The Naked Prey was produced in South Africa, a country inhabited by both white and black folk. Since white people came to South Africa, the country has experienced strong racial divides with a lot of hate being passed back and forth. Keep in mind, as you comment on the film, that some people have criticized it as being racist against the black people who live in South Africa.
Answer two of the of the following bulleted questions:
- Do you feel this film is racist against black people? Why or why not?
- What do you feel is the theme of the film? Back up your opinion with examples.
- When I was watching the film, I noticed that there are lots of shots that were not pertinent to the story line of animals. It was documentary-like in the way it would, between scenes or sometimes in the middle of scenes, cut to shots of animals doing their thing in the savanna. Many times, these were shots of random animals killing each other. What do you think was the purpose of these shots? Why did the director choose to include them?
I feel like this film was some what racist against black people. It showed them in a fashion that portrayed them as hostile and like they were less. Also with all of their deaths the film didn't make it seem like they mattered.
ReplyDeleteI felt like those shots of the random animals were to kind of pull people in to the movie so to speak. Just to give it more of a stereotypical african feel to it. I also felt that it was just kind of showing things from the mans perspective. to show like he is definitely in a place he isn't used to, yes he had been there before but thats not where he was from so it was different to him.
I kinda disagree with your argument on the film's racism. I don't think the film portrayed the African tribe at all like they were less, but more like they were simply an African tribe giving these hunters what was coming to (most of) them. Simple as that, just an African tribe trying to kill a hunter on his last safari.
DeleteAnd I don't the the deaths for the Africans were taken lightly. In fact it very much fueled the other tribesmen, and you can plainly see it in many of the scenes, one of the prominent scenes being where on of the tribesmen wants to go home but the leader kills him and forces the rest to go along with him, just out of spite and revenge.
Ashton Bowers,
ReplyDeleteI dont think this film was racist in any way, black people being enslaved were just how things were in the setting and time. and when he killed them it was just what he had to do to escape and survive. they could have made the movie about one of the black slaves ecaping and it would be kind of the same.
I think the theme to this movie is there is always violence, which is one reason i think they added random shots of things killing eachother also just to show how harsh things were in the savanna, but things can still get along with eachother in the end like when the man and village kid became friends and helped eachother. Also revenge is a bad thing because the pursuers started dieing off chasing the man and the leader killed one of his own who wanted to go home. The leader also chased the man in rage and tried to kill him even though they were close to the fort and he was being shot at
You do bring up a good point that enslavement was common with tribes and such. But what about between the time of Wilde being released to only be chased and him running into the other village. It seemed that they were portraying what people outside of the African states think Africans really do, but I don't have much experience in African culture so who knows maybe they did portray it right.
DeleteI really liked the theme you pulled out of this film, i kind of see how you got that from the random clips of animals killing other animals to survive. However the part about what you said that if a slaved black person escaping would be kind of the same doesn't seem right to me. I think that the Africans would have reacted a little bit differently rather than the same. They wouldn't have taken things to the extreme like they did in the movie. Although that is what i believe i could be wrong.
DeleteThe movie was originally written to be in the in the American West of the US. It's weird but I also see this movie also being about a slave trying to run too freedom while having slave bounty hunters after him.
DeleteIn some way i do feel there were some racism against black people in this film. It kind of gave of the feel that Africans aren't really friends with Americans like us. And so they would treat us like animals and hunt them down as prey in this movie. But of course all of this isn't true, just they way the portrayed these actions just gave this off. I'm sure people in Africa do get along with outsiders like us like that child the main character encounters in this film.
ReplyDeleteThe shots with all those random animals is what gave the film more meaning to me. This could have just the chase scenes but instead the director added them. I think the director choose too to give the audience that not just the people who were chasing and being chased weren't alone. Also to say that its not only them that were fighting for survival but also the animals as well. Like for example the heard of animals running away from a lion which had a meal in the end.
I first thing I need to ask is, did they setup those animals to be eaten and shot? Because this movie was so good for being so bad (gruesome wise).
ReplyDeleteThis movie was pretty racists against african tribal men and of people with color making them act like they are baboons who kill for fun (even though the man who was financing the safari also killed for sport). But I feel they worked so hard on the degrading of black men, it actually bounced back and show that white people are stingy, that they don't care for nature or its animals and that they are willing destroy anything just to survive like creating forest fires.
The theme I feel about this movie is "What are you wiling to do to survive?". There are a ton of other themes as well but this stood out the most in which that this guy (Wilde) took how many lives just to save his own? He felt more of an anti-hero because he was doing wrong things with good intentions. The only time he was actually doing good with good intentions.
I really enjoyed The Naked Prey. When I was in elementary school I actually really didn't like movies like this. You know, really quiet, cinematic movies, but at the same time I enjoyed them well enough. After seeing The Naked Prey, I think I'll give this genre of movie a new outlook, because they did it very well in this movie.
ReplyDeleteAs for the movie being racist, I can see why people would say it is, and I have admittedly no experience when it comes to South African culture, but I don't see the movie as racist. I bet some tribes are (or used to be) like this, brutal, bloody, and demanding. When I think about it, you can't really blame them for what they did. All they wanted was a few trinkets, but the one hunter had to be a dick about it. Boy did he pay for it.
I think the film's theme and the film's animal shots go hand in hand. It's about survival, and how really when you get down to it the characters in the story are just animals killing each other, one for sport and revenge, one for survival, yet these roles apply to different people around the movie. I felt a lot of the animal death shots kind of helped show this for me. When you get down to it, they were just animals killing each other, just as we are.
Thank you for being yoou
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