The Projection of Development : Cinematic Representation as An(other) Source of Authoritative Knowledge?
Popular representations of development need to be taken seriously (though not uncritically) as sources of authoritative knowledge, not least because they are how most people in the global north (and elsewhere) encounter development issues. To this...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/06/17875992/projection-development-cinematic-representation-another-source-authoritative-knowledge-projection-development-cinematic-representation-another-source-authoritative-knowledge http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15850 |
| Summary: | Popular representations of development
need to be taken seriously (though not uncritically) as
sources of authoritative knowledge, not least because they
are how most people in the global north (and elsewhere)
encounter development issues. To this end, this paper
presents three clusters of films on development: those
providing uniquely instructive insights, those unhelpfully
eliding and simplifying complex processes, and those that,
with the benefit of historical hindsight, usefully convey a
sense of the prevailing assumptions that guided and
interpreted the efficacy of interventions (whether of a
military, diplomatic or humanitarian nature) at a particular
time and place. The authors argue that the commercial and
technical imperatives governing the production of
contemporary films, and popular films in particular,
generate a highly variable capacity to accurately render key
issues in development, and thereby heighten their potential
to both illuminate and obscure those issues. |
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