The filming industry is one of the major media and entertainment platforms with a greater influence on the culture and organization of every society. Diawara (1988) points out that Hollywood, being one of the major centers of excellence in the production of breathtaking movies and series, plays a vital role in shaping perceptions, thinking patterns, and ideologies among Africans. It has become one of the biggest perpetrators of Westernized influence, which originally is unwelcome in African society. African communities, whether located geographically in Africa, the United States of America, or Europe, have had a rigid cultural paradigm that cannot easily be broken, no matter the influence. Most interestingly, with the new age of computers, the filming industry has pierced into the core of the African community, dissecting rigid traditional micro-facets, be it social, spiritual economic, political, or environmental. Therefore, this paper explains how the filming industry has negatively impacted the African community, eroding every cultural structure that is esteemed before.
Effects on African Social Life
African communities establish solid social standards which really protect relationships across the strata of society. For example, young people have been taught since age 4 how to handle an elder with honor and respect, even when they are wrong. Such a child grows up knowing that elders are to be handled with a lot of wisdom and fear. Some films have been produced where children are answering back the elders or throwing tantrums anyhow. Such films are influencing how kids relate to parents slowly by slowly and before long the African community is in chaos. Secondly, there are other customs where a man moves out to stay far from his parents’ house when he gets married. This custom helps a lot with how the mother-in-law relates with the newly married bride in the family. The filming industry has broadcasted a family set-up where the man marries and continues staying at his mother’s house. Such a culture is destroying relationships and, furthermore, breaking marriages, because it is sensible for a man to find his own domain where he should discharge his duties as a husband and a father independent of his biological family. Thirdly, the rise of homosexuality has really affected African society. From an ancient age, African communities esteem their moral values, especially handling their sexuality with a lot of honor. Young men and women keep their chastity in check until they reach their late adolescence when they undergo circumcision as a sign of purification and then get married under the council of the elders. The issue of homosexuality is something that cannot be accommodated in African communities at all. On the flip side, the persons engaging in massive sexual perversion are Africans. Mabelle (2016) points out that movies on homosexuality are brought on board in the 90s when it almost looks like it is virtuous to be a homosexual. Lastly, the filming industry has projected an African man as a lesser human being, and in so doing it has affected how they perceive themselves. There are many stories, poems, and literary works which are done in the 20th century about how African communities have struggled to feel accepted and regarded as a people by the white community. A poem such as ‘If We Must Die’ by Claude McKay shows the struggle and pursuit for self-concept, self-identity, and self-image by Africans. As much as movies such as ‘12 Years a Slave’ serves to keep historical facts for generations to come, it has an element of downgrading an African man. Scenes full of massive killings, beatings, and rape of women slaves do not augur well for the African community. In fact, the majority of black women living in the United States cannot watch such scenes because they are heavy and devastating. Lord McAulay, addressing the British Parliament on February 2nd, 1835, said that after traveling and exploring African culture, he found that it is a community rich in good laws, which the only way to destroy was to make Western culture appear better than their own.
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Effects on African Spiritual Life
The filming industry is highly responsible for the drift in the spiritual life of African society. In the ancient age, African society, though in ignorance, worships sincerely and performed several liturgical practices which to them form the very essence of who they are before God. There are communities that have extraordinary encounters that assure them that God is with them. Some communities have seers and ancient oracles which gave them the direction of life or how to approach enemies while in battle. Onyenankenya and Osunkunle (2017) point out that the films bring the Western culture with secularism and liberalism where opinions of man are valued, and thus, it destroys the spiritual identity of African society. Secondly, the African community in the past has ways they show compassion, helping the poor, and treating strangers with utmost dignity. The filming industry brings a culture where the spiritual framework is dysfunctional. Such a society does not appear spiritual nor is it social. Therefore, with time, the spiritual life of the African community is eroded, and in the current age, there is a lot of bankruptcy. Lastly, there is a religion that is purely centered on business, emerging in America in the 20th century. Films shape people’s perceptions of how ministry is supposed to be conducted. African communities, especially in Southern America and in Africa, are coming up with a religion that is centered on money. Pastors are taking advantage of the poor and also sleeping with people’s wives. A movie such as ‘Keeping the Faith’ is a good example where men who should have been a model of perfection are compromising the statutes of religion.
Effects on African Political Life
The filming industry is depositing corrupted seeds into the leadership domain of the African community. In the past, African society is established with administrative and governing councils that esteemed God and humanity. In fact, political leaders were chosen from spiritual leaders. There are some who were medicine men and others who were prophets, with reputable character and vitreous that cannot be disputed. Such persons are chosen to lead because they have been tested and proven. A series such as ‘24’ brings on board a scandalous system of governance where leaders are hungry for power to the extent of terminating anyone who stands in the way. President David Palmer in ‘24’ tries to stick to principle, but he compromises when his son is charged with murder by miss Maurine Kinsley. This is exactly opposite to how ancient African society is led and governed. Secondly, the filming industry is projecting the major conspirators against humanity and ethical standards to be high-ranking officers in the government. It becomes difficult for African communities to raise a generation of leaders who a pure and without blemish, those who can handle power and money and still respect others. Furthermore, in the movie ‘Angel Has Fallen’, the conspiracy to bring down President Trumbull is organized right from the second in command. The conspiracy ends in framing agent Mike as the alleged killer of the whole security detail of the president. In African communities, the higher offices in the current age have such villains. In fact, Atlanta records high levels of crime rates being the base of the African communities, and tracking back, it has everything to do with the attitude that blacks develop as they watch films.
Effects on African Economic Structures
The filming industry as a media platform is greatly informing how African communities perceive work. Raising children with programs on television and films which are perpetually produced every season can be very difficult. For example, a movie such as ‘Blue Streak’ is one of the comedies of the 21st century, where Martin Laurence plays the role of a smart guy. On the other hand, the movie demonstrates that you must be dirty to gain. African culture projects clean dealings in gaining any financial resource. Ebert (1999) says that Martin Laurence is a thief and continues being a thief until the whole host of police leaves him at the border to Mexico where they have no jurisdictions to arrest him. Though the United States of America has a good work culture, Hollywood is feeding societies with other erroneous elements of entering financial freedom.
Effects on African Environmental Structures
The films produced in the 21st century influence African culture in terms of the environments they have created. For example, there are tough environments that harden children while they are still young. Severe environments impart the capacity for them to handle difficult assignments in the future. The filming industry has endeavored in artificial intelligence where everything that a person needs is integrated within their reach. The games played in the African tradition are physically challenging, they help in developing motor skills and generally improving a person’s physical structure. On the other hand, films have shown computer games that do not per se improve children’s lives. Such an environment can promote obesity because the players are just seated playing football in their minds. Another danger is that the environment can easily create addictions, such as laziness.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the filming industry has had negative ramifications on the culture of the African community. First, the industry is purporting a social lifestyle without boundaries or honor to elders. Politically, the filming industry creates characters with unscrupulous dealings of either amassing wealth or misusing power. The spiritual life is becoming secularized and liberalized through movies. Methods of accumulating wealth are very skeptical and unclean. Therefore, it is true that the filming industry, as much as it has developed an entertainment platform, is destroying cultural values that for a long time are keeping the African community morally straight.
References
- Diawara M. (1988). Popular Culture and Oral Traditions in African Films. (3) 41:6-14.
- Ebert R. (1999). Blue Streak Movie. (7) 3:1-2
- Mabelle F. (2016). Impact Assessment of Western Films on Teenagers and the Question of Cultural Promotion in an African Society. (3) 2:21-33.
- Onyenankenya, M.O. and Osunkunle O. (2017). Persuasive Influence of Hollywood Film in Cultural Transmission: Negotiating Nigerian and Culture in a South African Environment. (4) 46:2-34.
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