The viewer as conscript : dynamic struggles for ideological supremacy in the South African Border War film, 1971-1988

Includes bibliographical references.Fourteen South African films made between 1971 and 1988, and dealing with the Border War, are examined. The focus of this examination is on the ways in which films were used to persuade the white public to accept the legitimacy of the Border War. The period under examination is one during which the Apartheid government moved South African society ever closer to what has been termed a 'garrison state'. Rather than following the approach indicated by the notion of 'film as history', the current work attempts to use films as sources of data to explicate the nature of the ideological manipulation at stake in each case