English Film Essay Films are often made to send a message out to the viewers of the film, the core purpose of media is to entertain and to educate. The following films that are being compared are the 2005 Film “The Constant Gardener”, and the 2006 Blockbuster “Blood Diamond.” Both films focus on the central topic of Africa, the problems that she faces and the people who cause the problems and who attempt to save her. Both movies go about this in a complete different way, as The Constant Gardener focuses much more on the educational purpose whereas Blood Diamond’s intentions are more to entertain. They both have one thing in common and that is how they portray Africa to the mainly Western audiences. In Blood Diamond the main character is a white Zimbabwe man called Danny Archer- who was played by Leonardo Di Caprio. I think the casting for this role was well done, Di Caprio portrays the selfish and non-caring nature of Danny’s …show more content…
The theme that each film is based around however is mainly the corruption and exploitation of Africa, her resources and her people. Both films go about this in different ways but both basically have the same outcome. In The Constant Gardener the main thing that is analysed is the British pharmaceutical companies using the African people to their advantage so they can do tests and make money. The “enemies” in this movie are the British pharmaceutical giants and the victims are the impoverished Africans. In Blood Diamond however the “enemies” are more than one group of people. Obviously you have the diamond traders in the UK that exploit Africa for money and don’t pay any attention to the suffering that is happening as a result, but another enemy come from inside Africa and it is the rebel army. The rebel army is directly responsible for more suffering then the English diamond traders, because they do it
News media and Hollywood are the main two vehicles of identity theft among African people. In Hollywood, blacks are always shown in a position of reluctant assistance or sub servant i.e. Butler, Helper and or slave. Equally, News Media almost always show us as animals and criminals of the lowest morals. Consequently, through the system of programming, constant repetitions of demoralizing images are perpetuated, and with no other source of reference to rely upon blacks often consciously and subconsciously accept those images. Moreover some people, rather most become not only to accept those images, a lot of Black disassociate themselves with their race, because who wants to be from a race of ”nobodies” and by default has to capture the identity of the European race. One must keep in mind that racism is a system of power that is employed by White people, thus one must ponder, who owns and operates Hollywood and new media.” I agree with Trevor Musa black often see them self as invisible because of media which is a cause racial prejudice.
Keith Shiri’s Directory of African Film-makers and Films (1992) makes a claim that of the over 250 filmmakers in Africa in the year of 1992, less than 10 were women, cited by the article “The emergence of women’s film-making in francophone sub-saharan Africa: from pioneering figures to contemporary directors” written by Lizelle Bisschoff (159). Bisschoff goes on to explain, however, that others studying this topic have more recently pointed to figures way higher, with there now being over a hundred women filmmakers in Africa (159). Still, women are primarily limited to behind the scenes roles such as makeup artistry, editing, production management, and wardrobing. Therefore, they direct far fewer films than men. Bisschoff says this is a problem “because it results in an imbalanced representation of sociocultural complexities as well as disproportionate representations of individual and collective subjectivities and identities” (159). The uniqueness of being an African filmmaker is that there are so many routes to take when conveying a message. It is true that many women filmmakers focus on women’s issues, but this can include many things, such as being a mother, being a wife, being a target for sexual assault, and going through periods. In addition, they can talk about the same cultural themes as men. Safi Faye explains that she does not only focus on women, but on society as a whole, and she
Hotel Rwanda is a tragic movie that puts a face on the conflict that was largely ignored by the western world. It graphically shows the results of various conflicts and the results of racial prejudice caused by historical actions. It also demonstrates that racism can occur outside the ‘normal’ black white conflicts. Hotel Rwanda falls short when giving an in-depth explanation of the causes of the war. However, a little research and critical reading bring a greater understanding of the film and the suffering of
In Neil Blomkamp’s District 9 and Clint Eastwood’s Invictus, the idea of apartheid is expressed using many different point of views, language and stylistic features. They both use camera angles and techniques to highlight power structures and point of views in the films. Additionally, they both use Mis-on-scene and symbolism to highlight pinnacle perspectives, values and opinions of different characters and communities. Most importantly they both use social historical context to add layers to the film, District 9 itself being a film which shows how devastating
This essay will have info based off the story the article Blood Diamonds written by Greg Campbell. I will be giving a brief summary of
This essay will look at two main points on representation, in a pre-determined ten-minute clip of Shaft, firstly cultural representation which in this case is focused on the emergence of the Blaxploitation (Black-exploitation) genre. Then the representation of women and how their gender status affects the film’s narrative, and characters and how the film portrayed both points.
The documentary is critical in providing more information related to how Africans
The media’s representation on ethical/racial and colonial illustration is not always accurate; there are many stereotypes and critics always find something to be false. Realism also plays a big role in representing in what critics believe. (Shothat 178)
Movies can bring us together by providing a window into different perspectives on life. One film that succeeds powerfully in giving us this insight is The Haitian Polo Documentary by DJ Scripz. This engrossing and affecting movie was spotlighted on a recent edition of the CBS Radio’s Brown and Scoop podcast.
In his 1993 independent film Sankofa, Haile Gerima worked to dispel Hollywood’s negative stereotypes and interpretations of the “black experience.” Gerima’s consciousness of American race divide and prejudice helped him create some of the themes in Sankofa, the biggest being African American’s self-identity. Gerima saw that in the United States, a person’s place in society was based on the color of his or her skin, thus creating a negative relationship between African American’s and their identities. Gerima explores the theme of black self-identity in Sankofa through three characters, Mona, Nunu, and Joe, using each one to show how the different levels of awareness of African culture can affect a person’s life.
The Pan-African Film Festival couldn’t deny the films infectious positive message and crowned it the official selection for
The use of various camera techniques such as canted frames, low-angled, high-angled and close up shots, as well as camera distance, enhances the struggle between the characters. The use of such techniques not only allows the audience to get an extensive insight into the many different characters, but also helps us understand the relationships between them and how all of these factors contribute to the overarching theme of racism in the film. The use of these camera rapid movements
Cinema of the United States has played an undeniable role in the transmission and interpretation of many values that we hold today. We perceive real life situations based on what Hollywood has taught us. Some ninety years after the first huge success of American cinema, “The Great Train robbery” was released, we were introduced to a new brand of films. The cult classic “Living in Bondage” was distributed. This low- budget film produced in Onitsha, Nigeria set the scene for what would become an explosion. So impressed were the filmmakers and actors by their work, they coined the term Nollywood- the Nigerian Hollywood. The different environments and practices have resulted in obvious
The filmmaker aims to discourage racism and show that both blacks and whites can work together to solve various problems. In the movie, Danny Archer had been forced to work together with Solomon Vandy, but they grew in terms of mutual understanding even though they had different purposes for finding the diamond (Danny- profit, Solomon- to find family). From our research, cooperation among Africans is needed to effectively solve the flow of conflict diamonds. An African Union was set up to speak on behalf of the African nations. Discouraging racism will always be important in Singapore not only because the local population consists of many different races, but also because of the apparent pro-Bumiputra policies which have drawn flak from some racial communities in Malaysia.
Summary - “Dry White Season” Adam Simon - CGW 4U1 Dry White Season was what I felt to be an exemplary interpretation of how native South Africans truly condemned the immoral Apartheid political system of the mid 1900’s. Though the film was quite graphic, explicit nature seemed necessary to prove how racial brutality towards the black community really did exist. I enjoyed the whole idea of a narrow-minded white man making the transition from a life of socially superior racial prejudice to become a devoted supporter of black rights. I found this really helped create a strong liberal message to aid viewers in understanding the sick intolerance of the majority of white South Africans at that time.