Post-Coloniality: Projection of Ghana In Video-Films

Authors

  • Augustine Danso

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2021.347

Keywords:

Ghana, video film, witchcraft, Occultism, themes, representation

Abstract

The rise of the mainstream video industry has been significant towards socio-cultural and economic development in Ghana; however, this study will not focus on the impacts of the video industry of Ghana. This article primarily examines the image construction of Ghana in video-films. Over the past few years, video-films in post-colonial Ghana have often been critiqued by film scholars and critics for reinforcing superstitious beliefs and instigating backward tendencies that derail national development. Normative scholarships have critically explored the visuality of Ghanaian video-films and their themes. Nonetheless, these normative scholarships have often overlooked the nexus between the Ghanaian society and video texts. It is based on this scholarly gap that this study engages the meta-question of how video-films project Ghana in their texts.  This article will engage a critical textual reading of a few popular films from the Pentecostal and Occult genres to contextualize the ideological sub-texts and the image construction of Ghana in these selected video-films. I argue that some of the major ‘postmodern’ themes in Ghanaian video-films considerably denigrate and malign Ghana’s image, as well as neglect issues of national interests.

References

Aveh, A. (2010). The Rise of the Video Film Industry and its Projected Social Impact on Ghanaians. Film in African Literature Today (28): 122-132.

Amad, P. (2013). Visual riposte: looking back at the return of the gaze as postcolonial theory's gift to film studies. Cinema Journal. (p.50).

Haynes, J. (2012). A bibliography of academic work on Nigerian and Ghanaian video films. Journal of African Cinemas, 4(1), 99-133.

Haynes, J. M. (2007). Video Boom: Nigeria and Ghana. Postcolonial Text, 3(2).

Marwick, A. (1989). The nature of history. Macmillan.

Meyer, B. (2015). Sensational movies: video, vision, and Christianity in Ghana. University of California Press.

Meyer, B. (2002). Pentecostalism, Prosperity, and popular cinema in Ghana. Culture and religion, 3(1), 67-87.

Nanbigne, V. “Cultural (Mis) Representation in Ghanaian Video-Film Practice”. University of Uyo Journal of Cultural Research, Vol 9, No.2 (2013): 13.

Nash, G., Kerr-Koch, K., & Hackett, S. (Eds.). (2013). Postcolonialism and Islam: Theory, literature, culture, society, and film. Routledge, (p.2).

Ponzanesi, S. (2018). “Postcolonial Theory in Film”. Cinema and Media Studies, Oxford Bibliographies. (p.1)

Ogunleye, F. (Ed.). (2003). African video film today. Integritas Services.

Owusu, J. O. (2015). Ghanaian women and film: An examination of female representation and audience Reception.

Rukundwa, L. S., & Van Aarde, A. G. (2007). The formation of postcolonial theory. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 63(3), 1174.

Ukadike, F. N. Black African Cinema. University of California Press, (1994): 24.

Yanney, A. Gold Coast Colonial Films, The Mirror Newspaper (September 5, 1973): 3-4.

Downloads

Published

2021-12-14

How to Cite

Danso, A. (2021). Post-Coloniality: Projection of Ghana In Video-Films. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 9(2), 100–113. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2021.347

Issue

Section

Articles