Analysis of the Film Jamie Uys' The Gods Must Be - Movie Review Example

MLA] The Gods Must Be Crazy The Gods Must Be Crazy I Written, produced, and directed by Jamie Uys, the 1980 movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy, intertwines a trio of series, namely, a Bushman’s journey to the end of the earth to return a Coca Cola bottle to the gods, the romance between a clumsy scientist and a schoolteacher, and a group of terrorists on the run (“Movies – The Gods Must Be Crazy”). Filmed in Botswana and South Africa, the movie deals with the story of Xi (N!Xau), a Sho Bushman (native of Southern Africa) of the Kalahari Desert whose clan has no encounter with Western civilization. The Bushmen are living in paradise where everyone’s needs are satisfied because their gods provide them with everything they want. Social order turns chaotic when a Coca Cola bottle from a passing airplane lands on earth unbroken. The tribe finds countless uses for it and derives great pleasure from the uses. For Xi’s clan, it is a “gift from the gods”. However, this gift becomes the source of jealousy, hatred and violence among the Bushmen. To restore peace and harmony in the township, Xi is assigned to return the so-called gift to the gods. In his journey, he encounters western populace for the first time. Xi meets the zoologist (Marius Weyers) studying elephant manure, a white female schoolteacher (Sandra Prinsloo), and a group of black guerrillas headed by Sam Boga (Louw Verwey) intending to overthrow the government. Xi saves the schoolteacher and school children when they are taken hostage by the terrorists. Eventually, Xi, reaching the peak of a cliff and believing that he has found the kingdom of the gods, throws the “gift” from there (“Movies – The Gods Must Be Crazy”). The Gods Must Be Crazy II The Gods Must Be Crazy II was directed by Jamie Uys, produced by Jerry Weintraub and released by Columbia pictures in 1989. The movie brings back N!Xau named as Xixo, a Sho Bushman ignorant to the existence of civilization outside of his own. Xixo’s son and daughter are lost after accidentally hitching a ride with two wicked elephant poachers. Meanwhile, the airplane boarding New York Doctor of Law, Ann Taylor (Lena Farugia) and veterinary doctor, Stephen Marshall (Hans Strydom) crashes and lands in the middle of the Kalahari Dessert. In the same dessert, a lost Cuban soldier (Mateo) and his Angolan enemy (Timi) take turns holding each other prisoner. The lives of all these characters intertwine as Xixo goes on his search for his lost children. Ultimately, Xixo emerges as the hero as he finds his children, and saves Taylor and Marshall from captivity. The head poacher is arrested; both the Cuban and Angolan soldiers settled agreeably, Taylor and Marshall goes back to civilization and Xixo’s family is reunited (Ulmer). Introduction of the Southern African Bushmen to the World Both movies I and II of The Gods Must Be Crazy paved the way to the introduction of the San to the world. The native San, also known as the Khoisan or Bushmen, show the innocence of the primitive community. Regardless of their famous legacy, the San have encountered a great deal of discrimination and distorted representation. Some European travelers accounted that these natives “live without religion, like animals.” The Europeans stole their enormous lands saying that the Sho are not humans and thereby incapable of landownership in Africa. Several anthropologists and surveyors have observed the San’s way of life for the next three centuries. In the ancient times, it was believed the San worshipped the moon and adored the mantis. Actually, the San respect a twofold theology: the maker God and the evil God. The tribe believes that a primitive order of human and animal existence was transformed into the current order through the twofold theology and has instilled communications between humankind and animals with unique importance (Norman). European philosophers construed the Sans religious rites as proof of pre-historic custom, treating them as a genuine relic of mankind history. The San’s image, as described by some European scholars, was a change from vicious savages to innocent inhabitants, with primitive hunting and ceremonial dances. In Jamie Uys’ The Gods Must Be Crazy, the San is portrayed as contented and innocent natives but in reality, a victim of exploitation and misrepresentation (Norman). The traditionally marginalized natives have started to gain control over their image and rights. The San’s survival in the international opinionated economy is dependent on its capacity to represent their symbol to demonstrate individuality outside of primitivism (Norman). Theme and Message Almost everyone will imagine the peaceful Kalahari Desert represented in the vastly well-liked movies of the 1980s when the Bushmen of South Africa is mentioned. Both I and II editions of The Gods Must Be Crazy demonstrate an idealistic depiction of the tranquil Ju/’hoansi, but how precise was it? (Tomaselli). According to Professor Keyan Tomaselli of the Culture, Communication, and Media Studies at the University of Natal, the first movie was undeniably enjoyable while ethnographic recording was successfully blended with humor as picturesque filming disrupted with a ridiculous story about a Ju/’hoansi tribe’s response to a Coke bottle that accidentally landed on the peaceful Kalahari Desert. However, the visualization of the peaceful Ju/’hoansi has been criticized by many people (Tomaselli). Filmed and released at a time when segregation on racial grounds in South Africa was still the official system of government, both films were subjected to criticism on accounts of suspected prejudice and erroneous advertising. In an interview with N!Xau, the lead actor, he said that, “the image of the Bushmen given by the Gods films is not really good because it does not show how people are really living. It only shows the past. People should not see this as what is happening now” (p.184). When Tomaselli asked N!Xau on community accountability and the impact of the two films on Bushman traditions, N!Xau said, “only those who worked on the films benefited and those who did not work did not benefit… It caused some tension because some of the people were having it good while others had nothing and they were jealous” (p. 189-90) (Tomaselli). Africans considered the films either as a misinformation of a racist rule or simply a fictional story. Others said it was illogical for the Bushmen to react crazily to a Coke bottle and some disliked Xi’s portrayal as a foolish hero. In actuality, the idealized depiction of the Bushman’s way of life was already gone in the eighties (Tomaselli). A few reviewers disagreed about the notion of a Coke bottle as a “gift from the gods”, stating that this was an unquestionable exhibition of “ethnocentrism” and racial discrimination. Tomaselli argued that the cultured audience know what the bottle really is, but the uninformed and uneducated people actually did not have any perception how insignificant it is. The Coke bottle, in actuality, was simply a paradoxical symbol of gifts from the regal societies to the colonized countries. Others believed that the films were merely to entertain the viewers, a point undoubtedly taken by Jamie Uys. The issue of when entertaining literature goes beyond narrow-mindedness, discrimination, or lack of sympathy depends on the viewer’s perspective (Tomaselli). The strange hilarity and satire are rudimentary in exposing the primary message of Gods. If the viewer looks closely at The Gods Must Be Crazy movies, it becomes obvious that it is certainly a social satire. Gods sends a message about humanity’s fault. The message is well-timed and pertinent, yet it uses satire as a way to convey the meaning (Tomaselli). The Gods Must Be Crazy: An Epic Comedy of Absurd Proportions Both films show the comical Bushmen as dignified primitive people living a trouble-free life untouched by western civilization. The Coke bottle that accidentally landed on the Kalahari Desert from a passing airplane symbolizes the only contact of the Bushmen with civilization from the westerners. Although the films are indeed humorous, issues on obvious racism were raised. Predominantly on the The Gods Must Be Crazy I, Xi’s representation as the inexperienced ignorant unable to comprehend “gods” ways was analyzed by some critics as abusive and degrading. The film was actually forbidden in Trinidad and Tobago. On the other hand, those who enjoyed the film firmly believed that the film was merely a satire of supposed western culture and censure of racism with Xi as the conqueror (“Movies – The Gods Must Be Crazy”). In part 1, having seen only Bushmen in his lifetime, Xi find white men peculiar especially when he sees them riding big and moving vehicles. First-handedly, he perceives these whites as “gods” and not as human beings. However, in The Gods Must Be Crazy II, Xi has a better knowledge of the whites as he relates to his two children about the whites he encountered, saying that these big people have magical powers as they can make wheeled things move and even added that although they have magic, they are not smart because they cannot live without their powers (“Movies – The Gods Must Be Crazy”). During the filming of The Gods Must Be Crazy I and II, representations of the Bushmen as noble savages may have been precise, however, these depictions are no longer true today (“Movies – The Gods Must Be Crazy”). The Bushmen as “Noble Savages” The Gods Must Be Crazy films illustrate the Bushman tribe as “noble savages.” Noble Savages are unspoiled by civilization influences, and believed to be more genuinely dignified than the modern civilized Bushmen (“Encyclopedia: Noble Savage”). A genuine noble savage is kind, unselfish, innocent, truthful, and loyal; lives peacefully with the natural world; and is gifted with a natural wisdom. A “noble savage” conceptualizes the common elemental humankind as untouched by civilization. Humans are believed to be basically good, with plain manners and naïve behavior but are distorted by the influence of civilization. It has been questioned by Europeans if “noble savages” are “human beings”, thereby justifying acts of deliberate killings of primitives primitives or savages during the apartheid era (“Encyclopedia: Noble Savage”). The notion of the "noble savage" puts effort to bring back the importance of the native way of life and disregard colonial extras, establishing unusual individuals as righteously higher so as to offset the perception of the African primitives as inferiors (“Encyclopedia: Noble Savage”). Works Cited “Encyclopedia: Noble Savage.” State Master. n. d. 24 February 2010. “Movies – The Gods Must Be Crazy Films.” EBay. 2005. 23 February 2010. Norman, Mela Loiuse. “Mela Norman on the San People of the Kalahari Desert.” Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World. 2007. 24 February 2010. The Gods Must Be Crazy I. Prod. Jamie Uys, Dir. Jamie Uys, Perf. N!Xau, Sandra Prinsloo, and Marius Weyers. DVD. 20th Century Fox, 1980. The Gods Must Be Crazy II. Prod. Gerry Weintraub, Dir. Jamie Uys, Perf. N!Xau, Lena Farugia, and Hans Strydom. DVD. Columbia Pictures, 1989. Tomaselli, Keyan G. “Rereading The Gods Must Be Crazy.” Visual Anthropology. 2006. 19:171-200. Ulmer, Jeff. “Review: The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1988).” Digitally Obsessed. 2004. 23 February 2010. Read More