blog 4: film review of "Kirikou and the Sorceress"

I chose the film, Kirikou and the Sorceress because I found many important cultural differences between the films way of depicting an animated story and the typical western way of depicting one. First, in Kirikou and the Sorceress there was a lot of nudity. Secondly, the films depiction of gender roles was very different from stories I remember as a kid. Thirdly, the depiction of violence was highly mature for an animated film and would have probably been negatively perceived by western parents. Lastly, the story itself was very different from any western children’s tale I have ever heard of. The stereotypes in the film were not typical of African-Americans because it took place in Africa in a primitive setting so it really shined a light on the tribal aspect of African folklore. There are five main characters in the film; Kirikou (protagonist), a high spirited and adventurous infant, the sorceress (antagonist), a beautiful, vengeful, witch who has cursed the small village where Kirikou lives, his mother an open-minded outcast of the tribe, the old wise man of the mountains who happens to be Kirikou’s grandfather and Kirikou’s uncle who is the village idiot.

In summary, the film takes place in West Africa, in a small village. A young hero is born to an outcast of the village and he is soon the object of ridicule as well because of his small size. Nevertheless, he surprises his peers when he proves them wrong and his small size comes in handy for escaping dangerous situations. His village is cursed by an evil sorceress who lives on the top of a great mountain and commands a hoard of slaves known as “fetishes.” Kirikou’s mother encourages him to be his own person and his grandfather helps him by teaching him humility and wisdom. The young Kirikou decides to travel to the sorceress’s house, find out why she has such hatred for humankind, and hopefully persuade her to lift the curse on his village. He meets his grandfather on the way and finds out that the reason the sorceress is so angry is because of a poisonous thorn that was put in her back by an evil man. On his journey, he is challenged with many predicaments and the sorceress’s slaves try and stop him on every turn but he finally makes it to her house and he manages to trick her in order to remove the poisonous thorn in her back. She is cured and returns to normal and kisses Kirikou.

Compared to western animated films the nudity was very realistic and natural in Kirihou and the Sorceress. In our culture, parents wouldn’t consider that kind of realistic depiction of life, appropriate for their children’s eyes. Personally, I think that the film used the nudity to make the film seem more culturally authentic to the African tribal way of life. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t be typical of western childrens stories for the women especially, to be nude in any way. Our culture teaches children to cover up and would take a dim few on mother’s who were that open in public in regards to nudity.

Gender roles in the film were also very different from what I have seen in western culture. First of all, Kirihou’s uncle was a very weak and emasculated male figure which would be a completely atypical thing in the male dominating western childrens stories. In addition to that, the sorceress had a more dominatrix type persona rather than the typical “witch-like” persona of most female antagonists in western childrens stories. Some examples would include western classics like, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and The Princess and the Pea. The unique spin on African folktale and the director’s creativity made the film and the story intriguing and distinctive.

In regards to the film’s depiction of violence; it was aberrant from most western portrayals in animated films. I wasn’t shocked, but it was definitely a noteworthy difference. I found the fighting scenes and reference to blood and carnage particularly unsettling. It would probably be too ferocious for a young child to watch in my culture but perhaps it wouldn’t be for a child growing up around those types of stories. Since, African children who have been told these stories from a young age are much more desensitized to their meaning and background, they wouldn’t be as shocked by the animated depictions as a child who grew up in western culture would be.

Regarding the story itself, it was unique to the African culture and wouldn’t be as significant to a western child as it would be to a child who grew up around those kinds of tales. It is common for children's stories to be simple and pleasing in the western culture. We tend to fill our childrens heads with unrealistic fantasies of princesses and magic instead of culturally significant and realistic stories. Most likely we do this because we as a culture know what happens when we “grow up” so to speak and we as parents would probably prefer to keep our children innocent and unfamiliar to the real ways of the world. In untamed Africa however, life isn’t full of luxury, super bowl Sundays or weekend trips to the zoo, it’s a constant struggle and death is a bigger part of their lives, so carnage and disease are very much a strong reality. It would be typical of their stories to show the more gruesome side instead of a pretty picture of heroism and courage.

Finally, stereotypes were completely shattered in the film. As I mentioned above, the uncle was emasculated which isn’t typical in Western culture and instead of your typical bad guy, there was a beautiful sorceress. I think that Western children should be exposed to these types of films because they are a glimpse of another culture. Personally, I’d rather my child watch something with a little realistic nudity, than something like The Little Mermaid where the main character has porn star cleavage and a size 2 waist.

In conclusion, the films depicted culture was very different from my own on many levels but it was still full of adventure, danger, love, and justice; like most worthwhile stories are. I would allow my kids to see it at a more mature age, but not before they had a thorough knowledge of worldly concepts such as cruelty, religion, death and justice.