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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Audience Responses to a Film in Rural Zimbabwe
Author:Gecau, KimaniISNI
Year:2001
Periodical:Journal of Social Development in Africa (ISSN 1012-1080)
Volume:16
Issue:1
Pages:43-80
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:Zimbabwe
Southern Africa
Subjects:cinema
information dissemination
Architecture and the Arts
Literature, Mass Media and the Press
communication
Development communication
Audience ratings
Social behaviour
attitudes
Mwanasikana (film title)
Abstract:Though development communication has been theorized about and practised in African countries since the late 1950s, and more so after independence, there has not been a consistent effort to continuously review it in the light of advances in general research on media and communication. One aspect of the communication process which has received attention is the issue of what audiences do with the media products or texts to which they are exposed, and how far their social and cultural context affects their engagement with media products. For development communicators this aspect is of particular importance since they expect that their messages will influence the audience in some way. In the introductory section this paper explores the links between theories of development, development communication and audience studies. The main body of the paper discusses a study conducted in 1997 on the reactions of rural audiences in Zimbabwe to the 'development' film 'Mwanasikana' (The Daughter). The film was made with the purpose of persuading and influencing rural people (especially males) to change their (presumed) attitudes towards the education of girls. This aspect of the film, however, remains inconclusive, with the audience responses underlining the problems of interpreting the available data as proving (or not proving) that the film did lead to some change. Bibliogr., sum.
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