“Only the Dead will be Innocent": Interpreting Colonialism and Violence Through Contemporary French Films on the Algerian War
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Date
2016-06
Authors
Carey, Sarah Jane
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
In recent years, the Algerian War, long a taboo topic in France, has begun to
receive attention in public discourse and mainstream media, including several recent
films. In my work, I analyze five contemporary French films' portrayals of the war,
asking what these films say about the ways in which violent, oppressive colonial
relations harm both the colonizer and the colonized. I engage with the theories of Albert
Memmi, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Albert Camus, and argue that these films simultaneously
illustrate and complicate these philosophers' theories·or the colonizer as a perpetrator of
violence. I argue that these films' graphic portrayals of the degrading effects of violence
on colonizers and colonized alike challenge Frantz Fanon's theory of the essential,
cathartic, and redeeming role of violence in revolutions. My research contributes
uniquely to the growing body of scholarship on the Algerian War, by addressing these
films philosophically and revealing how the war continues to inform French identity.
My research comes at a pivotal moment as France becomes increasingly involved in the
growing conflicts in the Middle East and Northern Africa and is reminded of its colonial
history. Finally. my research helps shed light on the effects of systematic oppression
and violence on people in the world at large.
Description
169 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Philosophy and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Spring 2016.
Keywords
Algerian War, Decolonial philosophy, Algerian War, War films, Colonialism, Violence, French Algeria, French cinema