“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” — George Orwell
Hollywood seems to be delving into African history, making movies about the continent’s past. They feature Black actors and actresses, but many are not truly African themselves. While the cast may include Black actors, they are often not indigenous Africans, who would have a better understanding of the stories being told. In some cases, the screenwriters for African historical movies are white! What an absurdity! Even when the screenplay writers are Black, do they really know the history they’re trying to depict? Hollywood frequently makes mistakes in its portrayal of Africa. For example, many movies seem to assume Lagos is the capital of every African country — when, in fact, Lagos isn’t even the capital of Nigeria. Some even depict Lagos as a country!
You might see a South African actor with a South African accent playing the role of a Nigerian in Hollywood films. This is a slap in the face. If you’re telling our story, tell it correctly. Being Black doesn’t make someone fully African. Due to the transatlantic slave trade and migration, many people of African descent live in Europe and other parts of the world. Some don’t even know the specific African country they originate from, only their race, based on skin color. Such people may struggle to blend into indigenous African culture without misunderstandings or inaccuracies.
Mixing up African dialects, cultures, and cities in Hollywood movies that depict African culture is simply not good enough. No writer would ever mistakenly portray New York as the capital of the United States, even in a fictional film. But when Hollywood gives incorrect capitals to African countries under the guise of creative license, it comes across as both racist and wrong. African culture and history are sacred; if you’re going to tell them, tell them accurately.
For instance, an African American might be better equipped to narrate the history of racism in the U.S. during the 1900s than to tell the story of the Yoruba Civil Wars. He may have spent his entire life in America, fighting for racial justice in a foreign land, but he is not immersed in Yoruba culture or its intricacies. He would have more knowledge of how African Americans rose up against racism than about the Yoruba Civil War. There’s a good chance he might not even be from West Africa, but from another part of the continent.
I would have praised the movie The Woman King if it hadn’t poorly portrayed the Oyo Empire. The actors depicted the Benin Empire speaking more Yoruba than the Oyo Empire, even though the Oyo Empire was the true cradle of the Yoruba language. The actors who spoke Yoruba in the film sounded disconnected from the language. Casting actors unfamiliar with African history for such sensitive roles diminishes the integrity of the movie.
I don’t believe Hollywood can tell our stories better; only we can tell them accurately, without distorting the truth or mixing up accents and languages. Only we, who still bear the scars of our past, can tell the stories of what has happened. Our history has been passed down to us in tales, epics, and songs. Only Africans who are well-versed in their history can tell these stories correctly.
History is not fiction; it is yesterday’s reality. A people’s history encompasses what they have endured, what they are currently experiencing, and what lies ahead. Only those who have lived this reality can tell it properly. A foreigner cannot accurately tell the history of a particular group of people; they will always be speaking from an outsider’s perspective.
This is a wake-up call to all African filmmakers to take charge of telling their own history. People no longer read books as much as they watch movies. Films have become a powerful medium for documenting and preserving culture. Let us tell our history the right way — how it was, how it is, and how it will be. Let us speak our languages correctly and show the rich diversity in our dialects. Let’s provide the correct capitals, cities, and cultural values. Our diversity makes us unique. We are many different components merged into one — let’s ensure that our history doesn’t fade into extinction.
By Eyitayo Jemimah Ajayi
