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),