Film Synthesis Essay

Through the lenses of many different communities and individuals in different parts of Africa, Arjun Appadurai’s “–scapes” (ethnoscapes, mediascapes, technoscapes, financescapes, and ideoscapes) manifest themselves in similar/universal and different forms between three films: “Price of Love”, “African Metropolis”, and “A Screaming Man”. Along with these “-scapes”, one of the strongest themes throughout the movies was the conflict or cohesion of Westernization in each culture and how the main character(s) and society chose to balance it with their own cultural identity.
For instance, many of the films were in places where the effects of colonialization along with Westernization have taken root and still hold with the integration of a non-native language such as French along with a mixture of French and the native language/ slang. However, in a movie such as “Price of Love”, it was spoken completely in Amharic. This is an interesting situation to consider whether the director made a deliberate decision to make a statement about the native language in contrast to the backdrop of imported goods and buildings in non-English …show more content…
The presence of traffic, modes of transportation, a variety of buildings, and a trend in commodities and fashion are stark contrasts to run down buildings and disarray. In the developed parts of the cities, there is more diversity in many aspects while in the undeveloped parts, there is more traditional values rather than imported diversity. However, there is a blend of modern and traditional through remixed music and improvised dance and the import of basic technology in both rural and urban environments. Because of this, there are many examples of trying to maintain cultural identity but also expanding into the mainstream, as seen with the main character in “The Cave” and “To Repel Ghosts” in “African