Drama and Film Confront Postmodernity

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Ali Dawson 208512421 Drama and Performance studies: 3B ‘Drama and film confront Postmodernity’ Essay 1: South African Textual Studies Due 13 September 2010 I confirm that all work is my own and has been referenced correctly Signed................................................................................................... In this essay I will discuss how three South African plays; Ubu and the Truth Commission, Tooth and Nail and Ipi Zombi are Postmodern in their form and structure. I will discuss how all three plays use ‘recontextualisation’. I will then go on to critically and comparatively examine the texts and how they engage with the Postmodern ideas of Intertextuality, History as narrative, Fragmentation, each of their narrative techniques and the relationship between the text and its context. It is evident that all three plays; Ubu and the Truth Commission, Tooth and Nail and Ipi Zombi, are Postmodern. This is evident as all three plays use history as a narrative, which is Postmodern, instead of history being kept as fact. All three plays are a response to the politics and events of the past and they look at how this has effected the present. The plays also reject the idea of meta-narrative and tell their stories from multiple perspectives. The ‘notion of truth’ is challenged by each play. It is then fair to say that all three plays are Postmodern as they are constructed with difference and variety as opposed to uniformity. I will begin by discussing how each play is intertextual. The title of Ubu and the Truth Commission reveals that the play is going to refer to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The play questions the TRC and its effectiveness using a tyrant, Ubu, as a main character, we see how the more he confesses; the more we see that he should not be granted amnesty. Intertextuality is evident by placing Ubu and the
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