Comments on: Africa and the Popular Media

By: The Guide

The Guide — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:12:12 +0000

Thank you very much for your help, this site has been a great respite from the books,

By: Roger Hansen

Roger Hansen — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:16:11 +0000

I missed another obvious selection: Joseph Conrad’s novella “Heart of Darkness.” This classic of English lit details an incident where Marlow, an Englishman, takes an assignment from a Belgian trading company as a ferry-boat captain on the Congo River (assumed). Marlow is emplyed to transport ivory downriver and to return a “crazed” ivory trader back to civilization. “Heart of Darkness” was the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Viet Nam movie “Apolcalypse Now.” The 2009 blockbuster movie, “Avatar,” is also said to have been inspired by Conrad’s novella.

By: Roger Hansen

Roger Hansen — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:36:07 +0000

On New Year’s Eve I watched the movie “Invictus.” It is about Nelson Mandela and the South African national rugby team at the time of transition away from appartied. The film is enjoyable, but lacks bite. But it is another entry into Hollywood’s portrayal of Africa and African problems. In the movie, Clint Eastwood makes the case for symbols being important. And the need to overcome hate.

By: Roger Hansen

Roger Hansen — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:30:17 +0000

According to Courtland Milloy writing in the Washington Post and published in the SLTrib (Dec. 23, 2009):

“Annalee Newitz, writing last week on her science blog io9, criticized “Avatar” for depicting yet another white man as a hero in the liberation strugges of oppressed people of color.

As happens in movies such a “District 9,” “Dances with Wolves” and “The Last Samurai,” Newitz wrote, “a white guy manages to get himself accepted into a closed society of people of color and eventually becomes its awesome member.”"

By: Roger Hansen

Roger Hansen — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:30:09 +0000

I recently watched the movie “District 9″; it is very much a parable relating to modern-day Africa. And even though it takes place in South Africa, it’s message is certainly applicable to east-central Africa.

By: Roger Hansen

Roger Hansen — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:35:33 +0000

There is also the recently published book by Tracy Kidder:

“Strength is What Remains” (2009) the story of a young medical student who fled the genocidal civil war in Burundi in 1994 for the uncertainty of New York City.

By: Roger Hansen

Roger Hansen — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:14:48 +0000

I recent thought of two additional movies:

“White Mischief” (1987) based on one of the scandalous murders in British history. It transpires in Kenya at a time just before the beginning of WWII.

“Out of Africa” (1985) is drawn from the life and writings of Danish author Isak Dinesen. The movie takes place on a plantation in WWI-era Kenyai.

And, of course, the book:

“Out of Africa” (1937) which is a memoir of Isak Dinseen which recounts the seventeen year when she made her home in Kenya, then British East Africa.