A Textual Analysis of Algerian-french Documentaries on The Liberation War

To figure out what the images mean and imply in the context of the Algerian liberation war, we need to tackle this main question: What are the deeper meanings and hidden aspects of the images used in Algerian and French documentaries about the Algerian liberation war? By framing this research problem, we can break it down into some specific questions that help us dig deeper:

1. What do the images in these films tell us about the events of the liberation war?
2. What's the role of these images in the memory struggle between Algeria and France?
3. How are scenes of war and genocide shown in the film archives used in these documentaries?
4. What kind of ideological messages do these images carry in the films?
5. How did the media cover the revolution events, and which topics got the most attention?

Methodology:

Having a good study approach is super important in social research and all scientific studies. It helps us pick out all the parts of the phenomenon we're studying and figure out how they are connected. In the world of film and TV studies, as well as film criticism, there are many methods, like the 'Semiological approach' and content analysis. These methods try to interpret and analyze the messages created by the media, which often have hidden meanings that the audience might not notice. These hidden messages are tied to the environment where the audience grew up.

To tackle our research problem, we'll use the 'Semiological Analysis' approach. This will help us uncover the hidden meanings in the film messages and show the importance of the 'image function' as a media tool with special semantic dimensions. We'll restructure meanings to better understand media messages. This method focuses on the internal relations of the elements of the discourse using 'qualitative analysis' to find real indications of the content. According to the French critic “Roland Barthes,” semiological analysis dives deep into media messages, remaining neutral toward the message, and explores the psychological, social, and cultural aspects that support the analysis. Barthes says this kind of analysis is thorough and looks for clear meanings in the message's internal and hidden content.

In the early 1960s, Roland Barthes, a French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic, and semiotician, noted that literary texts were made up of several codes. Later, his follower, Christie Metz, a French film theorist known for pioneering film semiotics, applied this idea to film analysis. He said films are like texts or textual systems. Before Metz, cinema was mostly studied through normative, experimental, and descriptive methods, not from the semiology perspective. In 1964, Metz published his first study in this field, titled 'Is cinema a tongue or a language?' in a Parisian communication magazine. Metz argued that cinema is a rhetorical act, a speech act, and a language with successive structures, ideas, and sequences.

According to Metz, cinematic language is a hybrid language because it combines five different expressions of function. It's a composite language. So, the textual analysis approach is the best fit for our study. Film theorists and writers Jaques Aumont and Michel Marie mentioned in their book 'Film Analysis' that textual analysis treats the film as a text and forms the basis for film analysis.

The concept of textual analysis helps avoid the pitfalls of analytic analysis due to the many tools used. Aumont highlights these key points about textual analysis:

• Text analysis, especially concerning the text's meaning, questions the unity of the work and its analysis.
• The textual film is the film's comprehensive discourse, containing various cultural, social, artistic, and firm ideological conventions, which can be organized as textual systems. The text, as a social phenomenon, is studied in its entirety.

Textual analysis looks at all the sequences of a film, not just one sequence. When it focuses on one sequence, it's called configuration or sequential analysis.

To break down the symbols and signs in the selected films, we'll use textual analysis to find the hidden meanings linked to the image of the Algerian liberation revolution.

Film analysis:

Film analysis means breaking down its structure into its basic parts and then putting it back together for analysis. So, we start with the textual film to identify its distinctive elements. Film analysis uses three main types of tools:

• Descriptive tools
• Observation tools
• Documentary tools

Conclusion

In conclusion, this study explores the meanings and implications of images in Algerian and French documentaries about the Algerian liberation war. Using a semiological analysis method, it aims to reveal the deeper meanings in these visual representations. Drawing on theories from Roland Barthes, Christie Metz, and others, the study uses textual analysis to break down the cinematic language and decode the messages in these images. By using descriptive, observation, and documentary tools, the research uncovers the ideological messages in these films and sheds light on the role of images in shaping collective memory and historical narratives. This analysis helps us understand the complex socio-cultural dynamics surrounding how conflict and liberation are represented in visual media.