South African Film Analysis

Contemporary South African filmmaking can be faulted in its tendency to portray South Africa through stereotypical connotations and representations. For instance, this is evident through Jordache Ellapen’s journal, The cinematic township: cinematic representations of the ‘township space’ and who can claim the rights to representation in post-apartheid South African cinema, which suggests that “[in] post-apartheid South African filmmaking there appears to be a ‘fixing’ or ‘freezing’ of an authentic black experience within the ‘township space’ which serves to essentialise black identity and the black experience” (2007:113). Furthermore, this creates the assumption that South African cinema employs the township area as a means of representing the black identity and culture. Thus, suggesting contemporary South African filmmaking to be inclined to representing South Africa through stereotypical connotations. Moreover, such claims examine the consequences of contemporary filmmaking with specific reference to the future orientation of South African films. This essay critically analyses the film adaptation of Caryl Férey’s Zulu against the backdrop of Lindiwe Dovey’s article, Redeeming Features: From

In addition, while Tsotsi was faulted for the portrayal of this particular gangster group, City of Violence/Zulu provides a more authentic portrayal. For instance, as suggested by Dovey, a tsotsi “refers to a type of streetwise criminal who operates in the larger South African townships… [and] spoke what is called tsotsi taal, [which] is a mixture of Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans etc.” (2007:153), and is identified within the film through the character of Cat and