A few days ago, my Ghanaian friend was nice enough to let me watch one of her Ghanaian movies with her. I had heard many things about how crazy they are, but I was still in for a treat. I had spoken to many Ghanaian’s about the Western influence that has been placed on Ghanaian movies and entertainment in general, and after watching one myself; I saw globalization at its best.
There was non-stop drama: cheating, killing, pregnancy, and a bunch of porn. This definitely conflicts with the general values Ghana seems to promote as a whole. If you were to look around at most of the ads concerning sex, they don’t promote safe sex, they promote abstinence. A lot of the music used in the movies is American music, and after watching a few more, I learned that they use a lot of the same actors. The acting is very exaggerated, but to me that makes it even more entertaining. Often times, I noticed what I would identify as stereotypical American attitudes (of course some might beg to differ and say that they're Ghanaian as well). The black girls would do the stereotypical ghetto head roll when they were supposed to be upset, and the men would act like the gangstas you would see in a rap video. This led me to realize that this was more than purely an entertainment industry. It was obvious who they were trying to impress. I couldn’t help but watch it in its entirety. There were twists and turns everywhere: this woman killed her husband, and this husband had been cheating with this woman (or more recently, another man). "Ghana is trying to be more international now" my Ghanaian friend said to me. "The movies are different now" another Ghanaian said. "Now it's all about sex--sex sells. They are trying to copy the Western movies". This is apparent even in contemporary Ghanaian music (which they call High Life) and its heavy hip hop influence, but watching a movie here takes it to another level. Who knew a movie about sex and murder could teach me so much about the transformation of Ghanaian culture?
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