Issues in teaching terrorism as cultural artefact

From a humanities course on terrorism that focuses on how terrorist ideology and acts are transformed into cultural artefacts, several pedagogical–theoretical issues have emerged: the incongruity of viewing terrorist violence as art; 9/11 as an ahistorical event; the impossibility of defining terrorism; the infiltration (trivialisation?) of terrorism into popular culture; subgenres of terrorist works, each with its own paradigm; and the iconoclastic potential of many terrorist texts and films. These issues have implications for the curricular design of terrorism courses and for the role of instructors – in academia and in the larger community.     

The Dynamics of Stereotyping: Is a New Image of the Terrorist Evolving in American Popular Culture?

This article considers popular ways of representing terror activists, and the metamorphoses that approaches to representation in the American media have undergone. A part of the article deals with terrorism in the media over time, common stereotypes, and how they affect the representation of Arabs and Muslims. The article then discusses Sleeper Cell (2005), a mini-series which focuses on a Jihad terror group. The article addresses questions including: How are Arabs and non-Arab Muslims portrayed in the series? Can a real change be observed over time in the method of portraying them? Twentieth-century historical considerations precede the pointed topical discussion.     

South African cinema after apartheid: A political-economic exploration

Abstract

When South Africa was emancipated from the oppressive apartheid regime in 1994, it was a severely divided society in need of an inclusive national identity to bind its citizens and maintain peace. Therefore, the state targeted the cultural industries, including film, as a means of promoting symbolic representations of national unity. The film industry was further identified as a priority sector for economic growth and as a potential platform for equitable redress. This article discusses existing and emerging finance, distribution and exhibition structures in the post-apartheid film industry. It considers government interventions in the form of film policies and development strategies with the purpose of examining the influence of globalising forces, in particular neoliberalism, on the apparent market-orientation of such interventions. The results presented indicate that the post-apartheid vision of equality, freedom and diversity does not always sit comfortably with the neoliberal, free-market principles promoted in the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) programme of 1996. Moreover, it suggests that in this commercial environment, the voices of the historically oppressed black majority, rather than enjoying a sense of artistic and creative freedom, can in fact encounter commercial censorship through the commodification of films for an export-orientated market.     

The rise of film production and the politics of the star system in South Africa

ABSTRACT

The rise of film production and the ubiquitous presence of the ‘new wave’ of South African films on the international scene in recent years have raised expectations amongst local film stars hoping to get their biggest break by taking leading roles in major South African productions. However, most of these films – particularly co-productions – have continuously used foreign stars in leading roles. As a result, local stars have constantly voiced concerns about the proliferation of foreign artists in leading roles in South African productions. Many explanations have been offered in trying to understand why filmmakers tend to cast a foreign star when a local one could probably do a better job (in, for example, portraying a local icon like Nelson Mandela) and still command a lesser fee. However, this article puts forward that most of these arguments are based on intuition rather than on the real dynamics and externalities governing this practice. The article attempts to make sense of this issue by arguing that the rationale for this practice stems from a film being a high-risk investment that it is driven by the broader financial imperatives of film production. The article offers empirical evidence to suggest that stars do not add economic value to the film, but to themselves (see Elberse 2005), since the bulk of the money goes towards their appearance fees. It is concluded that the traditional model guiding film finance and the logic behind it need to be looked at afresh, given the fact that several films have failed at the box office, both locally and internationally, despite featuring major foreign stars, compared to the massive success of some local films (e.g., Jerusalema, Tsotsi and Yesterday) with local stars in the leading roles.     

著作权法中“合理使用”与公共利益研究

一般认为著作权法是私法,以保障著作权人的利益为归依.然而,随着网络时代著作权人专有权的不断扩张,作为限制著作权人权利的合理使用制度越来受到重视.一方面,合理使用制度保障了公众对作品的接近、增进了知识和学习、促进了民主文化;另一方面,公共利益又是判定某一使用作品的行为是否为合理使用的重要指标.从公共利益视角审视合理使用制度,分析两者之间的关系,具有重要的学术意义和实践价值.     

中国内地与香港特区侵犯著作权犯罪刑法立法比较研究

本文对中国内地与香港特区侵犯著作权犯罪的立法模式、罪名体系、主观要件、客观要件、法律后果等方面进行了全面的比较和分析,并相应指出其差异及优缺点,以期为两地著作权刑事立法的相互吸收和借鉴以及合作打击跨境侵犯著作权犯罪提供理论上的支持。     

创意保护的法律路径

创意的法律保护是近年来许多国家创意产业发展中面临的一个基础性命题和共同难题。创意应具有新颖性和具体性。关于创意保护的权利基础,主要有财产权理论、合同理论、不当得利理论和保密关系理论。我国有关创意保护的理论研究与司法实践均处于初创阶段,应从三个方面构建创意保护的法律制度：在性质上,将创意界定为一种独立的知识财产;在保护范围上,坚持创意判断上的相对新颖性和具体性标准;在保护模式上,确立以著作权法为主导、以合同法等法律为补充的系统保护机制。     

京珠高速公路湖南段交通拥堵问题探究

京珠高速公路湖南段在全国高速公路交通运输中的地位重要,一旦不畅必将影响全国。近年来,随着路况不断老化、流量不断增大、严重超载货车和危险化学品运输车辆增多,加之高速公路清障施救体制不顺、装备落后,导致交通拥堵现象时有发生,防堵保畅成了亟待破解的难题。高速公路交通安全管理是一项系统工程,防堵保畅,实现人、车、路的和谐统一,必须按照“政府领导、部门联动、全民参与、整体作战”的原则,发动各政府职能部门和全社会的力量,齐心协力,齐抓共管。     

对实用艺术作品著作权保护之法律探析——完善我国《著作权法》立法建议

我国《著作权法》及《著作权法实施条例》中,对实用艺术作品均没有任何明确的规定,实用艺术作品的法律保护至今仍为空白。我国应结合国际公约、条约和国外一些国家的法律规定,在《著作权法》中应明确规定对实用艺术作品的著作权保护的具体措施。     

Authors’ Rights As An Instrument Of Control: An Overview Of The Ideas Of Authorship And Authors’ Rights In Socialist Yugoslavia,And How These Ideas Did Not Change To Reflect The Ideals Of The Socialist Revolution

The purpose of this paper is to show, using the example of socialist Yugoslavia, how and why authors’ rights laws were applied in a socialist regime relying on the same rhetoric of ownership and individualism that marked their use in the capitalist West. In this way, Yugoslav laws have served us as an excuse to examine the connection between rights guaranteed by the legal apparatus and a type of control over creative processes that these rights make possible. Since it is a fact that both single-party socialism and pluralist capitalism have employed the same concept of authors’ rights and authorship, it is our claim that the two systems have been and are equally interested in limiting creative freedom by means of property derived from authors’ rights. To the extent to which Yugoslav legislative, political, cultural, and ideological practice borrowed from the Soviet variety of socialism, we will consider examples from that tradition as well, treating it as the strictest incarnation of Marxism in Europe.