Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The Western take on Africa

Watch this satirical take on Western representations of Africa. It's only about 3 minutes and very, very smart. Thanks to What Tami Said for making me aware of this video.



Question: What do you make of the little girl who is sometimes there and sometimes not?

2 comments:

  1. Thank you. You are right, this is very, very smart. We really appreciate your thoughts.

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  2. Thanks for posting this. I am a fond reader of Granta an ran across this piece quite sometime ago while perusing through one of their issues; which happened to be all about Africa. I have never seen the video though and I loved hearing the words spoken out loud. Plus, I adore Djimon Hounsou, he is a fantastic Actor.

    I am not certain about the little girl? However, the significance as to when she appears (what words he is speaking when she does) seems important as does the fact she appears to be a white westerner who, being a child, has an impressionable mind, who represents the future and change. I think the sterile setting, as well as some brief Westernized African interjections were also intentional. I could be off track totally but that was my take.

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