Rebelle rebel: African child soldiers, gender, and the war film

Abstract

Janis L. Goldie investigates the perspective of children in war films via an in-depth examination of the independent Canadian film, Rebelle/War Witch (2012), which falls within the African child soldier subgenre. While the film’s female-centered plot and perspective hold potential to challenge the typically racist and reductionist representations of African child soldiers in media culture, who are often portrayed as dangerous and disorderly, hapless victims, or redeemed heroes, Rebelle doesn’t manage to escape these tropes as Goldie illustrates. Further, she finds that the female child soldier is tightly constrained within rigid gender expectations so that she upholds familial and domestic obligations of being a “good” girl—as a good daughter, wife, and mother above all else.