Violence in the Postcolonial Ghetto: Ngozi Onwurah's Welcome II the Terrordome (1994)

Authors

  • Emilie Herbert University of Liège

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2018.201

Keywords:

Black women filmmakers, Black British Cinema, Violence, Ghetto Cinema, Postcolonial theory

Abstract

As a film-maker who likes to transgress ideas of what is commonly expected from a black female artist to be making, British-Nigerian director Ngozi Onwurah has shown a particular interest in the various expressions of violence throughout her filmography. Her first feature film, Welcome II the Terrordome (1994), specifically grapples with themes of violence, memory, reincarnation and embodiment. The film follows the story of the McBride family : first as slaves, as the filmmaker evokes an ancient Igbo legend, and in their reincarnated life in the ghetto of Transdean, better known as the ‘Terrordome’. More than twenty years after its release, I will question Welcome II the Terrordome’s representations of violence through the ideas of postcolonial theorists Frantz Fanon and Achille Mbembe.

Author Biography

Emilie Herbert, University of Liège

Émilie Herbert is a PhD candidate in the department of Communication and the Arts of the University of Liège (Belgium), and holds a MA in Film-making from Kingston University London. She is the author of two official reports on equality and diversity in the media for the C.S.A., the official audio-visual monitoring body for the French-speaking community of Belgium.

References

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Elley, D. (1995) "Welcome II the Terrordome", Variety. Retrieved from : http://variety.com/1995/film/reviews/welcome-ii-the-terrordome-1200440725.

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Stringer, Julian (1995) "On the Rise : the Work of Ngozi Onwurah", Cineaction, p. 38-49.

Varaizdo (2017) "Ngozi Onwurah: the forgotten pioneer of Black British film", Gal-Dem, 2017. Retrieved from : http://www.gal-dem.com/ngozi-onwurah-the-forgotten-pioneer-of-black-british-film.

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Published

2018-12-21

How to Cite

Herbert, E. (2018). Violence in the Postcolonial Ghetto: Ngozi Onwurah’s Welcome II the Terrordome (1994). CINEJ Cinema Journal, 7(1), 189–204. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2018.201

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2018): Spring 2018

Section

Articles

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