The Gods must be crazy

[FerlasDave]

I’m not sure if anyone is interested but I recall watching this film when I was younger. I was recently telling CLEM about it and I remembered how funny it was especially the scenes with the Land Rover and the tracking. I’m sure other members have seen it and will remember it better than I.

If you haven’t already seen it I’d recommend it, though I’m not sure how “pc” it would be today. If anyone can find any clips post them here too!

The Gods Must Be Crazy - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[TLM]

I have seen it but that is about all, except the klicking?

 

[Tengu]

It was a silly film but I get the impression that everyone in film is silly, either that or silly enough to get involved in film.

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

I loved this film.

I was a child when I first saw it (it came out before I was born). I find when it was watched with the innocence of a child, it was fascinating. I never considered the tribesmen to be stupid or simple or anything negative and if anything I was somewhat envious (as much as a kid can be), to the wild lifestyles they lead...I cleaned up well when needed, but I was pretty feral... I lived abroad and spent most of my childhood (when not in school) barefooted, when I was in the UK in the countryside during holiday times I never thought much of peeing outside and drinking from watering cans... So it appealed to me.

The whitemen in it seemed very caught up in western life, to their detriment when they experienced the bush....

I'd imagine as an adult if I watched it, there'd undoubtedly be ways with words that had gone over my head originally.

I read on Wikipedia there was a lot of criticism too.

 

[Toddy]

It always sounded kind of like an African Crocodile Dundee type film

Sterotypes abound, but they do so because we recognise them.

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

Crikey, I just watched one sort of critical review of it with supposed experts of I dunno, social and film and all that and they were going on about there being no such thing as "bushmen" and how that was a sort of offensive term that group lots of people into one category and then one person said that it seemed to suggest that natives on that continant weren't capable of governing themselves or running industries etc because they were "simple" and fascinated by an empty bottle of Coca-Cola...

See above, my way of taking it was from a "wow, these people have in a manner rejected what they see as unnecessary "unpleasantness" of the modern world". Almost certainly highlighted for me at least by the fact it starts off with a bottle of coke being thrown out of a plane by (I think) a white guy, which to me shows a sort of lack of care by the modern more industrial man, someone who thinks they can treat the world like their own personal rubbish bin...

It seems that the main bushman character was only a character in the simple appearance, he was I believe what the unknowing would refer to as a bushman, but he was advanced enough to wear modern clothing (not a loin cloth), work a real job and was well and truly understanding of the concept of money. It seems that the man who played the character felt he was being dishonest by portraying the simple style, but perhaps (treading in thin ice here) he wasn't as exposed to movies and the fact that characters are often embellished, or certainly the results of perhaps a little over creativity... I think he was shipped around the world basically to be paraded in front of folks in his loin cloth, so I guess that was pretty exploitative. All things which I think affected peoples views more than what perhaps they would have thought had the writer or creator just left it as him being a totally fictional character and not supposedly suggesting he was a real life person. But perhaps thats interpretive .. like if Arnie went to a terminator screenshow dressed as the terminator and pretending to act like it, we wouldn't suggest he was being exploited, we'd say he was bringing the character to life .. however he'd be paid handsomely for it, something the main character wasn't....he was paid, but seemingly not vast sums.

One clip that I remember finding funny was:

 

[FerlasDave]

Oh wow. I hadn’t realised it would have sparked that kind of criticism.

I feel the same, I’d much rather be the “bushmen” though I always wanted to be the Land Rover owner haha. I do like your notion of the careless littering of the western world. Never thought of that.

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

@Davey569

To be honest I hadn't realised that either!! I agree, I loved the knowledge that the bushmen portrayed, but yeh, I also like the idea of a landrover haha... I think perhaps the sole thing I remember from it watching it was that there despite the simple appearance, the knowledge and smarts that the bushmen and the white guys who seemed to respect the bush had was key to their survival and not something to be sniffed at.

 

[CLEM]

Oh wow. I hadn’t realised it would have sparked that kind of criticism.

I feel the same, I’d much rather be the “bushmen” though I always wanted to be the Land Rover owner haha. I do like your notion of the careless littering of the western world. Never thought of that.

Don’t EVERYTHING spark criticism nowadays mate, it’s all rather tiresome, to me at least. This abject worship and veneration and it really is worship, this worship of the primitive AND yes I said primitive and I meant it too, it’s almost a religion at this juncture. I’ll bang up now because the zealots, they make me feel like cutting the ******* tree down if ya catch me metaphorical drift….sigh.

 

[Nice65]

I saw it about the same time as I watched Koyaanisqatsi. Ignoring any stereotypes because I didn’t have any, I enjoyed the journey of the Coke bottle and saw some irony. Anyone getting ‘woke’ about past tv and films ought to wander off elsewhere IMO, different times, let it go, watch Koyaanisqatsi.

 

[Broch]

I've never seen it but you've gained my interest

I see it's available on Amazon Prime.

 

[FerlasDave]

I just found this on YouTube!