Disney Does Africa
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- After their many, MANY disingenuous pallet swaps, could Disney be trying something... real?
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I wanted one for years and this year for my birthday, my son actually bought me one. Very touching to me and now it is also my new fidget spinner 🤣
I've had a Ridge wallet for years and it's great. Haven't had my card stolen by a skimmer since I've had it. The RFID protection works. 👍
I highly appreciate you highlighting the work that's out there.
Whenever people complain about us lacking original stories these days, I always ask if they are watching stuff like Glitch Techs or anything else out there that happens to be original, and you have done that today 😎.
Also, yeah I too would like to see some stories of Africa that takes place in the past. However, I get what Mal is saying about how Africans are viewed through that too much and at times in such a negative way. Although I would add that that's probably all the more reason to have the variety. I.E. for every Afro-futurists story we have we could have an Afro-fantasy one 🤔.
14:53
Ha! I have subtitles on all the time too, especially for Brittish shows.
I think it's because it takes longer for me to figure out what I've heard vs what I read. My reading comprehension is far better than my hearing.
So while I'll be going "what dif he say?" I already understood it because of what I READ.
That's my take on it, anyway.
Looks like a neat wallet if you don't need cash. I prefer a small pouch with a zipper so I can store loose change securely.... yeah I know... I'm old.
Who would have thought the simplest solution to representation is simply researching other cultures to find good stories and/or creating new original characters??
Lots of people knew that. If you can write your characters to range from interesting and complex to fun and enjoyable or wicked and entertaining, it can work regardless of the character's sex or skin tone or other checkboxes DEI wants you to get on an application
I would love for Disney to stop this nostalgia baiting and move on to newer projects
if they want to cap on female leads AND say Greek myth, do Atalanta, not HERcules
I'm sure a lot of people in Hollywood would never arrive at the conclusion that if you want to tell an African story,....., there might be a whole continent filled to the brim with people, cultures, ideas and history.
But inclusion only is a padding on each other's back.
Mythology from other cultures is fascinating, I sometimes spend hours reading and studying obscure cryptids for ideas
They dont want it because she is defeated in a race by a man and marry him so Hollywood dont want that
Atalanta has a great story but I don't trust current year Disney with it one bit.
@@talithakoum3922 you'd think DreamWorks the anti-Disney would have done it. Maybe they're waiting for LA Hercules like they released Ruby when Little Mermaid was out
The funniest stories are the ones where sub-Saharan Africa wasn't "colonized" and they've grown to mega-Metropolis cities/countries that are peaceful.
I believe that is a new genre of fantasy called "extreme fantasy"
One question : are conquest and colonisation the only ways two civilizations can interact with each other? Is cooperation impossible? Is the domination of one group by the other the only path?
Isn't it interesting how the countries in Africa who are closest to their "afro-futurist" dreams are the ones who were colonized...
@@allnightfright619 dude, are you for real? "uncolonized African megapolis" is your definition of "extreme" fantasy? Are you denser than a black hole?
It's speculative fiction. SPECULATIVE. FICTION. It's like a staple of Afrofuturism FFS! It's even in the goddamn definition... 🤦♂
Seriously. Tell me you've NEVER STUDIED ANY AFRICAN HISTORY without telling me you've never studied ANY HISTORY AT ALL!
I like the concept of afro-futurism, awhile back I imagined an alternate history scenario where in the 1950s Britain and France's colonies in Africa had a huge rebellion, and the UN forced them to end the war and relinquish their territories, however instead of being divided up into 54 different nations, they're divided up into several larger countries for each region in order to give them more power and influence. This being the cold war, Africa also became a battleground for NATO and the Warsaw Pact, United States of East Africa comprising most of the western african coast from Cameroon, Nigeria, all the way to Senegal were more influenced by America and became more modernized and industrialized, becoming a superpower in its own right, the Arab nations of North Africa combined into one giant petrol superstate, similar to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, however its not all sunshine and rainbows. the East African states fell under the influence of the USSR, and were poorer and less modernized than their neighbors, and became rife with civil war. The Congolese Confederation struggles with breakaway states such as Katanga and the Central African Empire (which existed in our current timeline in the 70s. look it up!) and South Africa has its struggle with apartheid as is struggles to stay united. However in the 21st century most of the conflict has been resolved, and Africa becomes the home of several global superpowers. It's a more realistic take on afro-futurism combined with Alternate History that was borne out of my annoyance with generic alternate history scenarios that pretty much ignore the continent of africa altogether.
Oceans 11 did a lot of scenes like Mel Man described with the "not cutting straight to the action".
The Giver, Where the Red Fern Grows, Charlottes Web, The Road to Tabahita and The Boy in Stripped Pyjamas were actually only read in schools to make your heart break into a million pieces as a child smh.
I would like to hear more African stories. I'm afraid of Disney grabbing good material and current year it.
I have my misgivings about afro-futurism, i disagree ideologically with a lot of its messaging, but i admit it is a really cool aesthetic. It reminds me of some 50s and 60s scifi that made like space crystal roman civilizations.
For a number of reasons Africa has acquired the reputation as a place for exotic adventures, right, the last frontier of the earth in an age of rapid social and technological change in the 19th century. Large and dangerous wildlife, unwashed savages, a place for safaris and hunts and finding lost treasures.
Africa certainly could never be a source of "high culture". And this bias persists in i think much of the leadership of media companies, out of touch aged people who consciously or unconsciously remember the very turbulent second half of the 20th century and the cold war africa experienced.
For my shameless plug ive been doing a series of videos about southern africa and its history, and it really is a fascinsting place. Africa is a BIG continent, one eighth of humanity lives in it. And im happy that its own heritage and mythology is just beginning to be explored in western media.
One of my personal projects is a script for a game of thrones esque retelling of the Zemene Mesafint period of Ethiopia
DEI has poisoned the metaphorical well. Even "good" representation is marred by social media npcs.
Your ideas for an African Disney princess are so cool. I kind of imagined it in an art style akin to Puss in boots in the last wish. I wish somebody at Disney would watch this video, because I would so watch that movie.
They should fund the Wakaliwood guy. Give him actual rigs, an editing pc, give him editing tips and seminars etc. He will make many amazing action movie. Dinosaurs.
19:36 omg I want the hair
And maybe a doll of her designs
I don’t trust Disney
Remember they discarded their 2D studio for evil
Is that a bun on top?
What is with captions becoming almost mandatory to hear? I go through phases where I need them, although they fortunately aren't required most of the time for me. I wonder if modern sound design and mixing is forcing the use of them, or if there's a breakdown in our ability to process info thanks to technology over exposure
I watch everything with captions on too.
I was so board with it too, and didn't finish it ether. It was disappointing.
Very good
Oral traditions and story telling are core basis of Pan-African cultures.
Thanks for this essay!
the show sounds interesting but also slow but i kind of struggle with reading captions, i keep missing the action since i get so focus on the words.
Hey Greg, as a Xhosa watching you regularly... Say it right! Xho-sa 😂😂🤣
The best short fillim ever to have been made is Shane Acker's 9. Not the long one, but his prototype. Thousand times better than Lynch's, much more care given to detail.
I fear Disney touching anything.
It’s all Afro futurism, and Afro futurism is ok but it’s not a fairytale. Like, where are the African fairytales? Where is the African princess?
However, I’ve seen a few indie/student animation films that come close (forgot the names), it’s not Disney but better than nothing. 🤷♀️
The pro youtube move felt a little lack luster this time, but thankfully that bit about soci...... I mean capitalism and other unspecified things saved it.
I fully welcome more Disney projects focusing on African culture; on the condition that they don't infuse fuckin wokism into it. I want a STORY, not a lecture, I want CHARACTERS, not walking Political Statements.
YES!!!
Please do x men 97, its another Disney plus project that does an amazing job.
African stories, yes. Disney, no. I like to hear stories from all over the world. They don't need Westernizing other than translating as faithfully as possible. (I could learn the languages, but I'm awful at that.)
Stories from the continent are largely ignored because these people actually either don’t care about real and actual heartfelt representation and cultural diversity, or don’t see depth and interest in African cultural paradigms. That’s just about it.
I've been saying for years that Disney should just start adapting African myths and folklore.
They keep talking about representation but they barely advertised these recent projects from Africa.
My favorite segment from Kizazi Moto was Hatima
Hatima was very cool and I think is a great lesson in implied world building and how unimportant every little detail of the world is. There are questions we could ask about the world of Hatima, but they didn't occur to me while I was watching. That one gave me only what I needed in order to understand the emotions of the main character. They knew when to stop explaining and that can be tough to do
Emphasis on "barely advertised". I'm on D+ (also an accurate grade for the service) all the time and never even saw or heard of these.
@@gregowen2022 Why aren't white men being HONEST about the REAL issue with representation? You're not reproducing. White men are impotent and insecure about it.
Black people being represented in media is good because there' MORE black folks than there are white people. The world currently doesn't revolve around white people because in the grand scheme of things your population is dying due to LGBTQ, race mixing and generally women being more educated (which is good). Stop blaming black people for your inferiority complex. Thank you. I am not American, just observing as an outsider
As much as I liked Iwaju, I kinda wished disney had actually done fantasy folklore instead of afro-futurism.
@@elsinaattheworkshop Disney gave the audience what they wanted: Afrofuturism is in demand. Black Panther showed what Africans want
#gregowen2022 The thing about the live action reboot of little mermaid...in the 90s series they had a black mermaid her name was Gabrielle she was black and deaf
Yet the people running disney are fucking clueless not to use this character and we still could have had our traditional redhead classic Ariel
I forgot all about her! That was back when Disney tried to tell good stories with different characters and they didn't have to advertise about how amazing they were for it.
@@gregowen2022 lol yep what a waste of an opportunity and black Americans jump up and down for a black Ariel but don't know there was an already liked and established black mermaid
@@PassionfullofartAll the black people I’ve spoken to didn’t want a black ariel.
@@Passionfullofart Black Americans are happy to see a black girl in a lead role....which we don't see often. This is not to say more shouldn't be done, but let's be honest. When is the last time you've seen a black girl cast in fantasy in a lead role?
I would prefer more black stories be highlighted to be honest, at the same time I understand why some black people and children were happy. That's the problem with most of the discourse. A lot of people are right, but do not understand the hardships black people have had to endure to get the same rights as white people.
@@venuslove-i1v you do know black people owned slaves as well there was a movie called the woman king and that tribe killed and took others into slavery also they spelled slaves to other slave owners
Like I said Disney already had a black mermaid yet the people who run Disney are dumb as fuck to not make her the lead and still have classic Ariel ...or they could have just made a live action princess and the frog and make a shit load of money but Disney flopped that or they could just make original stories but instead race swap characters only to use that character as a shield and people say we don't want this shit just to call everyone racist
Between "Where the Red Ferns Grow" and "Charlotte's Web" I was hardened to death at probably an unhealthy young age....
I was about to point out Charlotte's Web too. Seriously think that has way more of a kill count for childhood innocence then any other elementary school aged book on the market.
Ah, yes. Charlotte's Web...
... I'm not crying, you're crying! 😢
For me it was also the Land Before Time (first one), as well as the Iron Giant. I also experienced Charlotte's Web and Where the Red Fern Grows at a young age.
Where the red Ferns grow fucking ruined me.
Where The Red Fern Grows destroyed me at 10...
Remember the old days when Disney would make a movie based in a culture and actually took the time to study up so that the story rocked?
OLD DAAYS. Your reminiscing on a time that doesn't exist because you're old. Stop acting like that's a bad thing to progress. Let it go, Old timer. The future is for the young. Whites aren't reproducing like black people are. Stop being threatened by it and accept that you no longer exist in a world that caters to whiteness. Adapt with change or die
I remember when Dungeons and Dragons did it too. They made a place that was supposed to be fantasy Africa the same way their other world were fantasy Europe. It was called racist for it's actuate depictions of African culture and clothing. They were 'insulting stereotypes' apparently.
@@onba7726black ppl don’t want to know everything about their ex African culture, just the good parts.
Well to be fair - its a lot harder to copy Japan's homework in 2024.
@@user-gm4kv2my4u You people like the sound of your own voice, don't you? Have you asked if any Africans love this?
As a 24 yo south African, i hate that our African stories are only pushing the tired afro futurism thing because of black panther. Its so boring
I hear you. 22yo South African here and I hate when the black main character ALWAYS has a trap beat for a theme. But nooooo they're not stereotyping at all when they do that
@@shogunpug4071 it's so annoying man, whatever happened to creativity 🙈
Sammmmmeeee
Based!
You guys are always complaining. They are not racially swapping any character, you should be happy. They need to continue adapting African original stories. This is a good start.
My kids have watched Kiya and the Kimoji Heroes and they like it. It's inoffensive, regular CGI fair, but it is set in Africa and has all of the artistic trappings of a pan-African style. I credit Disney for streaming it.
I hadn't even heard of it until I went to the Triggerfish site. It looks cool, if a little Disney Jr, but I bet my little ones will like it
Kirikou and the Sorceress was a good animated movie based on African folklore. It's a full length animated movie that came out back in 1998 and has great messages about family, bravery, and empathy.
Kirikou is tiny but he is mighty
as an Icelander i have never been represented in any media ever they always make it a Swed and then go there be happy he is European Iceland sits on the continental plate we sit on two continents and we are not Swedish
Your people did make LazyTown, so at least you have the goat Robbie Rotten as representation
My father was Icelandic. He has taught me and is still teaching me of my paternal ancestry. It's a shame what Hollywood does to your culture, to my father. As an American, I suppose I have no right to say it's my culture too, but I can't say that it doesn't irritate me at the very least.
Closest is Thor. Well if it makes you happy, I have a concept for a series and one of the characters is Icelandic
Hollywood just made a movie about a musical duo from Iceland that goes to the Eurovision Song Context back in 2020... all star cast, hilarious and heartfelt comedy.
Sure I'm only mentioning 1 movie, but it was eaily one of my favorite movies that year.
We can't hear anything anymore because there is a vicious cycle of bad speakers and bad sound mixing going on. Most TV speakers are in the back of the TV and aren't very good to begin with. Most people turn on subtitles because they can't understand speech because of the crappy speakers. Studios started to realize that 80% of people use subtitles, so they don't even bother making speech clear (at least for your average built-in TV speakers) so more people resort to using subtitles. On and on it goes.
Buy a nice sound system and mess with the settings until speech sounds clearer if you're tired of being distracted by subtitles.
That's so annoying. The sound effects muffle EVERYTHING.
Not going to fix the "dialogue barely above ambient noise levels followed by an explosion designed to wake Cthulhu" issue, though
The problem is that afrofuturism has become cliched. They are all the same.
IT'S NOT LIKE THEY WANT TO TAKE CREDIT FOR THEIR PAST AND PRESENT! OMG could you imagine?! NOPE. So instead it's "the future will be perfect" or "this would have been perfect if not for these people". But i agree completely with your point.
Same with the "killmonger hairstyle".
@@ReasonablySkeptic I appreciate their optimism. But let's be honest, if Africa was never colonized, places like Nairobi would still be a village of mud huts and dirt.
@@spykemxd Do you guys smell that? I think it's racism!
@@spykemxd Probably not. As they would begin to trade, things would have probably advanced like it did in Asian countries through trade. Proper trade vs colonization makes a very big difference.
Not that there is anything wrong with mud huts and dirt. Only racists think so because they think their culture is superior to others.
Race- swapping and pandering is NOT representation. I want to see legitimate stories from other cultures, about those people, from their point of view and with legitimate people of that culture. Is that so hard to understand. This world is full of stories. Let's tell them honestly. Replacing whatever role with a different ethnic or religious affiliation, sexual orientation or gender to be "inclusive" is immediately BS in my eyes.
I know that's hard for film makers or hollywood to understand, but they aren't getting any money off me for garbage and lazy writing.
Remakes, re-boots and re-imagining of favorites I grew up with, ad nausea. Come up with new stuff ? naw.
Adapt new IPs without it turning into an agenda ? naw! That would take too much effort.
It's easier for them to tear apart and re- invent existing ideas, than to make original work. That's how is it now - and it sucks.
Yep, it's the plague of postmodernism. Deconstruction is their goal and they think it's interesting, but it's not.
Why nobody can hear dialogue anymore: Sound design has completely changed in the past couple of decades. The number one offender is Christopher Nolan, but he's not alone. He started this drive to have more "realistic" sound in films. He also pioneered sound design made for a hundred (or whatever they have in IMAX theaters) speakers. The result is modern audio has hundreds of tracks that need to be sorted through and it's just too much. Theaters may or may not have the proper sound setup, and honestly, most of us watch movies on TV or on other devices with small speakers making all that sound when compacted becomes a kind of jumbled mess. There is also a bit of an acting fad to have speech be very breathy and low these days (more "natural" or "realistic"), brought about by the fact that actors each have their own mics rather than having to project their voices toward a big central boom mic. This makes dialogue sound like people are mumbling, forcing you to crank up the sound or pop open subtitles to understand them. The result, almost everyone is using subtitles these days. SIDE NOTE: Anansi would be a great Disney movie, and I would give it a shot. Remember that cute spider animation meme from a few years back? THAT would be amazing. Anansi shifting from tiny to giant, adorable to scary, and it could be fun. They will NEVER make it. Disney will NOT make a cartoon without a girl boss adorkable princess. They will die on that hill.
Oh my God that explains so much! Both my dad and I are really hard of hearing and wear aids. I just got mine a few years ago. Whenever I'd go to the movies and still have trouble hearing people talk I was aggravated I still couldn't understand the dialogue. But it's good to know it's not me.
That Lucas, the Jumping Spider series of shorts? Yeah, that could be a fun angle to play with.
Correction on Anansi, it would be a great movie or series if made by someone other than Disney. Disney would just screw it up. They screw everything up these day.
Correct.
I am a sound editor, and it's completely due to time restrictions.
There is so much work to do, and never enough time to do everything that you want.
Processing all those different mics to sound clean + sound identical is a lengthy manual task.
I can't wait for the AI tools to take on the work
Ngl, the pitch for a Disney movie about Anansi has lived in my head rent-free since I first watched the video where you talked about it. There is so much potential for eye-popping animation and character-design. Plus Anansi and his wife being a loving, scheming, shenanigan-executing power couple would be an awesome way to bring back the romantic element that Disney used to be good at, but have since decided they hate (for some reason). Unfortunately, I think the idea is a little TOO good for current-year Disney. They don't seem to be in the market for actually good story ideas at the moment. -_-
They hate regular romance now for the reason being that it's straight couples the audience wants.
Which makes sense since 96% of the world is heterosexual.
Disney doesn't want to offer this because of their agenda which is to push queer/trans couples.
They've gotten rid of romance because people call Disney groomers or inappropriate....oh wait. I forgot that's only when the couple is gay....
Honestly I feel like we know absolutey nothing about the continent. How about just telling their stories?
about their regular lives, Like FRIENDS.
Like what Kdrama is doing. And how indian tv serials are portrayed.
Like japanese anime.
We just don't know anything about the current state of of their lives.
That's what I think that should be made.
That's an excellent point! Just a sitcom or slice of life drama would be cool!
@@gregowen2022 for example how all those tribe systems work now in the modern times.
How it brings complexities in regular lives. That feels like a fun storyline to explore.
@@LazyReaderKanonJennifers Diary which is something my mum has watched since i was a kid (it has like 16 seasons) would actually fit in that. But the speak pidgin english so it nay be hard for thise outside to continent to understand. Meet the Adebanjos also is like a african family sitcom. We have them but they are just in our languages.
@@lcako1616 yes, I think that's the main issue. The language barrier.
Nah, you'd be bored as heck, telling african folktales are waaay better. There are a lot of drama slice of life movies/shows that are African, they're not in english tho, but they follow so much similar patterns that their incredibly predictible. Old african stories are absolute art.
No, African Should Embrace Their Medieval Era.
They shouldn't seek validation from the western and just make One Dimension vision of their history. Saying 100% of African Medieval is bad is down right superstitious. All you need is ONE GOOD STORY to connect the dots and turn it around and doing so would make African Medieval era good as every medieval era.
Annoying the African streaming services I used to watch are now not servicing Europe, though.
What exactly are you saying no to?
I don't like the afro futurism but we should be allowed to do whatever we want. I am not saying you don't have a point tho.
I'd prefer the legitimate African stories over re-skinning, absolutely, but from someone else.
At this point I'd rather that Disney make a giant ideological crater in the ground. Let future generations speak in whispered tones of the century old company that imploded after deciding they liked ESG loans more than customer money.
25:13 Almost everything you said about your Anansi pitch is what I had in mind my version💯. Anansi and The Sky Gid is basically his Journey to The West story. Its RIPE for SEVERAL adaptations🙏
Right? That story writes itself!
As a child I loved to read fairy tales from around the world. Nigeria has some great folktales as do Kenya and other African countries. So do Korea and Vietnam.
Yes, there are some great ones!
Yes, and (South) Korea and Vietnam are fairly peaceful and prosperous societies!
12:05 ok the weird thing to me is that a lot of the issues that arise and stereotypes that happen often arise directly from trying to avoid it. Like the retro-futurism thing kind of still draws attention to the idea. Not gonna say I know a better solution, and im more into sci-fi so its not that I dont like it, its just, kind of weird.
Especially when they are like "in an alternate timeline where we didnt get colonized we made even better technology" like... I dont know about that?
Its just kind of weird to me how *hard* they are trying to avoid the "primitive" thing that it kind of wraps back around the other way and brings attention to it again.
Just make stories. I dont care what skin color the people are in the stories, just make good stories.
wtf how has Disney not done that Anansi story yet? 90's Disney would have printed money with this.
I think it was Static Shock that introduced me to Anansi.
I have a memory of Static telling him to use his webblast and him saying "I'm not that kind of spider."
I was just about to make a similar comment lol
I was thinking the same thing. I was also remembering the exchange between Static, Anansi, and Gear about Osebo just a few days ago 😂
S: [….] And he’s not a tiger, he’s a leopard.
G: That doesn’t make sense, leopards have spots, not stripes. Why would-
S: Focus!
* A few moments later *
A: I, too, have wondered about the stripes.
"I do not spin that kind of web."
Oh gosh I remember that episode of Static Shock and I've been wanting a full-blown Anasi adaptation ever since (I absolutely love that show and miss it so bad--that exchange lives in my head rent-free).
@wingedyaga2914 -- Static Shock, The Famous Jett Jackson, and The Proud Family are great shows I miss watching and I feel like don't get remembered and talked about enough. On that note, how ridiculous is it that Disney got *worse* about representation and diversity in their tv shows and films _after_ they (supposedly) started actively trying to be better in that regard?
I’m all for representation if it’s authentic
How about Kandake (Queen Mother) Amanineras of Meroe (in Sudan) who, because of an unbalanced treaty imposed on them by the Romans, attacked southern Egypt and, although forced back by the Prefect (Petronius), brokered a new, better treaty with Augustus which lasted for centuries.
Honestly, I'm glad to see you spotlight stuff from other cultures. Africa feels like a very neglected corner of the world from a modern cultural standpoint (Black Panther being the only relevant example) and I wish to see more stories from that point of the world. Anansi especially is such an easy story to do well I'm baffled as to why no one has bothered doing anything with it.
As an Indian, hearing you mention the Partition brought up memories. My paternal great-grandparents lost two of their children on the other side during those events, and to this day we don't know what happened to them, and not for a lack of trying (Pakistan makes things very difficult). Entire families were uprooted and destroyed because a bunch of people wanted to play politics at the time and could care less about the chaos that would ensue.
Anyway, I would love to recommend some Indian animations for your kids to enjoy, but the animation industry is very rudimentary and not up to modern quality standards. One standout though is the movie Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama. A very beautiful, moving story that does the classic good vs evil story with a distinctive Indian flavor. I'm ashamed to say that the Japanese understood our culture better than us Indians ever did (given that this is technically an anime, made in a Japanese studio and everything). It even received a 4K Remaster in 2022. Unfortunately, it's stupidly difficult to even find this version (nowhere on streaming, no DVD/Blu-Rays available for sale) outside of maybe sending a petition to them to screen it at your local theater. The original 1992 version is available on RUclips, though it's severely dated and won't look well on modern screens bigger than a smartphone. This version also only has English audio instead of the Hindi version I watched on TV years ago.
Our sci-fi tends to be bleak because it’s a serious fictional effort to deal with complex social and economic problems of modernity. I have NEVER encountered any African fiction like this. Would I love to see African stories that focused on the drawbacks of superstition and tribalism and primitive cultures and bloodshed? Definitely! That would indicate writers earnestly trying to grapple with the massive challenges of Nigeria and South Africa and Rwanda and DRC. Colonialism is simply not the reason for Africa’s plight. Africa was colonized because it was sparsely populated and poorly developed… not the inverse.
10 years ago, I said "Hollywood should do Anansi and Nyambe." My idea was basically yours, but not Disney-fied. Selfish Anansi, smart and competent wife, becomes aware of the plights of others as it progresses. Kinda like DreamWorks Sinbad.
He makes the deal. but as a "trickster God," as he is known in casual mythology circles, he gets the stories, then releases the animals from the cages. He slips away and his wife is happy with him having learned to be a good man (part of her plans). Movie would end on some kids getting bored while playing and seeing him sitting and watching. A child comes up and he smiles. "Let me share with you... a story..." roll credits.
There's so much you can do with the character. You could make a whole cinematic universe or TV show of him doing what happens in the What If...? show. The Watcher telling the story to an audience. It's the perfect opportunity to share more of the short stories from the continent with varied styles and animations and themes and culture. It's literally everything people say they want without ever touching a race-swap or legacy character.
Editor Greg has got me straight laughing out loud with those clip inserts! In regards to the video I agree there is plenty of room for African stories without being patronizing or tokenization. I'll have to check out those short stories you recommended. After all your recommendation is a guarantee.
Editor Greg always appreciates a shout out, you made him very happy!
8:25 I also love this kind of concept though honestly im more into the much more victorian steampunk style of things.
I'm not opposed to hearing African stories. I just can't say that Afro futurism interests me at all.
Yeah. I can say with all certainty that the optimism present is certainly refreshing compared to the cynicism infesting American Sci-Fi right now, some of it just seems like it would make Pollyanna herself tell you to come back down to Earth. Like the idea that if Zimbabwe was never colonized it would be some super futuristic place.
Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt colonization caused a LOT of issues there, but I rather doubt a non colonized version would look like Neon Wakanda unless the rest of the world was going with it like that.
Reminds me of this one Alternate Timeline story where Robert E Lee joined the North instead of the South and that somehow led to EVERYTHING going better in the States. It's like, c'mon, at some point you're just not even on the same wavelength as reality.
@@magmos6346 Do you think colonization caused the black Africans to learn less over time? Wouldn't it help to expand ideas, especially in the last 50 years or so? especially with all the technology it brought with it and expanded on during it's time there. I know not too long ago Zimbabwe kicked out the white farmers and then a few years later had to beg them to return. I do not believe the white Zimbabwean farmers were hiding the secrets of farming from the black Zimbabweans. So what caused that to happen? Clearly the white Zimbabweans couldn't have been too "evil" since the black Zimbabweans asked them to return.
@@magmos6346exactly. I like my futurism to be where human nature hasn't changed but we have found interesting new settings and tech to havr stories set in.
The alternate history types tend to fall into the category of those who want to believe that Africa was a super advanced ancient civilization. I mean, my British ancestors were herding pigs in the forest when China and Greece were thriving. The past is what it is and Beowulf didn't come about until centuries after Christ and thousands of years after the pyramids.
I always thought horror based on African Lore would be an incredible genre
That's a super cool idea! I would love to see that.
The animation style on basically all of these feel too "corporate approved" for my tastes. VERY modern.
5:54 Mizuki was DEFINITELY inspired by Studio Trigger's style💯🔥🔥. There's no way it wasn't😂
So from what i gather kazazi modo is basically african love death and robots?
Also, if you had to read The Giver and Where the Red Fern Grows, don't forget to take your baby aspirin.
No, no, no....Disney *shouldn't* create an African Disney Princess.
Disney has proven over & over again that they can take a great, interesting story & turn it into utter trash.
Independent studios should be leading the vanguard in this area...either Apple+, Amazon or Netflix should be hastening Disney's demise by funding original African stories.
8:40 lmao everytime black people tried without colonialism it’s been a disaster and yeah I’m looking at you Haiti
How about Zimbabwe kicking out the white farmers and then needing them to return?
I worked at a school, and you always could tell when a certain 4th grade teacher was reading that book. He would escort them to lunch, and they were a hot mess on certain days. We knew what books he was reading by how they marched down to lunch.
Had to do a double take when you said "Mafanikio"🤣 As a Kenyan, I applaud your attempt at speaking Kiswahili.
These shows seem like something I would not ever care about. I agree that stuff like Lord of the Rings, How To Train Your Dragon, and Kung Fu Panda are awesome, and those are traditional. I'm not mad this stuff exists, but I think Disney should be making better things. Disney is supposed to be making traditional, family-friendly stories. This stuff still looks way better than Black Panther 2, though.
i like the idea of actual African stories being adapted. Just not looking forward to the heavy handed lecture.
Really great video, Greg 👏🏾 Don't stay too far from your phone. Lasseter is about to call.
Thanks for having me on for that chat as well. Was a really good conversation.
I appreciate all the info! I thought I had some ideas about these shows, but your perspective was invaluable!
@gregowen2022 my pleasure 🤝
You got a sub just because of that Buccees mug. 🔥 Texas Native here ✌🏿
How does Zimbabwe become some futuristic utopia if it was never colonized if they had a jump stat in civilization and never had the wheel?
At some point you can’t blame everything on colonization.
Yeah everytime Africa tried to do things solo it was a disaster for them. Zimbabwe, Haiti, the Congo. Complete mess.
I don't know about it being colonized or not, but there were a lot of white farmers in Zimbabwe. Then Zimbabwe kicked them all out. Then a few years later, after all the farms failed and the people were in serious trouble, they begged them all to return. Almost no one alive these days has a problem with black people, they just hate lairs who blame their failures on other races.
Agreed. Besides, something people need to know about colonization in the west is that most Indians didn't get murdered by colonists, they either died from disease (which was unavoidable), or they assimilated because at some point you have to stop living like a tribesman.
@@zzodysseuszz lol, what? Apart from Haiti, Zimbabwe and Congo both had established kingdoms. How about instead of saying nonsense, you actually educate yourself
So, futuristic utopia is dependent on the wheel? They had a civilization prior to the colonization, even built one of the largest walled village.
4:50 As an aside: I hold great respect for the cartoons of olden times, when they could squeeze a full adventure in six minutes. 😊
You can't go wrong with classic Looney Tunes and Tex Avery.
Is it me or does the mustache and beard has grown a bit?... Anyway, on my way to watch the vid (probably will edit this comment after finishing it)
Edited:
Even if some of the lore in those numerous amount of African tribe, surely writers are able to twist it a bit to make a more family-friendly narrative, I mean... Even a 14 y o can think of a wild story just bc of a guy she saw at the book store
I agree. The beard and mustache is growing on me(figuratively and literally)
I don’t think I would want him to shave it off any more
I have terrible news. My day job requires a clean face, so only vacation Greg is bearded. Fingers crossed, one I'll do RUclips full time, and you'll know when it happens because I'll starting letting my face look like Rip Van Winkle if I can
@@gregowen2022I'm sorry for being unfamiliar with the name and had to search it and.... HOLY SH- Joke aside, hope that you will be doing well from here👍
It's really just solar punk but with an afro blend
I'm right there with you wanting to see more African history or myths adapted to film. I almost resent Black Panther now because I blame Wakanda for convincing Disney that Afro-Futurism is the only representation people want to see. I'd rather see Africa portrayed as it actually or or was. I don't know if Mel elaborated on this more in the full conversation, but I find it very odd and sad that Africans see nothing in their history that they could showcase proudly.
Greg looks DANGEROUS with that facial hair. I kinda like it. He should grow it out. Then go to a professional barber💈(a real barber the old guy with a chair and a barber’s pole, NOT the young person with a lisp). Have him cut it, and teach him how to cut and style it. 💯👍
Y'know, this would be good and all, Disney being original.
But you know where Netflix and Prime Video steal the cake?
They're actually _available_ in my country. Y'know, in Africa!
I'm not watching anything that features a colonial coded villain, it's annoying and preachy. Tinga Tinga Tales was awesome, my kids loved it back in the day. It's for younger audiences but enjoyable for adults while it's on. Also why does everything Disney makes have to feature a princess. Big Hero 6 and Coco were both very successful and didn't need any princesses
If Disney is going to tap into the African storytellers market, they should look into Nabwana Isaac Geoffrey Godfrey. Guy makes some great action films.
Another great Greg Owen video but I’m curious if you’re going to cover indie animation at some point I myself have done very few videos but I’m trying to grow and that’s what counts
Also I need feedback for improvement obviously
The reason why you cant hear anything without captions anymore is because Smart TVs nowadays have different sound profiles depending on if youre using it for music, movies, or video games. Oftentimes they have a dialogue specific feature that prioritizes it.
However, even with this, most modern tvs have speakers in the back, so youre better off investing in a soundbar that distributes the sound in different directions so that you can better hear dialogue.
Not only that, but studios assume people will just turn subtitles on, so they go into sound mixing assuming they're going to be optimizing for a nice sound system since the people who don't have a good sound system will just be using subtitles anyway. Watch a Christopher Nolan movie in a theatre and then try watching it through the built-in speakers in a TV and see how different it is.
Africa has thousands of stories that could be adapted like they have with European ones, but instead we get this crap
I have a question
Why does futuristic Africa in it depiction not use a multitude of shades hues and variations on color representation
What makes the future so special that not only are we limited to neon colors but only one or two of those neon colors especially for the fashion since it’s limiting and unrealistic since for most things with one color they have multiple patterns and the African style things have multiples of all these things at the same time
What makes the future so special that sometimes the symbols and designs stay but the colors fade
Who told them not to mix the rainbow is there a story behind this that could become its own animation
Don’t tell me that it’s just western inspiration either without a solution
I wonder if the reason their movies are paced so slow and show every detail is because they didnt get a foundation for storytelling in film like the west did. Having early films set standards for story telling and structure might be why they are different.
I might be wrong but I think it is closer to the cultural construction. There is a generalisation of culture between high context and low context cultures. Africa, parts of Asia and the Middle East are considered high context so the story telling and communication tends to be less about the words but what accompanies the words. You can say the same thing but with 3 accompanying actions that communicate differently. America is considered low context because it is straight, blunt and to the point. You get the meaning through the words. African storytelling is a lot more theatrical and will be done in song and poems and dances so it ends up being more drawn out than how an typical American would communicate. It's an interesting cross-cultural thing that I observed a lot while working for international organisations.
I want stories from Africa with Africian creators not US citizens giving what they think Africa is. Talk about cultural appropriation.
should all "white" stories be written and directed by white men as well? if not, why not?
Which is exactly what this is. Kizazi moto is LITERALLY made by african creators💀
Good to see Disney doing what it should have done a decade ago. Hope it can follow through and make a new classic.
I was 100% expecting Toto for this video. I'm not mad. just disappointed🤪
LOVE this video. More? Just fascinating, the opposite types of futurism and storytelling and the effects of western connection on all of it.
Im very curious how you would fix captain marvel.
Would you prefer her to bake everyone cookies and solve differences through a song?
Sadly many including me won’t watch this because it is on Disney+
I don’t want to reward Disney but I would be happy to try these foreign works if I find them elsewhere.
But otherwise no.
Greg, I love your proposal at the end; however, I have no faith that Disney could pull it off without messing up the landing. They can't help themselves. They would find someway (probably more than one way) to shoot themselves in the foot.
Lasseter and/or DreamWorks really would have a better chance of doing it right.
Anansi would be a great watch though.
I agree, Disney would be the worst to do it. They don't understand subtlety anymore, or just making entertainment instead of social messaging. It's so sad to see what they continually pump out
8:39 I love stories that mix science fiction with fiction
before they tried to force me to read 'where the red fern grows' my parents had me watch the Disney movie of it. the only thing i remember is watching the end credits with the fern in the background and swearing.
I think hbo would be a better fit for african folklore. I always loved it when my grandma told me these stories about ogres and giants on a spooky night by the fire. They have a more medieval fantasy feel to them in their original form. Monsters seem to be a key element in most of the stories i've heard and read. I like them scary, and I think they'd lose their impact if they got disneyfied. The futuristic stories would be a better fit for disney.
I watched the little mermaid live action remake. It was terrible but the scene with Jodie Benson and Hailey did get a chuckle out of me.
If we're talking about african folktales, my favorite is The Lion's Whiskers, a beautiful story that teaches what love and patience can accomplish.
Very pro original African tales but still insist Disney has to do a reverse pallet swap to atone for all the prior silliness. I hope everyone likes Zac Efron because he is your new Black Panther.
I highly appreciate you highlighting the work that's out there 😎.
Whenever people complain about us lacking original stories these days, I always ask if they are watching stuff like Glitch Techs or anything else out there that happens to be original, and you have done that today.
Also, yeah I too would like to see some stories of Africa that takes place in the past. However, I get what Mal is saying about how Africans are viewed through that too much and at times in such a negative way. Although I would add that that's probably all the more reason to have the variety. I.E. for every Afro-futurists story we have we could have an Afro-fantasy one 🤔.
African fantasy sounds cool.
Yeah, Glitch Techs is great! However, one of my kids doesn't understand that Mitch is supposed to be a douche, not a role model. He shouts BOOSH! when he does something well in a game, lol.
@@gregowen2022 please review that series to bring more attention to it 😅 😅.
As an African, afrofuturism really doesn't interest me. I don't care for negative stereotypes. It just means the stories were not done properly. And the slow pace is a relic of the past. Not a feature. Many people (except for the old) don't care for those types of Nollywood movies either. Also, Africa without colonialism would not be hyper-futuristic lmao. Wakanda is not real or realistic in any way. 😂
I don't really care if it's Disney or anyone else, I just want some good African mythology stories, and I'm loving what little Afro-futurism I've managed to see.
I would like to see authentic African folk tales but, as Greg demonstrates, they are likely to go through a conversion process to make them comprehensible and palatable to Western audiences. The authenticity would be lost, that would be regrettable.