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All of the people saying it’s just humour in the conversation on Leon Schuster, here’s a short thread. Many years ago, I was external examiner of an MA research report on why and how Schuster’s films rely on a series of historic racist tropes.
I’d always been utterly repulsed by the films, and specifically their over reliance on old colonial stereotypes in his work myself while wondering why they could still be so popular with South Africans of all kinds. I know the scholarship on colonial humour very well
but I knew the traditions better in literature and fine arts than specifically in film and theatre. This thesis showed not just the ‘judgement’ but the development of a certain filmic of representation, showing why and how Schuster’s work was in this tradition.
I gave the study a good mark, almost a distinction. The weakness that saw me withhold a distinction was due to some other aspect of the analysis which isn’t relevant for our current Schuster topic, and as outlined in my examiner’s report.
Anyway, I had hoped the student would go on and do more work on this, and encouraged publications from the study. I’m not aware of whether he did or not. Usually I would go back and find the person to get the title and details. We worked at the same institution many years later
but he was later unmasked as a very violent, exploitative man so I won’t refer you to his work specifically because I’m not about to punt a rapist’s work. But there is scholarship on this if you really want to read rather than just dismiss. Google scholar is your friend. The end.
