication | Skopje |
| Publisher | Center for Culture and Cultural Studies |
| Publication date | 5 Sept 2013 |
| Pages | 23-23 |
| Publication status | Published - 5 Sept 2013 |
| Event | CCCS Annual Conference 2013 : Cultural Memory - Hotel Continental, Skopje, Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Duration: 5 Sept 2013 → 7 Sept 2013 http://www.cultcenter.net/conf2013.php |
Conference
| Conference | CCCS Annual Conference 2013 |
|---|---|
| Location | Hotel Continental |
| Country/Territory | Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of |
| City | Skopje |
| Period | 05/09/2013 → 07/09/2013 |
| Internet address |