3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Different natures: an ecocritical analysis of selected films by Terrence Malick, Werner Herzog and Sean Penn(2012-07-31) Van Wyk, KarlHumanity’s relationship with nature has, in recent years, undoubtedly been one of contention and turmoil, an issue whose drama is gaining popularity in popular culture and, especially, film. In this dissertation I examine how these challenging human-nature relationships play out in Terrence Malick’s The New World, Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, Sean Penn’s Into the Wild, and the Jon Krakauer book, of the same title, upon which Penn’s film is based. As one’s views on nature (like all else) are mediated through language, using ecocritical principles slanted towards filmic, as opposed to written, texts, I provide a close examination of the ways in which these artists portray the relationship between language and nature, and the impact this has on our cultural and individual identities. I will also show how these primary texts make use of centuries-old Romantic aesthetics in order to humanise nature for moral ends. The primary texts agree that a large part of the problem in the poor relationship between humanity and nature is due to inadequate metaphors with which humanity views the earth. Thus, each artist promotes a certain kind of anthropomorphic understanding of nature which he believes is pivotal in encouraging better interconnections between humanity and nature. As a result, I provide a critique of the kinds of metaphors used by each respective artist, where some metaphors of nature may support or contradict a certain artist’s aims in his portrayal of human-nature relationships.Item An investigation into nationalism and national allegory within South African post-apartheid film(2009-01-21T11:48:47Z) Oberholzer, Christoffel JohannesAbstract The aim of this research paper is to investigate the allegorical and national qualities present within South African post-apartheid cinema. Through the production of a satirical short film, an analysis of key texts by Frederic Jameson and Aijaz Ahmad, as well as a comparative breakdown of French and Australian national cinema, these topics will be explored and unpacked. The South African film environment establishes itself as one dominated by internationally produced films and one that utilises indigenous cultural aspects in order to compete against this dominance. This study identifies the specific techniques employed by South African filmmakers and highlights the successes and pitfalls of doing so. By examining the film careers of Darrell Roodt and producer Anant Singh, this paper identifies South African cinema as one with a focus on international goals, aspirations and audiences, while it neglects its own local audience and development. This research then proposes ways in which to resolve this problem by drawing on examples from other national cinemas.Item Brother Tarantino in the mosque: An analysis of the cultural and political instrumentality of satire in "The Lizard" (2004)(2008-12-02T13:17:16Z) Tavernaro-Haidarian, LeylaAgainst the backdrop of a possible US military attack on Iran, this report examines a film that advances the case for independent political reform from within Iran’s borders. The case study analyzes the cultural and political instrumentality of satire in Kamal Tabrizi’s film, The Lizard (2004). By determining the socio-political restrictions that inform Iran’s society and film industry, it demonstrates that The Lizard uses satire to transgress the value-system that the Iranian theocracy is upheld by. The study draws on narrative analysis to explore the film’s satiric devices of parody and masquerade and discusses their significance in creating new images of clergy that combine to build an alternative reality to the one portrayed in mainstream Iranian media. The report argues that this utopian space undermines the established order by redefining or rejecting the terms and dichotomies communicated through its official channels.Item The Incredible Journey of Freddy Reddy(2006-11-16T07:53:47Z) Lauf, Kyle RadfordThis is an historical documentary about an individual’s remarkable journey, one which starts in Durban in 1957 and ends with the protagonist’s arrival in London later the same year before he would subsequently move to Oslo in 1961. The documentary is intended primarily for a South African television audience. As such, it is a history to be apprehended visually rather than in writing, and to a large and heterogeneous, though primarily South African audience. The documentary is actually about two journeys: the physical overland African passage to Europe with its various episodes, and the journey of an ambitious young adult from a humble and disadvantaged background with only a primary school education. It culminates with him gaining acceptance for study of medicine at a Norwegian university, where he would eventually qualify as a doctor and later as a psychiatrist. Though set against the backdrop of the emerging political opposition to apartheid, the documentary is a somewhat depoliticised personal history – the biographical narrative of an old man who accomplished something in his youth which altered his whole life. It is not primarily a political history, nor is it a narrative about the experience of exile. The documentary attempts to locate a historical and spatial context from where the protagonist emerged, but does not attempt to portray the history of South African Indians as a racial or cultural group, per se.Item Theoretical investigation of the Optical Kerr effect and Third-Harmonic Generation in AU-VO2 thin-films.(2006-03-22) Nkulu, Mulunda FranlyThe theoretical investigation of the Optical Kerr Effect (OKE) and Third- Harmonic Generation (THG) of Au-VO2 nanocomposite thin-films undertaken in this project is motivated by the potential use of the Au-VO2 nanocomposite in nonlinear optical (NLO) devices. NLO devices are a driving force in today fs high technology industry. In this thesis the OKE is estimated and computed and will be compared later to the measured OKE using the Z-scan interferometric laser technique [47]. This is a simple yet highly sensitive single-beam experimental technique used to determine the real part of the dielectric susceptibility. The study of the OKE in these composites has shown that it has a high value, comparable to that found in Au-SiO2, Au-TiO2 and Au-Al2O3 thin-films [29, 33]. This is despite the fact that the Au volumetric concentration in the Au-VO2 composites considered here is 10 percent at most, whereas in the other above mentioned composite thin-films the volumetric concentration range was between 5 − 60 percent. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the OKE is thermally tunable in the Au-VO2 thin-films, owing to the thermally tunable optical properties of the VO2 [8, 38]. It is found that the magnitude of the OKE is of the order of 10−6 esu when the composite is below 68 0C and it is of the order of 10−7 esu when the nanocomposite thin-film is above 68 0C. The large enhancement of the OKE is due to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of the nanogold particles. Its fast response, which is of the order of few picoseconds [4, 6, 7], makes the Au-VO2 nanocomposite a good candidate as a fast thermally tunable optical switch or modulator. The modelling here of high-order harmonic generation in strongly absorbing media, as regards the amplitude of the primary beam, takes into account pump attenuation only, due to the absorption of light by the media. It is not concerned with pump depletion which is a consequence of the transfer of energy to the harmonics and which is small by comparison with attenuation in absorbing media. The modelling is applied to the so-called transmission and reflection configurations. The former refers to the case in which the high-order harmonic wave is monitored in the same direction as the input fundamental wave, whereas the latter describes the situation in which the fundamental wave is in the opposite direction to the high-order harmonic one. To analyse high-order harmonic generation one has to relate the high-order harmonic intensity to the fundamental intensity [1, 9, 10, 34-36]. In so doing, a general formula for analysing high-order harmonic generation is obtained and reduced to the particular case pertaining to THG in strongly absorbing media. The ratio of the third-harmonic intensity to the fundamental intensity is termed the conversion coefficient or the conversion efficiency, and it is denoted by ƒÅ [23, 34]. It is useful in the sense that it expresses quantitatively the amount of input light of frequency ƒÖ converted into light of frequency nƒÖ, where n is the order of nonlinear polarisation [1]. It is found that the THG conversion coefficient is higher the higher the laser intensity. It is thus advantageous to use a pulsed laser, which achieved very high intensities for short periods, separated by long off periods. The net harmonic output in this case is much higher than one would obtain with a continous laser of the same average output. It is found here that ƒÅ is greater in the reflection configuration compared to the transmission one above and below Tt in the photon energy range 1.0 − 3.0 eV, see Fig. 5.1 to 5.8. However, the conversion efficiency for THG in the Au-VO2 nanocomposites for the picoseconds laser illumination we have considered, is still extremely low, and it is difficult to see a potential use for this system as a tunable frequency converter. The situation would become more favorable with the use of femtosecond laser pulses, where for the same pulse energy the intensity is much greater. The laser pulse energy must be limited to avoid excessive heating of the thin-film. The heat generated as a consequence of the illumination of the thin-film by the laser [23] may be controlled by using a simple cooling device which consists of a substrate on which the thin-film is deposited. The choice of such a substrate depends on whether THG is monitored in the transmission or reflection configuration. In the former a transparent substrate must be used (for example diamond) whereas in the latter an opaque substrate may be used (for example Ag). Calculations pertaining to the removal of heat from the illuminated film are reported, and show that thermal control is manageable but only within limits. To avoid a temperature rise of more than 5 0K the peak laser intensity we found must not exceed 7.4 ~105Wcm−2 with a pulse duration of 5 ps.