{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8128"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8128","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Make-believe : claiming the real in contemporary fiction cinema","abstract":"This thesis examines the ways in which certain contemporary fiction cinema posits its narratives as real. Looking at a broad overview of realist movements through the history of cinema, it draws out the codes and conventions which filmmakers have employed and suggests that realist cinema is typically characterised by its focus on creating a sense of presence and immediacy. It describes how a strand of selfreflexivity can be traced throughout the history of realist cinema and asserts that this tendency has become increasingly predominant in a more sceptical postmodern climate. The study focuses on the interplay between the cinematography and the setting (to create a sense of locatedness and contextual specificity) in Matthieu Kassovitz's La Haine (1995), on Lars Von Trier's quest for a \"naked\" film stripped of its cosmetic trappings, and his pursuit of the \"genuine\" moment within that (in The Idiots, 1998), on Mike Leigh's use of improvisation and byplay to encourage a sense of authenticity in performance in Secrets and Lies (1996), and on Richard Linklater's reworking of the romance genre for a postmodern audience in Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004).","abstract_html":"This thesis examines the ways in which certain contemporary fiction cinema posits its narratives as real. Looking at a broad overview of realist movements through the history of cinema, it draws out the codes and conventions which filmmakers have employed and suggests that realist cinema is typically characterised by its focus on creating a sense of presence and immediacy. It describes how a strand of selfreflexivity can be traced throughout the history of realist cinema and asserts that this tendency has become increasingly predominant in a more sceptical postmodern climate. The study focuses on the interplay between the cinematography and the setting (to create a sense of locatedness and contextual specificity) in Matthieu Kassovitz's La Haine (1995), on Lars Von Trier's quest for a "naked" film stripped of its cosmetic trappings, and his pursuit of the "genuine" moment within that (in The Idiots, 1998), on Mike Leigh's use of improvisation and byplay to encourage a sense of authenticity in performance in Secrets and Lies (1996), and on Richard Linklater's reworking of the romance genre for a postmodern audience in Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004).","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Van der Vliet, Emma"],"institution":"Centre for Film and Media Studies","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Marx, Lesley"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2008,"date_issued":"2008","date_published":"2008","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:34Z","subjects":[],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8128","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Marx, Lesley"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Van der Vliet, Emma"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-10-06T11:25:57Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-10-06T11:25:57Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2008"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Centre for Film and Media Studies"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cape Town"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Doctoral Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["PhD"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8128"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Includes abstract.","Includes bibliographical references (leaves [212]-226)."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis examines the ways in which certain contemporary fiction cinema posits its narratives as real. Looking at a broad overview of realist movements through the history of cinema, it draws out the codes and conventions which filmmakers have employed and suggests that realist cinema is typically characterised by its focus on creating a sense of presence and immediacy. It describes how a strand of selfreflexivity can be traced throughout the history of realist cinema and asserts that this tendency has become increasingly predominant in a more sceptical postmodern climate. 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Looking at a broad overview of realist movements through the history of cinema, it draws out the codes and conventions which filmmakers have employed and suggests that realist cinema is typically characterised by its focus on creating a sense of presence and immediacy. It describes how a strand of selfreflexivity can be traced throughout the history of realist cinema and asserts that this tendency has become increasingly predominant in a more sceptical postmodern climate. The study focuses on the interplay between the cinematography and the setting (to create a sense of locatedness and contextual specificity) in Matthieu Kassovitz's La Haine (1995), on Lars Von Trier's quest for a \"naked\" film stripped of its cosmetic trappings, and his pursuit of the \"genuine\" moment within that (in The Idiots, 1998), on Mike Leigh's use of improvisation and byplay to encourage a sense of authenticity in performance in Secrets and Lies (1996), and on Richard Linklater's reworking of the romance genre for a postmodern audience in Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004)."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8128"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["Centre for Film and Media Studies"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cape Town"],"dc:title":["Make-believe : claiming the real in contemporary fiction cinema"],"dc:type":["Doctoral Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:34Z"}