Meren Getnet as Meaza Ashenafi in ‘Difret’
Here’s a test by which I judge whether a film is liberating for African women. I call it the RealHuman Test (RHT) and like the Bechdel Test, which it is inspired by, the RHT has three requirements.
1. In films about humanitarian issues, the protagonist is not simply a prop to raise awareness on an issue. She also has other thoughts, emotions and aspirations than the issue at hand.
2. The protagonist is able to solve dilemmas in the story without intervention (advice, aid, assistance) from a white person.
3. Even when the liberation of the protagonist is of focus, it is not made to seem like a liberated African woman is as rare as life on another planet.
Unfortunately, not many mainstream films pass the test. It is common for African women to be depicted as helpless, abandoned, unloveable, you name it. As a result, African women become prone to associate with other racial, ethnic and gender groups. They may associate white femininity with beauty, white masculinity with power, black masculinity with traditional life and so on. Associating positive human traits with everyone but ourselves is psychologically and spiritually dangerous.
But things are getting better. Performances such as Beyoncé’s In Formation and Seinabo Sey’s Hard Times are championing liberated images of black and African women. The film Difret, which I joined a discussion about following a screening at CinemAfrica in Stockholm last weekend, and which inspires this post, is an example of a liberating African feminist film.
But what is a “liberated image” of an African woman? In my view, as I argue in my Tedx Talk, they are those portrayals of African women just behaving as humans do. That is, doing mundane things such as drinking a cup of tea, crafting or relaxing. Also, they are images of African women being powerful, beautiful, spiritually enlightened as well as facing similar challenges that other people face. Above all, it is African women being gloriously human in all our complexity.
On that note, and because this clip is so goddam beautiful, let’s end with Seinabo Sey.
Denise Marinela says
Another beautiful article
Well done !
Seinabo Sey comes really good at the end.
I’m from Angola and I like very much your articles!
elgontik says
I agree. Beautiful Seinabo Sey clip. And your post is so on point. I like the direction this site is going in 2016 … we all should nurture the budding life that is the full complexity of African lives and reflect that in our art, media, personal lives, etc. And focus less and less on our portrayal by “the other” (whatever, or whoever that is). It is an incredible realization to me that there are way over 1 billion Africans and Diasporans on this planet and we still worry about our representation in Western Film and Media. I don’t think China, Japan, India, etc are harping on how they are represented/reflected in the West. They have their own mirrors. We should too.
Margot says
The entertainment industry exploits women’s sexuality and projects them as play things and as objects. Stars like beyonce sell their body and prostitute themselves for money and fame and we call this “empowered” and “liberated” Beyonce in her out-in-your face-sexuality does no good to any woman of any color; I don’t see how anyone, ,but a lost and confused society, can call her an example. what the media and modern times calls “Sexual liberation” is just an excuse for immoral behavior. So, if you want to dis-empower yourself and lose your self-respect as well as the respect of moral people, use stars such as beyonce as your role models.
The tobacco industry got women to smoke by using the cigarrette as a symbol of “women liberation” and “empowerment” for women. Smoking never actually did anything for women or feminism – it just lined the tobacco industry’s pockets. Likewise, those who encourage women to use their sexuality to express themselves and be free are not helping women in any way shape or form. The more explicit sexual images we get of women (and of men) the more violent and immoral our society becomes. A women can be sensual feminine and beautiful without putting herself out there as a “sexually liberated woman”