FILM AS A SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE: AN EXAMPLE OF FABRICATING THE FEAR OF FOREIGNERS IN MIDNIGHT EXPRESS

Abstract

Commercial film represents a form, as well as a product of the popular culture. By pointing to the specific aspects innate to the film art (and the film production in general), I want to suggest a consideration of the commercial film as a powerful means of shaping and distributing cultural knowledge. I would like to emphasize the importance of such consideration by additionally drawing attention to the effects the commercial film creates through its communication with the mass audience. The most significant among these effects is the fabrication of stereotypes that instigate the emotion of fear. In other words, this paper examines the way negative stereotypes and the fear of foreigners are created in the film Midnight Express which, although made over thirty years ago, still provokes debates in the public.