Abstract
This essay aims to discuss post-apartheid reports about the myth of ‘the virgin cure’ (the idea that sex with a virgin cures AIDS) alongside representations of black men and babies in Lara Foot Newton’s play Tshepang: The third testament, and the film Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood. In the context of reports about an epidemic of ‘baby rape’ in South Africa - which have been distributed to the rest of the world in a global media blitz expressing reservations about the newborn democracy since the late 1990s - Tshepang and Tsotsi present sacrificial characters whose suffering becomes elevated in redemptive national narratives that move symbolically towards restoring the black heterosexual couple as custodians of the new-born nation.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 105-119 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Scrutiny2 |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - May 2008 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Literature and Literary Theory