|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By Isaac Ato MENSAH
Accra – 24 April, 2019
The Adom TV African movie broadcast on Holy Thursday is unpardonable; it was titled “Cocoa Krakye Part 3” and aired between 10:20 and 10:45am.
During this period the protagonists, led by Kojo Nkansah popularly called Lil Win, repeatedly used the terms Fante woman and Ashanti man, and used expressions and actions to stereotype Fante women as very caring people who use their cooking skills to snatch other women’s husbands. Conversely, Ashanti men were portrayed as aggressive and playboys who will abandon all their responsibilities just to date a woman, using their wealth as a bait.
It was hard for me to convince some of my university students about how awful the movie was.
“It is normal, it happens all the time,” said a female student.
I had to explain that the stereotyping and direct use of the words was the problem and not the theme.
“Even if the messages were veiled it will still be wrong,” I explained. “I will publish an article on it on Wednesday.”
“So are you going to ask the actors and producers to withdraw the movie from circulation?”, wondered a male student.
“As for the actors and producers, I have no problem with them,” I charged to the surprise of the class. “My focus will be on Adom TV and the National Cinematography Board of Control.”
But as always, when a lecturer spends time to fill the knowledge gaps, he will have to be wary of digressing from the course outline. Bear in mind that the Ghanaian university students of today are mainly interested in pamphlets/handouts (for which they are prepared to pay), and solving past questions.
My Communications students, as well as others in other schools in Ghana, all idealize/idolize working with Adom TV and its parent company the Multimedia Group.
“It’s a battle,” my mentor will gasp at such stories. “Go to America….or any serious country and stereotype people on TV for just five minutes and see what will happen to you.”
Ghana had a Cinematography Act as far back as 1961 (Act 76)! So what happened to us?
The last time such a matter gained currency was in 2011, when Alex Asum Ahensah, Ghana’s minister for chieftaincy and culture spoke of amendments to the 1961 Act, but his focus then was pornography, indecency and violence in movies.
“Mr Ahensah said [that] during the Third Parliament [2001-2005], a new bill was passed but did not receive Presidential Assent because certain amendments proposed by the House affected the import of the Bill. There is an indication from the Ministry of Information in response to public outcry that a new bill will be laid before Parliament soon to ensure that films that are shown on the screens are not only decent and acceptable but also in consonance with the government’s desire to ensure public decency, discipline and protecting the youth,” reported the Ghana News Agency, as culled by ghanaweb.com. on 2 June, 2011.
Well, does it even matter what has happened since then? We all know, don’t we, that laws are not enforced in Ghana? We only pretend to do so and fool no one but ourselves with our indiscipline.
Surely in the 1960s, Ghana’s national leadership envisaged decency, etiquette, stereotypes and the need to inculcate a serious deportment in the public, especially the youth.
Here is how nytimes.com reported responses to stereotypical situations by the proactive Advertising Standards Authority of the UK in an article published on 18 July, 2017 by Iliana Magra.
‘The regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority, released a report, titled “Depictions, Perceptions and Harm,” asking whether existing regulations address “the potential for harm or offense arising from the inclusion of gender stereotypes in ads.” The answer, the report found, is no.
The agency found that stereotypes could “restrict the choices, aspirations and opportunities” of ad viewers, especially girls and teenagers who are figuring out their identities and goals.
“Our review shows that specific forms of gender stereotypes in ads can contribute to harm for adults and children,” said Ella Smillie, the lead author of the report. “Such portrayals can limit how people see themselves, how others see them, and limit the life decisions they take.”
Ok, Ghana’s Cinematography Board is dead, so we are either enforcing the existing law or we are not.
But even without new laws and proactiveness, what about the exercising of simple discretion, courtesy and finesse (yes, finesse!) by the editorial board of Adom TV?
Do they even have an editorial policy?
To the Amen Corner who are wondering whether this is personal (as we are fond of giving everything the most base interpretation), I end with this moment of reassurance from my mentor.
One day after a similar battle, he sat me down and gave me this charge, “You think you are the only one facing personal battles? You have no idea what battles people are fighting.”
Feedback; [email protected]; LinkedIn, Isaac Ato Mensah; Instagram, @atomenswriters; Twitter, @Atomens; Facebook, Isaac Ato Mensah; Telegram, Isaac Ato Mensah; Quora, Isaac Ato Mensah. WhatsApp (233) 020 022 0353.
Writers and Shakespeares Ghana Limited exist to be a moral and intellectual guide to the best practice of PR and integrated communications around the world, beginning with Ghana.