Ons sal antwoord op jou roepstem

Abstract

This article argues that Steve Hofmeyr’s Afrikaner identity, an identity he performs across variousmedia platforms, including a selection of feature length Afrikaans films, is a paradoxical hybridof Afrikaner exceptionalism and claims to victimhood. The exceptionalism and self-imposedvictimhood are engaged in an across-media dialogue, as Steve Hofmeyr’s social media andpolitical activist persona speak to his participation in three Afrikaans language films: Pretville(Korsten, 2012), Platteland (Else, 2011) and Treurgrond (Roodt, 2015). Hofmeyr’s presenceforegrounds and exacerbates an already problematic ideological context in which attempts atmulticulturalism are rendered moot by the conservatism in these films, especially where land – thefarm – is concerned. While Pretville invents a 1950s South African town that fails to correspond toany inhabited reality of that time, Platteland offers an Afrikaans musical-western wherein Hofmeyrdominates as patriarch. Finally, the attempts of Treurgrond at raising farm murder awarenessare nullified through casting Hofmeyr as a farmer facing a land claim, given Hofmeyr’s activecampaigning against an alleged Boer genocide.