SA can deliver content but fails to capture the world
We need rediscover who we are, package it and sell it to rest of globe
The way in which we consume pop culture is often influenced by a number of things. Other than the people around us and what we can access, the entertainment industry is a network of multiple game players who all try to follow a trail of money. In some instances, this is often influenced by certain countries.
In the 1920s, American film, art, fashion and culture was influenced by Egypt. Following the finding of the tomb of Tutankhamun, Cairo became a go-to hotspot which trickled down into their entertainment industry as their movies embraced the country.
The silhouettes of the clothing and body ideal mirrored the statues and paintings as seen at the pyramids. The sleek art deco architecture has influenced a number of iconic buildings like the Empire State Building.
This was the same influence that Bollywood had in the 2000s. No, the world was not watching episodes of Eastern Mosaic on Sunday with the rest of South Africans. It was actually how it mirrored the flashiness of the era with a lot of hip-hop and bling.
Just recently, all eyes were on South Korea as songs like Gangnam Style and bands like BTS played on our local radios. On social media, many were most likely to see their beauty regiments on keeping skin youthful and poreless.
Bubbling under the fading allure of the Korean wave is SA, an entertainment industry tittering on the verge of making our shores a hotspot.
Our amapiano and gqom have become so popular that there are content creators found around the globe utilising dance styles that typically marry the genres. Our series have been capturing actors and reality TV lovers alike. Yet, there has always been something halting us from becoming a global phenomenon.
Each of the previously mentioned cultural hotspots had an inciting incident. For Egypt, it was the tomb; for India, it was their cinematic boom and South Korea had Gangnam Style catapulted by a pro-digital government. We, othe other hand, have missed opportunities.
Our newly democratised state didn’t reap the same benefits that India did when their newly liberated policies helped them buy into their own culture.
Which is no criticism as 1994 was clearly a time for us to establish who we are as a country.
But that did not quite happen. Evident in a number of factors, including the 2005 Oscar-winning movie Tsotsi that did not encourage a shift towards watching more South African content. Even with Charlize Theron bagging the Best Actress award a year prior.
As the first African country to host a World Cup, our greatest export was not our art, signature fabrics or music, but instead it was the vuvuzela. Not even the official songs were able to capture our genre of music.
In Waka Waka, the song took from Cameroon with Zolani Mahola saving the day with her Xhosa verse. Additionally, the other song crafted by R Kelly with the Soweto Gospel Choir did not represent local sound instead leaned on his roots as an R&B/soul singer. This includes K’naan’s Wav in Flag that was as locally brewed as a can of Coke.
This represents a problem with our pop culture lacking a sense of identity and perspective. We are blessed with an entertainment industry that is able to deliver content that is easy to consume but cannot seem to capture the world.
At the same time, our lack of a strong identity also brings about an issue with appropriation. It was almost impossible to not catch a woman embracing her African pride without donning isicholo, something that holds symbolic significance as to who can or cannot wear it.
Even Afrikaans has a history of being stolen from people who invented it before it was used as a tool of oppression.
If we can barely hold our sacred cultural symbols to high regard, who is to say they won’t be watered down over when exported to the rest of the world?
With the strong potential of becoming the next big thing in media, perhaps it is high time we start looking at what makes us authentically South African.