Africa and fiction

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 7:27 am

I've been trying to find a decent representation about Africa in fiction. Aside from the bad dark continent references in bad Clive Cussler books, I'm never too sure of what is at least a little accurate.

Any good suggestions of stuff to watch, read, listen to?

Primarily, I"m looking for fiction but non-fiction can work as well.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 8:00 am

Most representations of Africa are pretty awful - and rare. Actually though, Blood Diamond is pretty fair.

-Username17

Zinegata · Post by **Zinegata** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 8:46 am

For non fiction, the best is probably the movie Hotel Rwanda.

For fiction, I'd go for Lord of War (mainly about arms dealing, but has very many scenes in Africa). Blood Diamond is also pretty good, but Lord of War is funnier and more entertaining, whereas Blood Diamond is much more on the heavy drama side.

Tears of the Sun is a bit on the crazy idealistic side but it does have a rather visceral depiction of an African genocide.

tussock · Post by **tussock** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 11:11 am

District 9 for cinema. It's stereotyped, but not badly. Oh, and the aliens are a metaphor. Otherwise just pretend whatever you're reading or watching is set in Africa.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 3:51 pm

In practice, most good African fiction is science fiction. Because most good African authors hate right now, and look for something hopefully a little better. But if you read African Sci Fi/fantasy, it almost always ends up referencing a lot of African history and being very African Sci Fi, instead of Sci Fi.

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 4:13 pm

It seems like you're asking more about books than movies, but The Gods Must be Crazy isn't too bad, either.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 4:35 pm

I almost always prefer books to anything else. But I'll take what I can get. Blood Diamond was good. But from the looks of it most of African fiction seems to originate in South Africa.

Kaelik: any good suggestions on African scifi/fantasy?

Metaphors and such aren't a problem with me. But if there are books/movies/shows/whatev that examines the problem directly then it's an added plus.

Juton · Post by **Juton** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 4:39 pm

You can also check out the movies actually coming out of Africa. South Africa should be producing local television and movies in English, there is also Nollywood (Nigerian Hollywood) they produce a lot of crap but you can find a few gems in there.

Zinegata · Post by **Zinegata** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 4:13 am

Cynic wrote:I almost always prefer books to anything else. But I'll take what I can get. Blood Diamond was good. But from the looks of it most of African fiction seems to originate in South Africa.

Kaelik: any good suggestions on African scifi/fantasy?

Metaphors and such aren't a problem with me. But if there are books/movies/shows/whatev that examines the problem directly then it's an added plus.

Di Caprio's character is technically Rhodesian

.

Of the ones I mentioned, none are focused on South Afica. Lord of War is on Liberia, Tears of the Sun is set in Nigeria, and Hotel Rwanda is set in Rwanda.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 5:10 am

What about Hemingway's stuff? Anything of his that I have read, I don't remember, but I know that he was pretty popular in Kenya when I was there - I got a lot of cool perks because I'm named after his first wife.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:36 am

I'm pretty fond of Chinua Achebe.

K · Post by K » Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:04 am

How about The Ghost and the Darkness? Last King of Scotland? Both are pretty good for different reasons.

Basically it's really hard to get anything about Africa that is not also about genocide or rape, or rape and genocide, so I can't recommend the excellent documentaries I've seen. That's some grimdark shit, man.

Zinegata · Post by **Zinegata** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:42 am

Dammit. How can I forget Last King of Scotland?

It's also pretty good, though I was rather annoyed by how it focused much more on some English guy that got stuck in Africa. Plus, it's a bit less quotable than the first three I mentioned - all of which have a penultimate quote about the whole African fuck up.

JigokuBosatsu · Post by **JigokuBosatsu** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 4:40 pm

Cry the Beloved Country? The Hot Zone?

theye1 · Post by **theye1** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 4:58 pm

Say You're One of Them

It's fucking horrific.

The Lunatic Fringe · Post by **The Lunatic Fringe** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 5:27 pm

How about the works of Ben Okri?

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 6:05 pm

LeCarre Constant Gardner. Got banned in Kenya for hitting a little too close to home

Orca · Post by **Orca** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 10:16 pm

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Set in Botswana, it's too light and fluffy to be real but it has some of the flavour of the place I think.

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 6:52 pm

The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm
by Nancy Farmer

It's set in Zimbabwe in 20something (in the future). Solid combination of African culture and words with futury stuff... has some cool characters as well.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:56 pm

...You Lost Me wrote:The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm
by Nancy Farmer

It's set in Zimbabwe in 20something (in the future). Solid combination of African culture and words with futury stuff... has some cool characters as well.

I think that's one of the ones I couldn't remember the name of.