1
‘Transcending Boundaries’ How apt is this as a description of Invictus. Focus on
issues of race, identity, memory and space in your answer.
Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood (2009), is a biography movie about
Nelson Mandela, the first Black South African President who attempted to reunite a
divided nation through the 1995 Rugby World Cup. In this essay, I argue that as the
depiction of the 1995 Rugby World Cup in Invictus is interwoven with politics, socio-
economic context and art, boundaries of race, identity, memory and space are
transcended to foreground the process of building nationhood. By doing so, I also
demonstrate to what extent it is apt to describe Invictus as a movie that focuses on
“transcending boundaries''. While many scholars attempt to prove that race is a
social construct (for instance, Brunsma and Roquemore (2002) in their article “What
does “Black” mean?”), race is still used as a “term for the classification of human
beings into physically, biologically and genetically distinct groups”(Ashcroft, Griffiths,
& Tiffin, 2013:218). Hence, in this essay, I use the term ‘race’ simply as the latter
definition, rather than indulging in the complexities of the social construct of race.
‘Identity’ refers to how one defines oneself in relation to one’s surroundings. In this
essay, I refer to mainly two types of identity: racial identity-that is, how one perceives
oneself in relation to the race with which one identifies as well as the other races;
and national identity/nationhood- that is, how one perceives and defines oneself in
relation to the nation. I use the term “memory” as the act of remembering and I
discuss its implications in the movie. As argued by scholars like Mitchell (1989),
space is a broad and complex term. It may refer to a physical place as well as to a
particular issue and its social implications. In this essay, I delimit the term space to
the physical, cultural and political space.
In Invictus, sports is depicted through dichotomous portrayals: in the
beginning, it is portrayed as an activity that highlights and further encourages
apartheid and racism; in the later half of the movie, it is portrayed as an activity that
reconciles people across racial and cultural boundaries, and promotes nationhood.
, 2
As depicted in the very first scene of Invictus, the nation of South Africa in 1995 is a
deeply, racially segregated country. Black and White children play in different fields
in different socio-economic conditions. White children are dressed neatly in clean
sports uniforms and are wearing socks and shoes. They are playing in a grass field
and they have a coach. They are playing rugby in front of large school
infrastructures surrounded by wooden fences. On the opposite side of the road,
Black children are playing bare footed in a barren land surrounded with a metallic
fence. Their clothes are torn and dirty. While White children are playing rugby, Black
children are playing soccer. While the children are physically divided by a road,
racial segregation is deeply embedded not only in physical spaces, but social,
economic and cultural contexts. This scene blatantly captures the memories of
apartheid while highlighting that racial division is not perpetuated only in physically
opposite, segreggated, physical spaces or by the different socio-economic
backgrounds of Black and White South Africans, but also through racial and national
identities associated with different sports. In their anthropological study of the
racialisation of sports, Anderson, Bielert and Jones (2004) show how during
apartheid, soccer has increasingly been perceived as a “black sport” and “black
identity” while rugby has been connotative of “White identity” or White nationalism.
Hence, in the first scene, physical spaces, socio-economic contexts and national
identities are portrayed as explicitly demarcated through different racial identities
associated with two sports: rugby and soccer. However, the later half of the movie
portrays sports as a space that promotes reconciliation, unity in diversity and
nationhood while transcending physical, cultural and racial boundaries. Many scenes
in Invictus emphasise the unifying aspects of sports through the promotion of the
Rugby 1995 World Cup. Nelson Mandela sees an opportunity in the Rugby 1995
World Cup to unite and build a nation that transcends racial and cultural differences;
hence, he sends the rugby team to visit the black neighbourhood. Although it is
evident that many of the players do so reluctantly, as they travel in the bus, their
expressions change from boredom and annoyance to surprise at the distinctively
poor conditions of the neighborhood. As they play with the children and teach them
rugby in the Black neighbourhood, a new connection is formed that transcends
‘Transcending Boundaries’ How apt is this as a description of Invictus. Focus on
issues of race, identity, memory and space in your answer.
Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood (2009), is a biography movie about
Nelson Mandela, the first Black South African President who attempted to reunite a
divided nation through the 1995 Rugby World Cup. In this essay, I argue that as the
depiction of the 1995 Rugby World Cup in Invictus is interwoven with politics, socio-
economic context and art, boundaries of race, identity, memory and space are
transcended to foreground the process of building nationhood. By doing so, I also
demonstrate to what extent it is apt to describe Invictus as a movie that focuses on
“transcending boundaries''. While many scholars attempt to prove that race is a
social construct (for instance, Brunsma and Roquemore (2002) in their article “What
does “Black” mean?”), race is still used as a “term for the classification of human
beings into physically, biologically and genetically distinct groups”(Ashcroft, Griffiths,
& Tiffin, 2013:218). Hence, in this essay, I use the term ‘race’ simply as the latter
definition, rather than indulging in the complexities of the social construct of race.
‘Identity’ refers to how one defines oneself in relation to one’s surroundings. In this
essay, I refer to mainly two types of identity: racial identity-that is, how one perceives
oneself in relation to the race with which one identifies as well as the other races;
and national identity/nationhood- that is, how one perceives and defines oneself in
relation to the nation. I use the term “memory” as the act of remembering and I
discuss its implications in the movie. As argued by scholars like Mitchell (1989),
space is a broad and complex term. It may refer to a physical place as well as to a
particular issue and its social implications. In this essay, I delimit the term space to
the physical, cultural and political space.
In Invictus, sports is depicted through dichotomous portrayals: in the
beginning, it is portrayed as an activity that highlights and further encourages
apartheid and racism; in the later half of the movie, it is portrayed as an activity that
reconciles people across racial and cultural boundaries, and promotes nationhood.
, 2
As depicted in the very first scene of Invictus, the nation of South Africa in 1995 is a
deeply, racially segregated country. Black and White children play in different fields
in different socio-economic conditions. White children are dressed neatly in clean
sports uniforms and are wearing socks and shoes. They are playing in a grass field
and they have a coach. They are playing rugby in front of large school
infrastructures surrounded by wooden fences. On the opposite side of the road,
Black children are playing bare footed in a barren land surrounded with a metallic
fence. Their clothes are torn and dirty. While White children are playing rugby, Black
children are playing soccer. While the children are physically divided by a road,
racial segregation is deeply embedded not only in physical spaces, but social,
economic and cultural contexts. This scene blatantly captures the memories of
apartheid while highlighting that racial division is not perpetuated only in physically
opposite, segreggated, physical spaces or by the different socio-economic
backgrounds of Black and White South Africans, but also through racial and national
identities associated with different sports. In their anthropological study of the
racialisation of sports, Anderson, Bielert and Jones (2004) show how during
apartheid, soccer has increasingly been perceived as a “black sport” and “black
identity” while rugby has been connotative of “White identity” or White nationalism.
Hence, in the first scene, physical spaces, socio-economic contexts and national
identities are portrayed as explicitly demarcated through different racial identities
associated with two sports: rugby and soccer. However, the later half of the movie
portrays sports as a space that promotes reconciliation, unity in diversity and
nationhood while transcending physical, cultural and racial boundaries. Many scenes
in Invictus emphasise the unifying aspects of sports through the promotion of the
Rugby 1995 World Cup. Nelson Mandela sees an opportunity in the Rugby 1995
World Cup to unite and build a nation that transcends racial and cultural differences;
hence, he sends the rugby team to visit the black neighbourhood. Although it is
evident that many of the players do so reluctantly, as they travel in the bus, their
expressions change from boredom and annoyance to surprise at the distinctively
poor conditions of the neighborhood. As they play with the children and teach them
rugby in the Black neighbourhood, a new connection is formed that transcends
