Bodies for Sale – The Dark Side of Globalisation
Abstract
The author addresses the issue of the dark side of mobility and migration, paying particular at- tention to the phenomenon of human trafficking. Following theoretical work of Arjun Appadurai, Loska accepts the assumption that film as a carrier of ethnoscapes is a cultural text reflecting changes taking place and capable of showing social problems. This does not mean that the artistic fiction is ideologically innocent, as most of the films analysed by the author rely on schemas associated with particular genres of popular cinema. Members of Western cultures (both as script writers and the protagonists) speak in the name of the victims. Most films referred to by Loska confirm the thesis of Gayatri Spivak, that the subaltern are deprived of a voice. They are also not present in the audience, as the films are dedicated to the majority, who are in need of a catharsis. This does not mean however that this perspective should be abandoned as one involved in (neo)colonial ideology. Rather, while remaining aware of its limitations, one should extract from the texts belonging to the popular culture, that which allows one to identify and present the real threat: the problem of trafficking in women and forcing them into prostitution.
Keywords:
Arjun Appadurai, Gayatri Spivak, postcolonialismReferences
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Authors
Krzysztof Loskakwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Jagiellonian University Poland
Profesor Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, dyrektor Instytutu Sztuk Audiowizualnych, zajmuje się filmem japońskim i kulturą współczesną, autor książek, m.in.: Dziedzictwo McLuhana. Między nowoczesnością a ponowoczesnością (2001), Hitchcock - autor wśród gatunków (2002), David Cronenberg: rozpad ciała, rozpad gatunku (2003, wspólnie z Andrzejem Pitrusem), Encyklopedia filmu science fiction (2004), Tożsamość i media. O filmach Atoma Egoyana (2006), Poetyka filmu japońskiego (2009), Kenji Mizoguchi i wyobraźnia melodramatyczna (2012), Nowy film japoński (2013).
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