Core Dump by South African filmmaker Francois Knoetze is a series of 4 films, Kinshasa (2018), Shenzhen (2019), New York (2019) and Dakar (2018). Francois Knoetze is a performance artist, filmmaker, and sculptor, currently based in Cape Town. The project explores the relationship between digital technology, cybernetics, colonialism and the re-enchanted notion of a Non-Aligned Humanist Utopia. The four films are assemblages of found footage, performance documentation, and recorded interviews that form narrative portraits of the uncertainty in the nervous system of the digital earth. It emerges from the dystopian landfills of consumer culture as an imaginary of a new inclusive humanism that underscores relationality and inter-human narratives.“ore dump” refers to the recorded state of the working memory of a computer at a specific moment in time
The series, filmed in Dakar, Kinshasa, Shenzhen, and New York, explores contradictions between Silicon Valley as the self-proclaimed gatekeepers of a techno-utopia and the neo-colonial imperialist structures of this ‘Invisible Empire.’ Split up in 4 locations, each film has a different story line and focuses on a different theme. The overall theme has to do with the advancement technology represents while simultaneously making society a less physical one, left on relying on these technologies in what seems that technology is taking over our lives. This project seek to interrogate how knowledge monopolies have falsely represented notions of ‘progress’ and ‘mechanization’ as products of the West, disregarding the contribution — both historically and presently in the current supply chain — of Africa in what can be considered Digital Colonialism. The film emphasizes Africa’s participation in the digital sphere and in technological advancement, that consists of the future.
Aesthetic wise, it almost takes on an experimental role with the video clip montaging, well done editing, and street performances in the 1st and 4th films alongside those unaware of what is going on doing their daily activities. The first film serves more as an introduction, the second with an emphasis on the visuals, the third on the myth, and the fourth film as more of an explanatory one. All the films show technology overpowering humans, with the first film emphasizing modern life as a prison but they are not a prisoner of history. The third film is rather interesting emphasizing China’s role in technological advancement but also calls attention to China’s neo-colonialist role in Africa and how the Chinese make the rues in these countries. The fourth film has the most voice over and draws on the important topic of biased algorithms producing biased results that reflect racism in our society leading to ‘the coded gaze’ causing minorities, specifically black people, to face the burden from both humans and technology. As well, as the importance data surveillance and data collection plays in our post-modern society as we are being sold to the government. There’s the emphasis on those who are last shall be first and vice versa through the use of technology.
The Future was Desert by Sophia al-Maria is a video essay surrounding the theme of gulf futurism. Beautiful and aesthetically compelling visuals dominante alongside her robotic narrative voice, with slight humor she discusses how the future is in the deep past for the Arab world. She presents the sahara as the savanna and the gulf as the garden, as the oasis it once was before memory and before people began disrupting the natural order of things. She adds an environmentalist aspect alongside various visuals with of nature, by saying we are getting closer to planetary suicide and pleading at the end of the film to not kill the world. The peak of the comedic element are the distorted images of Kim Kardashian, adding a very modern and pop culture component while referring to the current society as wasted bodies whose minds are rotting. In the process of we have ruined the resources to commercialize and ‘feed idols’ rendering the future scarce. We are constituting the mirage to our own demise, but in the desert the answers lie as it compromises the future and the past together. She refers to countries where the oil is going to run out so they begin to invest their money into shock factor to secure their future in other methods such as tourism. This enforces the Gulf Paradox, where the gulf represents the future with new skyscrapers and technology yet still retains morals from the past.
In Fatima al-Qadiri’s 2013 video Desert Strike, Ghost Raid is a rather powerful and strong piece yet personal. As a Kuwaiti, she was a young girl when the first Gulf War happened in 1990, she describes Desert Strike as an audio memoir of that time reflecting in both the visuals and the sound. The visuals look like a war video game zeroing-in on the target and in combination with the strong beats, they give a heightened sensoral experience to what she and other Kuwaiti’s probably experienced. Shortly after the first invasion, she recalls playing the Desert Strike inspired war video game clearly seen as the inspiration for the visuals, that composes the technological and modern element alongside strong beats and synthesizer sounds. This creates a relationship between the virtual and reality of war. The element of the video game falls into what al-Qadiri calls the Gulf’s “consumer-culture robot desert” where she specifies the teenage life revolves around the mall, video games, and television.
In Larissa Sansour’s 2013, dystopian sci-fi short film Nation Estate with minimal dialogue it depicts the story of Palestine in the future. Futuristic Palestine to Sansour is a skyscraper where every floor is a Palestinian city or area, accessible with a key that has the Palestinian flag representative of ‘The High Life.’ It draws on the tropes of science fiction and futurism, discussing issues of territory, geo-politics, identity, occupation, nation(alism), alien(ation), and hope. The film takes you on trip that shows you around the futuristic Palestine, almost seeming like VR, as the protagonist returns home to Bethlehem from a trip but her home no longer exists turned to a skyscraper or a commodified version of Palestine. As she’s returning home, she passes by the western wall seeming to be an exhibition in a museum. The film ends with her looking at the Dome of the Rock from her window, revealing that she’s pregnant in what seems as a hope for the future of Palestine. But as the camera pans out and shows the skyscraper surrounded by the separation wall depicting the life of a Palestinian to still be one of confinement, except in the future it is more luxurious.
A visually appealing short film, tells the almost sad story of the Palestinian in the present and in the future. Nation Estate can be seen as the glossary of Palestinian condition, with the main issue being that confinement and being restricted shown in the film with restrictions of essentials such as water, food, and travel that Palestinians are have endured, are enduring, and will continue to endure. With the view of Jerusalem from the window, Palestinians are now in a ‘safer’ environment than before but are viewing an important site to them from a distance. The concept of the skyscraper associates to the modernity in the Arab world and the concept of restriction relates to the real life situation many Palestinians live in by living is gated communities, fenced off, and walled in.
Afro-futurism refers to the exploration of the developing intersection of the African diaspora and technology. The Last Angel of History is a 1996 documentary by John Akomfrah that deals with the concepts of Afro-futurism as a metaphor for displacement of black culture and roots. The documentary/fictional narrative focuses on music and follows the journey of the ‘data thief’ who has to travel across time and space in search for fragments of history that holds the key to his future.
The Last Angel of History serves as a good intro on what is Afro-futurism. It is where funk becomes astro, coming about because black people weren’t seen as the ones to be on a spaceship therefore changing the narrative of the image of Africa as a lost continent in the past as a vision of the future. The commentary discusses a time period where various artists independent of each other were using space iconography. Space is seen as somewhere they have been before and are returning to through Afro-futurism, returning to the essence of where the roots come from. The realm of science fiction can be connected to the history of African Americans, as novelists draw inspiration from that around them and the past . The concept of life of another planet in outer space stems from the alienation African Americans feel in the United States, as if they do not belong there and should go back to their country of origin causing refuge to be sought out through the idea of life on another planet. The science fiction genre of Afrofuturism is a significant distortion of the present used as an escape to get out of the present.
As mentioned in The Last Angel on Earth, Sun Ra is an African-American jazz musician known for his more eclectic and avant-garde music. Sun Ra writes and stars in Space is the Place, an Afrofuturist science fiction film released in 1974 and directed by John Coney. It follows Sun Ra journey back to the United States after being lost during his European tour. He comes back to spread word of his plans to resettle African Americans on another planet in outer space.He seeks to recruit young African Americans but they become suspicious of Sun Ra, leading him to get kidnapped by white NASA scientists. After being saved by local teenagers and after an eventful performance, people begin vanishing and reappearing on the spaceship and then launches off into outerspace.
Space is the Place seemed like an older version of Black Panther. Sun Ra presents the idea of a new colony for black people on another planet as a plan to save the black race, as the ambassador for intergalactic regions from outer space. The exploitative white power structure has disenfranchised African Americans leaving them to feel alienated and feel as the system is not working in their favor. This unjust power structure place black men on the bottom causing them to be in an inverted position because they are supposed to be on top. Therefore, everything desired from the current planet and have not had can be theirs in outer space in a planet of their own, like Wakanda in Black Panther. The kidnapping of Sun Ra is because he had the answers and the solution for a just living for African Americans consequently defying the white power structure. Sun Ra made an interesting character as Ra is the Egyptian deity of the Sun and throughout the film he is seen with extravagant and eclectic clothing similar to that of Egyptian clothing. His role in the film coincides with his character and the film and the decision to keep his artistic name, as his character can be seen as the one enlightening the rest of the African American population with the concept of life on another planet. Although I am not the biggest fan of the music during the film, it adds to the futuristic vibe along with the colors and the clothing giving it a feel of something to listen to on an lsd trip.
Black Panther is the 2018 superhero film directed by Ryan Coogler, based on the Marvel Comics making it the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With a star-filled cast, it discusses an issue taking place in Wakanda, a nation of African tribes who use vibranium to develop advanced technology and isolate themselves by posing as a Third World country. Wakanda can be seen as what Africa could have been if colonizers would have never arrived, implementing a white power structure where Africans are inferior causing the continent to regress. The film envisions Africa as the future due to its abundance of resources but as a sacred land that must be protected from the Western world. Black Panther seems to be the advancement of the original ideas from Space is the Place.
In 2019, Palestinian director Elia Suleiman released his film It Must Be Heaven, later being selected for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Suleiman stars as the main character in the film and gives off a Woody Allen aura, as he walks around and interacts without saying a word while widening his eyes and comedic expressions. It Must Be Heaven revolves around Suleiman’s constant theme in his films, his home of Palestine, the progression of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and his identity. Divided into three settings, the film follows Suleiman as he leaves Nazareth to go to France and then New York for the production of his film on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Using comedic styling, he offers a light hearted feel to this rather serious issue through the repetition of actions and the absurdity of actions, alongside his wide-eyed and silent expressions. Each setting has comedic elements that distinguish it such as his selfish yet generous neighbors, the French police and Parisian women, Americans carrying guns in public places, and the over-exaggerated American police. Using satirical comedy, he is able to express how there is no place can escape political issues, although maybe not to the same extreme as Palestine-Israel. As well, he explores his role as a Palestinian in the global context and what it means to be a Palestinian abroad especially through the scene where Suleiman is seen in the back of a taxi in New York and the taxi driver is in awe of him being Palestinian as he’s never met someone from Palestine before. It later ends with Suleiman once again in Nazareth, at a club observing on the side the Palestinian youth seeing how his home has evolved to what it is today.
In the video essay A Letter to a Friend, Palestinian-Christian filmmaker Emily Jacir living in Bethlehem, narrates the history of her area in occupied Palestine, the relation to her family, and the current situation regarding the Palestine-Israel conflict. She documents the war going on right outside of her home with real footage of gunshots and canisters, going so much as scaring her dog for hours. With a monotonous voice she slowly narrates the situation in her home of Bethlehem to a friend that is supposed to help her in an investigation to reclaim her family home. She presents daily life in an occupied Palestine with Israeli military presence everywhere, disrupting daily life. Her explicit presentation of how personal the occupation is to her, only emphasizes her desperation for this to come to an end to reclaim her family history and go about her daily life instead of living in a constant war zone.
Elia Suleiman is a Israeli-Palestinian film director born in Nazareth, Israel. His film The Time That Remains is the third film in his trilogy on feature films revolving his identity and the Israel-Palestine conflict. The Time That Remains is a semi-biographical dark comedic drama film with minimal dialogue gives the account of the creation of the Israeli state from 1948 to the 21st century and telling the story of Suleiman’s own family in Nazareth, his return to Nazareth as an adult, and his father Fuad Suleiman. The film seems almost surreal, like a dream, as it alternates between time period without explicit transitions. With beautiful techniques and firm grip of the camera for the transitions, the visuals, colors, and the music are prominent throughout the film.
The film begins with an important question, “Where am I?” emphasizing the drastic change of his home from his childhood to his adulthood due to the political situation, the occupation of Palestine by Israel. The beginning focuses on his metal worker father, Faud, in the late 1940’s whose lathe had been used for making guns for the Palestinian fighters. As well, as the beginning stages of Israeli presence, when the mayor hands over his authority to the army and calling for the curfew of Palestinians. Faud is then blindfolded, beaten, and left for dead when Israelis begin to invade houses.
Even after surviving, he is them arrested for smuggling drugs in the sea, where he is seen fishing various times in the night. Throughout the film, there are scenes that seeming to be repeated with little differences only highlighting the limitations of life and what you can do under Israeli occupation. This consists of constant military patrol, being harassed for opposing the Israel state through calling America a colonizer and for offending the Israeli police seen with the woman with the baby walking, resistance fighting, lying to Israeli military, and the psychological effects of the occupation seen by the neighbor who threatens to kill himself by lighting himself on fire. Later as an adult, the Israeli presence is normalized seen in the scenes where the officer brings tabouleh and when the young man is pacing back and forth while on the phone with a military tank aiming at him. This disconnection to an adult Elia reverts back to the question in the beginning of the film as his home now seems foreign to him leaving him only to observe his surroundings hence the minimal dialogue.
Emile Habibi: ‘The Secret Life of Saeed, the Pessoptimist’
Emile Habibi is an Christian Israeli Arab writer of Arabic literature becoming one of the most popular authors in the Middle East. His first novel in 1972 The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist, later becoming a classic in modern Arabic literature. Similar to Elia Suleiman’s film, it approaches the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a twist of dark humour. Book One: Saeed, the Ill-Fated Pessoptimist follows the character of of Saaed telling his story regarding Israeli occupation of Palestine and returning to his home after time away in Lebanon, consisting of 20 different letters. Saeed refers to himself as a Pessoptimist, a pessimist and an optimist.
I think Pessoptimism encompasses the spirit of the Palestinian people, pessimistic due to the hard lives they have to endure under Israeli occupation with no legitimate state and optimistic as their strong religious beliefs serve as a source of hope for them to regain their land back. Saaed claims to have been visited by men from outer space causing confusion amongst his retellings of life on what is real and what is not. In both, the book and the film the cultural importance of the father for Palestinians is highlighted as Saeed constantly refers to his martyr father. Saeed gives the background to his family, presenting questionable historical accounts, but discussing how after the 1948 Israeli occupation his family had to disperse to other Arab countries.
Chocolat is a 1988 film directed by Claire Denis, about a French family that lives in colonial Cameroon. The film introduces the character of France as an adult but the majority of the film takes place while she is in a young girl in Cameroon with her family. As a young girl she befriends the help, a young native Cameroonian man named Protée.
As the film develops, there is this obvious sexual tension exchanged through looks between the mother, Aimée, and Protée, as she asks more of Protée when her husband leaves for work. As the film advances, Aimée seems to get progressively express her discontent for Cameroon and her living situation as she gets angrier with her cook as there is a language barrier. Protée rejects Aimée’s advances leading to his demotion to work in the garage. Protée is presented as a rather confident and secure but quiet character that seems to laugh and secretly judge Aimée’s desesperation and troubles, all while Denis placing major emphasis on his fit body and lack of facial expressions.
The film follows France as a child and presents her as a somewhat native of Cameroon, learning the native language and spending most of her time with the native Cameroonians that work for the family. Her childhood juxtaposes the beginning of the film as she is helped by an African American, as he views her as a tourist because she is white. Ironic because at the end of the film, the man who helps France reveals he is actually African American not Cameroonian. He goes on to discuss his struggle with identity and what has led him to move to Cameroon. He discusses how he didn’t feel at home in the United States because he’s black and expected him to feel at home in Cameroon with his black brothers but that was not the case as he was treated like any other tourist, due to his Western/American mentality.
As the film follows France’s childhood, around the middle of the film a Western plane has difficulties, leaving some French people stranded and look for refuge at France’s house. Amid the group there are two unpleasant characters, that of the old coffee planter man named Joseph and a young man named Segalen. Joseph is presented as a racist constantly bringing up conversation denigrating Cameroon, rudely offering money to Djatao–a village chief, and having a black servant/mistress who is rude to when others are around.
On the other hand, Segalen is introduced as another worker amongst the African crew puzzling the rest of the French men and leading to France’s father to reach out to Segalen to assert his position as superior to the African workers instead of on the same level. He alternates back and forth between being racist and attempting to live a life as the Cameroonian people do when France’s father gifts him new clothes, becoming a rather complex character and a hated one. He seems to be the only one that catches on to the sexual tension between Protée and Aimée, therefore constantly antagonizing Protée leading to a fight between the two in which Protée wins.
Fanon: Black Skin, White Masks
In Chapter 2 & 3 of Black Skin, White Masks, Fanon discusses the dynamics of a romantic relationship in Western societies between those of different races in the 2nd chapter discussing if it was a woman of color and in the 3rd chapter discussing if it was a man of color.
In the 2nd chapter, Fanon references Je Suis Martinique by Mayotte Capécia and writes how Capécia is ‘lactifying’ or trying to be white through the process of dating a white man and becoming submissive to him due to being resented in society when young. Through the pursuing of a white man, she uses him as a way to leave the ‘black world’ as it is deemed negative in society and enter the ‘white world’ to think of herself as inferior, although she knows the white man will not treat her and love her to the same standard as a white woman. This submissive behavior in black women is seen throughout the United States as this behavior has created generational cycles of inferiority and submissiveness leading to high levels of single mothers and domestic violence. In Abdoulaye Sadji’s Nini, Fanon analyzes the dynamic of a mulatto woman as she is not accepted by neither the whites or the blacks but her whiteness values more than her being black, therefore she should be treated highly as described when she is pursued by a black man and finds it offensive.
In Chapter 3, Fanon discusses a similar situation when the man is black as the man seeks to be white by pursuing a white woman as the man marries white culture and the white beauty. He analyzes Un homme pareil aux autre by René Maran in which he discusses how the black man is constantly abandoned throughout his life due to his blackness leading himself to self-hatred actions because of feelings of inferiority and aggressive behavior. By pursuing a white woman, Fanon writes how the black man is enacting colonial revenge by using them instead of being the one that is used, which the character of Protée reverses due to his security in himself and the racial situation in Cameroon. He talks about how black students in France have a difficulty relating to black culture because of Western influence seen in the film with the African American son attempting to connect with his African brothers.
Frantz Fanon was a French West Indian psychiatrist and political philosopher from Martinique. Fanon was most well known for his work in post-colonial studies, critical theory, and Marxism with works such as The Wretched of the Earthand Black Skin, White Masks, his first book published in 1951. He writes about the struggle of decolonization in the context of independence war in Algeria from 1954-1962 in The Wretched of the Earthand was discussed in the documentary about Fanon titled Black Skin, White Masks.He turned to psychiatry as he thought psychiatry was used to regain freedom lost in the madness.
In Black Skin, White Masksspecifically the chapters The Negro and the Language and The Fact of Blackness, touch on the topics of race relations between the colonized and the colonizer. The Negro and the Language discusses black people’s role in society, specifically when going to the country of the colonizer therefore racist societies, in regards to relations between the colonizer and the colonized. While The Fact of Blackness focuses on the role of black man and the image of black man in society. Fanon analyzes how black people exist in two different modes with other black people and amongst white people, specifying on the inferiority and superiority complexes between whites and blacks. This is due to the relation of the blacks and whites as the black man must be black because he must be black in relation to the white man. Ironically he, a Black person, writes in French about the importance of language with the example of speaking French as a black person as a negotiation in cultural belonging, therefore writing about his own identity throughout the piece.
But the issue with black people is that the construct of racism that has been spread through colonialism dehumanizes and depersonalizes black people having them question their reality as a human being. Therefore to feel as though they are human beings, they do so by committing actions in aspirations of being white and being closer to culture of the colonizing country. It separates the races into two different spaces where white people are humans through the act of dehumanizing others therefore ‘sealing themselves in their whiteness’ and black people try to be white in order to be human. In this case, the white man will only see the other when they lose their sense of reality. In the film, it mentions a cause of racism to be the denial of the desire for black women, for example, because she wants a white man to become of that recognized and superior group in society instead of the black man.
This division excludes black people from the category of humanity and within the colonial mindset black people do not have a culture of their own, therefore a language that holds importance and validity, and black people are understood through racist stereotypes created by white people and portrayed through the media. All happening in a ‘white world, an honorable world’ where the societal constructs made by the white man are that of the Negro as an animal, as savages, as bad, as mean, as ugly, as brutes, and as illiterates. This can cause internalized self-hatred due to these social constructs created by the white man with a visible example being the viral video of a dark skin little girl getting her hair done by her mom in which she started crying saying she was ugly because she was darker skinned. But the term Negro itself carries historical weight, causing them to have a fixed image in which the identity of the black man is traced to historicity becoming something defining regardless of personal accomplishments or achievements.
This racist complex derives from an economic process (capitalism), since economics and racism are tied together those of color will have the shorthand feeling inferior and creating a cycle of poverty and inferiority complexes. So, in racist societies black people and other minorities pay the price in lower socioeconomic living situations. Language in this case is used a vehicle for colonial oppression since language gives people a sense of identity. Colonialism encourages the colonized population to aspire to the experience and position of the oppressor, becoming an unattainable dream/goal, but only results in the alienation of the colonized from their own culture. These race dynamics cause confusion for mixed race children in the 21st century and promotes self-hatred amongst the colonized.
Fanon presents the example of the people of Antilles who were colonized by the French and those that travel to France to assimilate to colonial culture and are almost praised by those still in the colonized country, in this case Antilles. This was visually presented in the film O’ Soleil by Med Hondo and is talked discussed in the documentary about Stuart Hall. Language perpetuates this feeling of inferiority in Black people, black people first aspire to become white through the learning of language. But learning the language is not enough to become white because those that assume the superior position will find a way, whether explicit or implicit, to make it apparent you are inferior. Therefore a black person that does not speak French perfectly is uncivilized, almost primitive as it is assumed black people do not have a culture of their own. This becomes a clash between races, not civilizations as written by Samuel Huntington. When Antilles is denigrated, blackness is as well.
Although written years ago, his concepts on racism and race relations still stand. As Fanon, writes about language perpetuating inferiority and I think language simultaneously empowers and disempowers the colonized. It empowers the colonized by giving the colonized an upper hand by knowing an important language giving them more hope in succeeding at a better life due to the connection with the colonizing country. But it disempowers the colonized, hurting and affecting them even more through this illusion of a better life to find out they will never truly be accepted in Wester, or racist societies as Fanon says, therefore limiting the colonized to their stereotypic roles in society. As well, his discussion on assimilation to the colonizing country through language is seen in Italy more prevalent amongst the Hispanic community. I have noticed Hispanic immigrants more frequently than other immigrants tend to not teach their kids Spanish or their native languages, forcing them to only know Italian and not have an accent as the parents do. It allows the kids to assimilate better and not face discrimination (or as much) in hopes of being more Italian or white, therefore rejecting or putting aside their native culture with kids born in Italy or born in their native country. Through the rejection of their native culture, it is another element of these negating activities of a third person consciousness since the the man of color encounters difficulties in the development of a bodily schema.
Mati Diop, niece of Senegalese filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty, made history with her 2019 film Atlantique. Being one of the only four women accepted into the Cannes film festival, she became the first black female director to have her film premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival when her film was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or and later in the festival won the Grand Prix. The film was a fictional adaptation of her documentary short Atlantiques (2009) that followed two friends from Senegal as they made a life-threatening boat crossing to Europe.
The film can be seen as a romantic supernatural drama that follows a young girl named Ada that is to be wed with a wealthy young man named Omar. The problem is that she is in love with a young construction worker named Suleiman, that flees on a boat in hopes of reaching Spain after him and his fellow coworkers have not been paid to build a tower in Dakar, Senegal. After Suleiman leaves, Ada is to be married but during her wedding Omar’s bed mysteriously catches on fire after Ada is made aware that Suleiman supposedly came back.
This first half of the film sets it up as a romantic drama that will follow the two young star crossed lovers that cannot be together due to Senegalese culture and values. But after the wedding scene, the film shifts dramatically to a more supernatural feeling. Detective Issa Diop (name choice seems to be reference to her later uncle) is then assigned to the case to figure out what set fire to Omar’s bed, yet after insisting that Suleiman committed the arsen and following Ada to prove his theory the movie takes a twist. After, it seems as though many people in the town are feeling ill and in a random moment they then become possessed by the spirits of those that died in the sea voyage to Spain. They then become what seems to be these demon like people with white irises and pupils that demand the contractor for the money they were not paid that had led them to flee to Spain in hopes for a better life. The investigator himself becomes part of this supernatural clan but the investigator unknowingly takes on the spirit of Suleiman which Ada seems to understand. They spend a night together and after the investigator comes to a realization he was the one that his body possessed by Suleiman set Omar’s bed on fire,he hands in the case to his superior declaring it closed.
A very aesthetically compelling film that emphasizes on color, movement, and sound. The first half of the film seems one with a more warm tone to the shots making it seem as though the film will be romantic drama but after the wedding scene it takes on a more dark and colder tone emphasizing the supernatural aspect. As well just as her uncle, Diop is constantly going back and forth to shots of the Atlantic Ocean and waves crashing even going so far as to end the film with a scene of the horizon line. These intermediary shots of the ocean seem to be adding into the ambiance of what is happening in the plot, as if the ocean spoke for itself being a symbol for both freedom and death.
In addition, the narrative seems exhibit Senegalese society consisting of strong patriarchy and static gender roles. But Ada is presented as this strong female character that denies this system as she is seen constantly refusing the arranged marriage and denying her then husband, Omar. As well, her inferiority is seen as she is forced to take a virginity test and then locked up by the investigator for no apparent reason. The role of religion in society s portrayed as Senegal is majority Muslim country. The girls are shown wearing hijabs in multiple scenes and when one of Ada’s friends is feeling ill, it is told to her mother that if the girl would oblige to wearing the veil and praying five times a day these types of things would not occur to her.
In what seems to be a movie about the return of those oppressed and denied their rights to pay basically having done slave work. In the form of spirits they reclaim their dignity and call it even by threatening the owner to pay up if not the building will be set on fire. As it takes on a surreal and supernatural twist, rendering it with what seems to be a dream-like aura. But it ends with the line “I am Ada” hinting at it being a somewhat real account for Mati Diop’s role in Senegalese society or her identity in general.
Touki Bouki (Journey of the Hyena), the 1973 Sengalese drama film directed by DjibrilDip Mambety, recounts the dilemma of the postcolonial subjects Mory and Anta with the thought of fleeing to France, Senegal’s former colonizer. The movie follows main characters and couple, Mory and Anta, with a non-linear narrative revolving around the journey Dakar and how they aspire to leave to France by stealing everything from a local wealthy homosexual man but when on the Port of Dakar ready to leave, Mory runs back to the city while Anta sails away. Therefore, the film is about rebuilding an identity from the fragmented stories of two young lovers, a cow herder and a university student.
Influenced by the French New Wave, the film followed the low budget characteristic but Mambety innovated his own type of style Throughout the film there was an exploration of cinematic space and the combination of both abstract images and sounds through the use of asynchronous sounds that breed assumptions to the event in the film in which the sound takes a life of its own. Most importantly, the mix of synchronous and asynchronous sounds along with extra diagetic sounds enhances the film to an aural narrative creating this acoustical space. The most representative scene being when Anta is on the edge of a cliff what seems to be by herself but through the sounds and the visual representation of the ocean it is assumed she has climaxed without any explicit or graphic scenes only until she is seen with Mory on the rock is the scene fully grasped.
As well, the city itself is remapped through sound as Mory rides his bike with a cow skull, specifically when riding through the more barren lands of Dakar with the juxtaposition of the background song Paris, Paris by Josephine Baker. But the scenes of the city are juxtapositions in itself as Mambety focuses on street vending, comunal clothes cleaning, and kids carrying buckets of water on their heads while showing the contrasting scenes of city buildings and the motorcycle. In fact, Mory’s story line comes full circle as the movie begins with Mory riding his motorcycle and a young boy runs alongside him in what seems to be running towards this gangster/bad boy lifestyle that welcomes the West. But the film ends with Mory unexpectedly running from his chance to go to the Western country of France with simultaneous flashing scenes of the slaughterhouse, in what seems to be Mory running back to the more native lifestyle.
The film can be seen as part of the Gangster genre due to the roles of the main characters, Mory and Anta. As they both seem out of place in their home town, Mory for being more of a gangster and Anta because she was a university student, both wishing for a better life in the West. Mory rides around with a James Dean Rebel Without A Cause persona to him defined by lawlessness as he escapes his loss when betting, steals money from the event, gets out of trouble by giving a cop a cigarette, and lastly stealing a car and money to flee. While Anta reverses the role of women in gangster films and asserts her powerful character with her remarks and firm decision making. They live this dangerous lifestyle riding around a motorcycle yet there is a lack of affection between the two.
Touki Bouki tells the story of the time people used to dream about going abroad, a dream still present for people in vulnerable situations. But while dreaming of going abroad and to fulfill this illusion of a wealthier, better, and more stable life, they reject their own home environment. But the original thought of moving to the West is a naive one. Going to the West would signify success because the West is thought of the place with immediate wealth and better living. The reality of moving kicked in to Mory before leaving, a reality that kicks into a lot of people when they arrive. The illusion of the perfect life in the West.
Installation view of Arthur Jafa: Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death, April 2–June 12, 2017 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, photo by Brian Forrest
African American video artist Arthur Jafa presented his 2016 montage video essay titled Love is the Message, The Message is Death that has been displayed in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the High Museum of Art. The 7 minute video essay is set Ultralight Beam, a song written by Kanye West featuring a verse by Chance the Rapper, both African American hip-hop artists from Chicago. The visual essay consists of montage footage of short excerpts that is representative of African American culture in the United States. Footage ranges from early 20th century political footage to 21st century popular culture footage and political footage representative of the Black community; the popular culture footage ranges from music, film, dance, and iconic figures such as Serena Williams and Kobe Bryant.
Arthur Jafa – Love Is the Message, The Message Is Death, 2016, video still
In the video Arthur Jafa: APEX|Artist Stories, Jafa speaks on his project and how it just happened to come about due to the collection of the footage that seemed to have this commonality. The piece is intended for a Black audience and those that can relate to African American culture but the heavier political scenes or the scenes in which some can’t relate to become visuals for non-Africans Americans to listen in, as Jafa said. The video features contrasting scenes from both a hard past and a hard present with a simultaneous paradoxy as popular African American culture becomes representative of the United States as a whole but yet African Americans still face hardships related to their slave past and the idea of them as second-class citizens.
In combination with Professor Kwame Phillips’ uncensored explicit video essay on police brutality in the United States, both reaffirm the undeniable abuse and serve as visual evidence to people who were not at the scene that in fact the hardships African Americans have to face are still ongoing and to an extreme degree. Both highlight the role of the African American that includes a difficult and different reality to White Americans and almost any other ethnicity in the United States. But as well shines light on the grave inequality in the ‘land of the free‘ that is gravely undermined and misrepresented in the media. Misrepresented in a country that has been built from the ground up based on Orientalist violence–whether it be against Blacks, Mexicans, or Natives–in which Orientalism is deeply ingrained into the history of the country and the role of the White American.
Arthur Jafa “Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death” at Sant’Andrea de Scaphis, Rome, 2018 Photo: Roberto Apa. Courtesy: Gavin Brown’s enterprise New York / Rome
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