describing his 25 words-or-less logline ). On the second workshop , this guy … was my “ Editor ”. You believe that shit …? And that was just a sign of things to come . Throughout the long 5-year “ development ” of my script with AFFRO , I ’ ve seen it all . Seen exactly what Mamet was talking about . I ’ ve had 12-year old editors sitting in front of me , saying “ I haven ’ t read the script yet , but I have some ideas on how to change it .” I ’ ve had one editor tell me , “ I want you to bleed on the page .” Then , when I bleed on the page , the next editor says “ We ’ re not here to splash our personal stuff .” I ’ ve had feedback like “ You can ’ t name your characters after Zulu Kings - it ’ s disrespectful .” I ’ ve had “ panellists ” tell me , “ The Ancestors would never harm anyone in a violent way .” ( Really …??? Let me get this straight . You ’ re saying these old dead people – basically ghosts that we can ’ t prove actually exist - are incapable of violence ? And , what if your ancestor was Dingaan ’ s personal assassin ? Give me a break !)
I ’ ve had junior editors tell me ( and I love this one ) “ You can ’ t use the word Xenophobic to describe a white person - if it ’ s white people , we call it Racism .” What ..?! Jesus , talk about hypocritical double-standards , huh ? Maybe if this pretentious little junior editor parrot with the faux-posh private-school accent and the socio-political chip the size of the Kimberley hole on his shoulder wasn ’ t so far up his own arse and took the time to look up the word “ Xenophobia ”, he ’ d find the word “ Racism ” right next to it . ( Problem is , this was at a time when our own government was also confused about the meaning of the word . When they referred to those RACIST attacks on foreign nationals as “ Xenophobic Attacks ”. Because , hey , heaven forbid , the SAME people who fought against racism in this country for decades should suddenly be guilty of racism themselves , right ..? That would be embarrassing , huh ?)
And , boom ! That ’ s when it hit me . Right there , RIGHT THERE is the reason we will NOT make a powerful , honest film about race relations , racism or any other touchy subject in this country for a looong time . By powerful and honest I ’ m talking something like AMERICAN HISTORY
18 | WGSA MAG July 2013
You can ’ t name your characters after Zulu Kings - it ’ s disrespectful
X , CRASH , GRAN TORINO , JUNGLE FEVER , DO THE RIGHT THING , ROMPER STOMPER , to name but a few . Nope . We won ’ t make that kind of film here for some time to come . Oh , don ’ t worry . Someone else will make those movies for us - Hollywood probably . But it ain ’ t gonna come outta workshops with AFFRO . Just like BLOOD DIAMOND , PRIMEVAL , DISGRACE , DISTRICT 9 , INVICTUS and MY COUNTRY , to name a few , were made by Hollywood studios and outsiders . So the remainder of whatever powerful , contentious stories we have left will be made - just not by us .
Let ’ s say you want to make a movie about a white guy who , despite our newfound rainbow-nation spirit of Ubuntu , looks around him and sees the ugly , festering , violent underbelly of our society , and reactively clings to his archaic , neo-fascist , “ whiteness ” and ideals for all he ’ s worth . ( Kinda like Ed Norton ’ s character in AHX ). And through a series of trials and tribulations ( which we call plot-points ) with friends , allies and enemies , he comes to a moment of grace where he realizes - not thinks , but knows - down to the marrow of his bones and the pit of his soul , that he was blind and wrong : Racism is evil . How we gonna write that kinda movie when no one in this country would dare write about a white racist protagonist right now ? Some might say it would be in poor taste , because it ’ s too soon after the legacy of apartheid . That it would be like expecting a 1940 ’ s European audience to laud the musical you ’ ve just written and produced called , I AM NAZI . HEAR MY SONG .
And - funny how , when it suits Africa - they ’ re happy to accept food-aid , band-aid , live-aid , kool-aid , any-fkn-aid . When it suits Africa , anyone with money from Brangelina to Madonna can adopt an entire tribe of African children . But … when a white SA filmmaker comes along and wants to make a little horror movie about a white woman with a black adopted child , it ’ s suddenly a huuuge sociopolitical cultural problem . Pretentious clueless hacks .
Problem is , most - not all - of the editors and panellists at AFFRO are those pseudo-intellectual literary academic types ( that Francis Prose warns us about ),