A sane look at "The Gods Must Be Crazy"

If you enjoyed CineVerse's exploration of "The Gods Must Be Crazy" and wanted to delve even deeper into what makes this movie tick, here are some talking points from our discussion last evening.

WHAT STRONG IMPRESSIONS DOES THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY LEAVE YOU WITH?

• The film plays like a playful homage to the slapstick silent comedies of old, those of the Buster Keaton, Keystone Cops, Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin era: there are pratfalls, artificially sped up motions, sight gags, and funny misunderstandings
• It’s obviously a silly comedy that shouldn’t be taken too seriously, yet it’s structured to resemble a documentary, especially with its voiceover narration
• There are 3 different plot threads:
• The Bushman and his quest to discard the Coke bottle
• The clumsy scientist/inventor who accompanies the pretty schoolteacher to her new location
• The violent political coup that involves mercenaries and revolutionaries
• The movie intends to romanticize our preconceived notions of Africa as a warm, colorful, exotic and generally friendly country with satisfied, peaceful natives.

IS THIS FILM GUILTY OF RACIAL PROFILING? DOES IT REINFORCE NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES?

• It paints with a very caricatured, broad brush and shouldn’t be taken too seriously
• The San tribe actually live in a very harsh, impoverished environment and many have come to embrace technology
• There is inherent violence in and around these territories with political uprisings, civil war, genocides, etc.
• The “saviors and redeemers” depicted in the movie are white; the natives can be interpreted as uneducated, uncivilized, and therefore of a lower class/station than the whites
• This is not meant to be a realistic depiction of the way this or any other African tribe lives: one evidence of this is that the “Coke bottle is the first hard object the San have ever seen.” Surely, they have used rocks, stones, wood and other hard objects.
• Detractors of the film could argue that the native peoples are simply part of the backdrop to the story perceived by many to be more important: the romance/comedy involving the scientist and lady schoolteacher.
• Keep in mind that this film was made by white filmmakers and intended for white audiences.

WHAT IS THE MORAL TO THIS STORY? WHAT THEMES OR MESSAGES DO YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY?

• Who are the gods? Americans and other supposedly “civilized” people, who are indeed “crazy” from the native African people’s point of view
• The dangers of consumerism, capitalism and civilization: What does the Coke bottle symbolize? How enticing yet corrupting greed, technology, jealousy, possession, and consumerism can be.
• Who is truly more civilized and happy? Those living in the modern world, with all its trappings, or those removed from the trappings of consumerism and technology?
• Different cultures view the world very differently

DOES THIS FILM REMIND YOU OF ANY OTHER MOVIES OR TV SHOWS?

• Crocodile Dundee, in that it’s an exotic export from another continent
• The Benny Hill Show