Emiel Martens | University of Amsterdam (original) (raw)
Papers by Emiel Martens
Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, 2017
The popular American television series How to Get Away with Murder (2014) seems to challenge the ... more The popular American television series How to Get Away with Murder (2014) seems to challenge the long history of stereotypical roles assigned to racial minorities in American media by choosing a multiracial cast to impersonate characters that, while having different racial backgrounds, share a similar socioeconomic status and have multidimensional personalities that distance them from the common stereotypes. However, although it has been praised for its portrayal of racial diversity, the series operates within a problematic logic of racial colour-blindness, disconnecting the main characters from any sign of racial specificity and creating a fictional world in which racism is no longer part of American society. This case study aims to demonstrate to which extent the " colour-blind approach " of the TV show reinforces the postracial illusion in the United States, i.e. the idea that the country has overcome its past of racial segregation and now offers the same opportunities for everyone, regardless of colour and race. Through a narrative analysis of the first season of the series, this chapter will argue that the depiction of race in How to Get Away with Murder is highly ambivalent. On the one hand, the show does not completely ignore race by inserting topics such as racism in the plot, giving these issues at least some visibility. On the other hand, its more general panorama reveals an intent to deracialise its main characters in a colour-blind manner. This is problematic since it overshadows racial issues that still have a big impact on the lives of racial minorities.
ISSN: 2009-4078
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 2016
Review essay of – Radical Moves: Caribbean Migrants and the Politics of Race in the Jazz Age, by... more Review essay of
– Radical Moves: Caribbean Migrants and the Politics of Race in the Jazz
Age, by Lara Putman. Chapell Hill: University of Carolina Press, 2013.
– Remixing Reggaetón: The Cultural Politics of Race in Puerto Rico, by Petra
R. Rivera-Rideau. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2015.
– Roy Cape: A Life on the Calypso and Soca Bandstand, by Joycelyne
Guilbault and Roy Cape. Durham and London: Duke University Press,
2014.
– Broadcasting Modernity: Cuban Commercial Television, 1950-1960, by
Yeidy M. Rivero. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2015.
Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies/revue d'études interculturelle de l'image, 2015
To Cite this Article: Saulter, Storm and Emiel Martens. “Guest Artist - Storm Saulter - Portfoli... more To Cite this Article:
Saulter, Storm and Emiel Martens. “Guest Artist - Storm Saulter - Portfolio” Imaginations
6:2 (2015): Web (date accessed) 10-17. DOI: 10.17742/IMAGE.CCN.6-2.2
To Link to this article:
http://dx.doi.org/10.17742/IMAGE.CCN.6-2.2
Pim de la Parra (1940) is a seasoned and prolific Surinamese filmmaker with over 50 years of expe... more Pim de la Parra (1940) is a seasoned and prolific Surinamese filmmaker with over 50 years of experience in independent feature filmmaking. His film career began in the Netherlands in the 1960s where De la Parra rapidly established himself as a charismatic pioneer of Dutch film. Together with his former school friend Wim Verstappen, he shook up the Dutch film industry by producing a profitable series of low-budget erotic feature films, of which Blue Movie (1971) still ranks in the top five of most successful Dutch theatrical films. This success enabled De la Parra to make two more expensive movies outside the Netherlands, one in his native Suriname. In the 1970s, the filmmaker produced Wan Pipel (1976), the first Surinamese feature film ever made; in 1980s, he made Odyssée d’Amour (1987), the first Dutch feature film set on the Dutch-Caribbean island of Bonaire. Both films flopped at the Dutch box office, which forced De la Parra to return to low-budget filmmaking. He became a master of what he calls the minimal movie and put out multiple films in only a few years’ time. In 1995, after successive disillusionments, De la Parra retired from the world of filmmaking and settled in Suriname. However, his passion for filmmaking remained strong and eventually led him to launch the Surinamese Film Academy in 2005. The Academy’s learning-by-doing program benefits from De la Parra’s extensive experiences in the field of low-budget filmmaking. In pursuit of his dream of a local film culture in Suriname and the rest of the Caribbean, the now 72-year-old filmmaker tirelessly passes on his pragmatic model of minimal movie making to the next generation. This interview chronicles his long illustrious career spanning over five decades.
To Cite this Article: Martens, Emiel. “A Paradox in Caribbean Cinema? An Interview with Minimal Movie Filmmaker Pim de la Parra, Pragmatic Dreamer from Suriname” Imaginations 6:2 (2015): Web (date accessed) 84-97. DOI: 10.17742/IMAGE.CCN.6-2.8.
Storm Saulter is a Jamaican filmmaker, photographer, and visual artist. He is best known for dire... more Storm Saulter is a Jamaican filmmaker, photographer, and visual artist. He is best known for directing the award-winning Jamaican feature film Better Mus’ Come (2010) and for co-founding New Caribbean Cinema, a DIY (Do It Yourself) collective of young filmmakers in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean dedicated to creating a new wave of Caribbean filmmaking. Together they have already produced a series of short films under the title Ring di Alarm (2012), which was shown around the world before coming home to packed theatres in Kingston in August 2014. In the following interview, which took place via Skype on November 12, 2014, Storm Saulter talks about his career as a filmmaker in Jamaica and discusses his work in the context of Caribbean cinema and society.
To Cite this Article:
Martens, Emiel. “Towards a New Caribbean Cinema? An Interview with Jamaican Filmmaker Storm Saulter.” Imaginations 6:2 (2015): Web (date accessed) 10-17. DOI: 10.17742/IMAGE.CCN.6-2.3.
International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies., 2012
This article examines the evolution of Maori filmmaking since the 1980s and explores the Indigeno... more This article examines the evolution of Maori filmmaking since the 1980s and explores the Indigenous cinema in the context of developments in the New Zealand film industry. It does so by focusing on the predominantly state-funded production of Maori feature films while having Barry Barclay’s idea of Fourth Cinema in mind. This essay is divided in three parts. The first part traces the beginnings of Maori cinema back to the 1970s and introduces the first three feature films directed by a Maori filmmaker, Ngati (Barry Barclay, 1987), Mauri (Merata Mita, 1988), and Te Rua (Barry Barclay, 1991). The second part discusses the mainstream success of Once Were Warriors (Lee Tamahori, 1994) and the film’s paradoxical contribution to Maori cinema in the 1990s. The third and final part explores the intensified course of state-funded Maori filmmaking since the 2000s and addresses some of the opportunities and challenges facing the Indigenous cinema in the current environment of institutional and commercial globalization.
In 1990 unknown Maori author Alan Duff suddenly became both famous and notorious in New Zealand f... more In 1990 unknown Maori author Alan Duff suddenly became both famous and notorious in New Zealand for his first novel Once Were Warriors. The violent story of a poor urban Maori family aroused much controversy in New Zealand society, and the Maori community in particular. Many Maori commentators condemned the novel for its negative and allegedly racist portrayal of the indigenous Maori people, accusing Duff for hanging out the dirty linen and blaming the victim. Four years later, the homonymous film by Maori director Lee Tamahori led to similar fame and controversy. On the one hand, critics strongly disapproved of the commercial indigenous film on social, political and aesthetic grounds. On the other hand however, Once Were Warriors became the most successful motion picture in the history of New Zealand cinema, grossing over 6.7 million NZ dollars in the national box office and reaching a large international audience. Once Were Warriors was not just a novel or film, but a powerful cultural representation which had a significant impact on New Zealand society.
In this richly illustrated book Emiel Martens examines the impact of Once Were Warriors in Aotearoa New Zealand by exploring the two cultural representations (with a specific emphasis on the film) and their aftermath in postcolonial New Zealand society: Why did Once Were Warriors cause such a controversy within the Maori community? Which were the underlying metaphors of the public debate on both the novel and the film in New Zealand society? And what did the heated reception of Once Were Warriors say about the position and identity of the indigenous Maori people within modern New Zealand? Bringing together a wide variety of popular and academic texts, the author discusses these urgent questions in relation to timely New Zealand and wider postcolonial issues such as racial stereotypes, cultural politics, ethnic relations, indigenous media and Maori identity. As an interdisciplinary Cultural Studies endeavour, this book is surprisingly accessible and will prove interesting reading for anyone who wishes to know more about cultural identity, postcolonial representation and indigenous filmmaking in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Book Reviews by Emiel Martens
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 2017
Film review of Pimento and Hot Pepper: The Story of Mento Music
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 2015
Book review of The People’s Poet: Life and Myth of Ismael Rivera, an Afro-Caribbean Icon
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 2010
Book review of On Location in Cuba: Street Filmmaking during Times of Transition in the European ... more Book review of On Location in Cuba: Street Filmmaking during Times of Transition in the European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (ERLACS), 2016
Book review of Entrepreneurial Selves: Neoliberal Respectability and the Making of a Caribbean Mi... more Book review of Entrepreneurial Selves: Neoliberal Respectability and the Making of a Caribbean Middle Class in the European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (ERLACS).
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2017
Review of Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject in the Historical Journal of Film,... more Review of Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject in the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television.
Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, 2017
The popular American television series How to Get Away with Murder (2014) seems to challenge the ... more The popular American television series How to Get Away with Murder (2014) seems to challenge the long history of stereotypical roles assigned to racial minorities in American media by choosing a multiracial cast to impersonate characters that, while having different racial backgrounds, share a similar socioeconomic status and have multidimensional personalities that distance them from the common stereotypes. However, although it has been praised for its portrayal of racial diversity, the series operates within a problematic logic of racial colour-blindness, disconnecting the main characters from any sign of racial specificity and creating a fictional world in which racism is no longer part of American society. This case study aims to demonstrate to which extent the " colour-blind approach " of the TV show reinforces the postracial illusion in the United States, i.e. the idea that the country has overcome its past of racial segregation and now offers the same opportunities for everyone, regardless of colour and race. Through a narrative analysis of the first season of the series, this chapter will argue that the depiction of race in How to Get Away with Murder is highly ambivalent. On the one hand, the show does not completely ignore race by inserting topics such as racism in the plot, giving these issues at least some visibility. On the other hand, its more general panorama reveals an intent to deracialise its main characters in a colour-blind manner. This is problematic since it overshadows racial issues that still have a big impact on the lives of racial minorities.
ISSN: 2009-4078
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 2016
Review essay of – Radical Moves: Caribbean Migrants and the Politics of Race in the Jazz Age, by... more Review essay of
– Radical Moves: Caribbean Migrants and the Politics of Race in the Jazz
Age, by Lara Putman. Chapell Hill: University of Carolina Press, 2013.
– Remixing Reggaetón: The Cultural Politics of Race in Puerto Rico, by Petra
R. Rivera-Rideau. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2015.
– Roy Cape: A Life on the Calypso and Soca Bandstand, by Joycelyne
Guilbault and Roy Cape. Durham and London: Duke University Press,
2014.
– Broadcasting Modernity: Cuban Commercial Television, 1950-1960, by
Yeidy M. Rivero. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2015.
Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies/revue d'études interculturelle de l'image, 2015
To Cite this Article: Saulter, Storm and Emiel Martens. “Guest Artist - Storm Saulter - Portfoli... more To Cite this Article:
Saulter, Storm and Emiel Martens. “Guest Artist - Storm Saulter - Portfolio” Imaginations
6:2 (2015): Web (date accessed) 10-17. DOI: 10.17742/IMAGE.CCN.6-2.2
To Link to this article:
http://dx.doi.org/10.17742/IMAGE.CCN.6-2.2
Pim de la Parra (1940) is a seasoned and prolific Surinamese filmmaker with over 50 years of expe... more Pim de la Parra (1940) is a seasoned and prolific Surinamese filmmaker with over 50 years of experience in independent feature filmmaking. His film career began in the Netherlands in the 1960s where De la Parra rapidly established himself as a charismatic pioneer of Dutch film. Together with his former school friend Wim Verstappen, he shook up the Dutch film industry by producing a profitable series of low-budget erotic feature films, of which Blue Movie (1971) still ranks in the top five of most successful Dutch theatrical films. This success enabled De la Parra to make two more expensive movies outside the Netherlands, one in his native Suriname. In the 1970s, the filmmaker produced Wan Pipel (1976), the first Surinamese feature film ever made; in 1980s, he made Odyssée d’Amour (1987), the first Dutch feature film set on the Dutch-Caribbean island of Bonaire. Both films flopped at the Dutch box office, which forced De la Parra to return to low-budget filmmaking. He became a master of what he calls the minimal movie and put out multiple films in only a few years’ time. In 1995, after successive disillusionments, De la Parra retired from the world of filmmaking and settled in Suriname. However, his passion for filmmaking remained strong and eventually led him to launch the Surinamese Film Academy in 2005. The Academy’s learning-by-doing program benefits from De la Parra’s extensive experiences in the field of low-budget filmmaking. In pursuit of his dream of a local film culture in Suriname and the rest of the Caribbean, the now 72-year-old filmmaker tirelessly passes on his pragmatic model of minimal movie making to the next generation. This interview chronicles his long illustrious career spanning over five decades.
To Cite this Article: Martens, Emiel. “A Paradox in Caribbean Cinema? An Interview with Minimal Movie Filmmaker Pim de la Parra, Pragmatic Dreamer from Suriname” Imaginations 6:2 (2015): Web (date accessed) 84-97. DOI: 10.17742/IMAGE.CCN.6-2.8.
Storm Saulter is a Jamaican filmmaker, photographer, and visual artist. He is best known for dire... more Storm Saulter is a Jamaican filmmaker, photographer, and visual artist. He is best known for directing the award-winning Jamaican feature film Better Mus’ Come (2010) and for co-founding New Caribbean Cinema, a DIY (Do It Yourself) collective of young filmmakers in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean dedicated to creating a new wave of Caribbean filmmaking. Together they have already produced a series of short films under the title Ring di Alarm (2012), which was shown around the world before coming home to packed theatres in Kingston in August 2014. In the following interview, which took place via Skype on November 12, 2014, Storm Saulter talks about his career as a filmmaker in Jamaica and discusses his work in the context of Caribbean cinema and society.
To Cite this Article:
Martens, Emiel. “Towards a New Caribbean Cinema? An Interview with Jamaican Filmmaker Storm Saulter.” Imaginations 6:2 (2015): Web (date accessed) 10-17. DOI: 10.17742/IMAGE.CCN.6-2.3.
International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies., 2012
This article examines the evolution of Maori filmmaking since the 1980s and explores the Indigeno... more This article examines the evolution of Maori filmmaking since the 1980s and explores the Indigenous cinema in the context of developments in the New Zealand film industry. It does so by focusing on the predominantly state-funded production of Maori feature films while having Barry Barclay’s idea of Fourth Cinema in mind. This essay is divided in three parts. The first part traces the beginnings of Maori cinema back to the 1970s and introduces the first three feature films directed by a Maori filmmaker, Ngati (Barry Barclay, 1987), Mauri (Merata Mita, 1988), and Te Rua (Barry Barclay, 1991). The second part discusses the mainstream success of Once Were Warriors (Lee Tamahori, 1994) and the film’s paradoxical contribution to Maori cinema in the 1990s. The third and final part explores the intensified course of state-funded Maori filmmaking since the 2000s and addresses some of the opportunities and challenges facing the Indigenous cinema in the current environment of institutional and commercial globalization.
In 1990 unknown Maori author Alan Duff suddenly became both famous and notorious in New Zealand f... more In 1990 unknown Maori author Alan Duff suddenly became both famous and notorious in New Zealand for his first novel Once Were Warriors. The violent story of a poor urban Maori family aroused much controversy in New Zealand society, and the Maori community in particular. Many Maori commentators condemned the novel for its negative and allegedly racist portrayal of the indigenous Maori people, accusing Duff for hanging out the dirty linen and blaming the victim. Four years later, the homonymous film by Maori director Lee Tamahori led to similar fame and controversy. On the one hand, critics strongly disapproved of the commercial indigenous film on social, political and aesthetic grounds. On the other hand however, Once Were Warriors became the most successful motion picture in the history of New Zealand cinema, grossing over 6.7 million NZ dollars in the national box office and reaching a large international audience. Once Were Warriors was not just a novel or film, but a powerful cultural representation which had a significant impact on New Zealand society.
In this richly illustrated book Emiel Martens examines the impact of Once Were Warriors in Aotearoa New Zealand by exploring the two cultural representations (with a specific emphasis on the film) and their aftermath in postcolonial New Zealand society: Why did Once Were Warriors cause such a controversy within the Maori community? Which were the underlying metaphors of the public debate on both the novel and the film in New Zealand society? And what did the heated reception of Once Were Warriors say about the position and identity of the indigenous Maori people within modern New Zealand? Bringing together a wide variety of popular and academic texts, the author discusses these urgent questions in relation to timely New Zealand and wider postcolonial issues such as racial stereotypes, cultural politics, ethnic relations, indigenous media and Maori identity. As an interdisciplinary Cultural Studies endeavour, this book is surprisingly accessible and will prove interesting reading for anyone who wishes to know more about cultural identity, postcolonial representation and indigenous filmmaking in Aotearoa New Zealand.
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 2017
Film review of Pimento and Hot Pepper: The Story of Mento Music
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 2015
Book review of The People’s Poet: Life and Myth of Ismael Rivera, an Afro-Caribbean Icon
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 2010
Book review of On Location in Cuba: Street Filmmaking during Times of Transition in the European ... more Book review of On Location in Cuba: Street Filmmaking during Times of Transition in the European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (ERLACS), 2016
Book review of Entrepreneurial Selves: Neoliberal Respectability and the Making of a Caribbean Mi... more Book review of Entrepreneurial Selves: Neoliberal Respectability and the Making of a Caribbean Middle Class in the European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (ERLACS).
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2017
Review of Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject in the Historical Journal of Film,... more Review of Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject in the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television.