Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

This research is a critical discourse analysis of the different faces and levels of corruption in indie films. It delves on the following questions: what discourses on the faces and levels of corruption within bureaucracy and in society are manifested in Indie films and how are these discourses presented within bureaucracy and in the society in Indie films? The main focus of this study is critical discourse analysis which draws from the theoretical treatment of Michel Foucault and Norman Fairclough. To Michel Foucault, the structure of discourse is group of natural rules that identifies the form and substance of discursive practice. Unlike other theorists, rules apply across the culture in a variety of types of discourse and function on a deep and powerful level (Littlejohn and Foss, 2008). On the other note, visual imagery which includes film, is one of the most prevalent modern discourse (Fairclough, 1989). Being the advocate of critical discourse analysis, Fairclough also sees text (visuals being one of them) as “interdiscursive analysis” that is, seeing texts in terms of the different discourses, genres, and style (Fairclough, 2003). Thus, this study used the multimodal critical discourse analysis in exploring the representations of corruption in terms of how film text evolve in discursive formations. This approach lead this research to identify the many faces and levels of corruption in indie film, describe the socio-cultural context and historical milieu in which corruption is practiced as shown in indie films, and show how these faces and levels of corruption are portrayed in indie films.