Sexuality: Never Expressed, Only Condemned
Films are created for a purpose, whether it be for profit, pure entertainment, or to show a message. African films have been critiqued for not finding a balance between entertainment and a political or cultural message and that is a problem that they have had to struggle with. Focusing on messages, gender politics have been presented in African filmmaking for decades. This is shown in films such as Sembene Ousmane’s Moolaade 2004 and Adama Drabo’s Taafe Fanga 1997. Those movies, while recent as well, are more well received. Yet, Queer politics have just started to be explored in film after the start of the 21st century. Documentaries such as Born This Way 2013 by Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullmann and Call Me Kuchu 2012 by Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall depict how queer and gender politics impact and influence each other. There is very little critique on these films, so more exposure and written analysis are necessary for further discussion. Lack of this discussion could be attributed to how restrictive, dangerous, and prejudiced Africa, specifically Cameroon and Uganda in this case, is towards members of the LGBTQ community. Critics avoid discussing the film as many …show more content…
The men in both documentaries are not threatened sexually, but physically. In Call Me Kuchu everyone who was exposed is dealing with harassment, but David, the main person fighting the Bill and the focus of the documentary, is actually killed. The person who is suspected to have killed David did so because of his sexuality, openness, and because of his disagreement of the Bill. In Born This Way, Cedric is threatened twice by other men because he is an “out” gay man. This physical violence is an indicator of masculinity and how men stereotypically use violence instead of compassion. The men deal with a different form of violence against them, but both types are
Films are created for a purpose, whether it be for profit, pure entertainment, or to show a message. African films have been critiqued for not finding a balance between entertainment and a political or cultural message and that is a problem that they have had to struggle with. Focusing on messages, gender politics have been presented in African filmmaking for decades. This is shown in films such as Sembene Ousmane’s Moolaade 2004 and Adama Drabo’s Taafe Fanga 1997. Those movies, while recent as well, are more well received. Yet, Queer politics have just started to be explored in film after the start of the 21st century. Documentaries such as Born This Way 2013 by Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullmann and Call Me Kuchu 2012 by Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall depict how queer and gender politics impact and influence each other. There is very little critique on these films, so more exposure and written analysis are necessary for further discussion. Lack of this discussion could be attributed to how restrictive, dangerous, and prejudiced Africa, specifically Cameroon and Uganda in this case, is towards members of the LGBTQ community. Critics avoid discussing the film as many …show more content…
The men in both documentaries are not threatened sexually, but physically. In Call Me Kuchu everyone who was exposed is dealing with harassment, but David, the main person fighting the Bill and the focus of the documentary, is actually killed. The person who is suspected to have killed David did so because of his sexuality, openness, and because of his disagreement of the Bill. In Born This Way, Cedric is threatened twice by other men because he is an “out” gay man. This physical violence is an indicator of masculinity and how men stereotypically use violence instead of compassion. The men deal with a different form of violence against them, but both types are