A reflection on the otherness

Spira Tlhankane | Friday June 14, 2019 13:02

 

The Gay community victory represents long-fought for political recognition and legalisation of identities that have been largely marginalised and stigmatised in society over the years.

To mark the milestone, Arts & Culture looks at the way popular culture contributes to exploring, sharing, and making significant unexpected narratives that expose somewhat regressive laws depending on one’s prism.

Popular culture is the accumulation of cultural products such as music, art, literature, fashion, dance, film, cyber culture, television and radio to mention a few. These products are consumed by majority of a society’s population. Popular culture or pop culture in short has mass accessibility and appeal in the era of new technology.

“I can’t change even if I tried, even if I wanted to,” was the lyrics of a song called Same Love by American Hip Hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. The song was released as the third single from their 2012 debut studio album, The Heist.

The track talks about the issue of gay and lesbian rights. The song reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. It was nominated at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for Song of the Year 2013. In 2013, as the Supreme Court of the United States prepared to rule on challenges to the Federal Defence of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, the track quickly climbed the charts and became a nationally recognised anthem for marriage equality.

Similarly,  in Botswana in 2015, a rookie folklore band at the time called Sereetsi & The Natives released a debut album titled ‘Four String Confessions’. The band’s first single called Robete received mass compliments. It became an instant hit despite though it addressed the issue of homosexuality, a taboo of some kind in Botswana society.

“I wrote Robete lyrics to provide an ice-breaker so that we could talk about the subject and grow our understanding of each other in this instance. I believe it is art’s function to help society confront itself. It is also art’s place to mirror society so it can see itself for what it really is. It is also relatively easier for art and artists to tackle uncomfortable subjects through various art forms such as comedy, film and music as the genres have poetic licence,” Tomeletso Sereetsi of Sereetsi & The Natives told Arts and Culture in an interview this week.

He said in Robete, he deliberately, as the singer and narrator, cast the gay main character in the story as his sibling. “My gay brother Rankokwanyane wants to marry the love of his life, Robete. He says that he was born gay and should not be persecuted for love for, as they say, love is love (A re ga a thethe o tsetswe jalo/Rato ga le na bosekelo).

However, the old order in the form of my mother and grandmother are opposed to my brother’s wishes,” he reveals.

Furthermore Sereetsi said he highlighted the human rights advocate’s voice that says that, “it is time gay rights are recognised, love is love, gay rights are human rights”.

As for the LEGABIBO’s victory, Sereetsi said it’s not for him to say if the song really helped the cause of the sexual minority in any way.

“I hope that it helped acknowledge that gay people are part of our families and want the same good things we want for ourselves such as being free to love whoever we want,” he noted.

He believed that popular culture continues to play a role in the acceptance of gay persons in Botswana and elsewhere. “I have found that people often find it easy to discuss a song. They think that they are simply discussing a song while they are in actual fact engaging the subject of the song”, he says.

Unlike music, Botswana Film and television industry has avoided the subject of homosexuality and transgender for years.  But in recent time a new generation of filmmakers has been reworking the roles of LGBTQ community in pop culture.  In western countries, gay characters in TV and films are normal. But in a country that recently decriminalised gay sex, the depiction of gays in cinema and television was hugely coloured with social stereotypes and denunciation from religious groups.

Their portrayals were seen as problematic, their representationd on and off screen even worse, with few openly gay and transgender persons finding space. In 2016 AFDA students showcased their film Sebonta, which was well received at New Capitol Cinemas. Sebonta swept all the awards at the AFDA Film that year.

The film, which was part of the crew’s final year project, was meant to address the sensitive issue of homosexuality and show the dangers of homophobia in modern-day society.

It was a great story with amazing characters addressing a sensitive issue of homosexuality. Ellen Phooko and Thabiso Ranthoyakgale directed the film. They were the same people who directed a 10-minute gay documentary entitled, Mbako Ke Mang? at the 16th annual Ditshwanelo Human Rights Film Festival in 2016. 

Three years later, one of the film directors,  Ranthoyakgale told Arts & Culture that he was proud about this landmark victory for the Gay community. He said as a filmmaker, he believes that he has played his part though creating the Sebonta story that touched a lot of hearts. It also moved a lot of people in this country.

“Three years ago, I was not sure if this film would make such an impact but I was confident of the future, that one day whatever we give to the world would give back to us. I was hopeful that one day it will play its part in liberating a lot of people and that day has come,” he highlighted.

Ranthoyakgale, who recently worked on a couple of local productions such as Colors aired on Btv and Pillars on NOW TV said he is happy for everyone. Most importantly Phooko.

“My favourite quote of all times is, ‘stories can change the world and we can change the world one story a time’. Stories have the power to shift minds and perception, to touch and move people where it matters most. For me as a filmmaker, stories are problem-solving mechanisms and they provide solutions and understanding to the human complexities,” he explained.

Looking back with nostalgia at the time they did Sebonta, Ranthoyakgale said the film came during testing times for the Gay community in Botswana. He said Sebonta was special in many ways such as ‘the iconic kiss’ and the big moment when the love fails to survive the prejudice of society as Sebonta consequently committed suicide. 

He thanked LEGABIBO for opening their doors when they first started the story. “They helped a lot with the research and directing us to the people we needed to interview to hear their stories. Bradly Foirtune, Caine Youngman, Botho and co, I’m happy for you. You gave people the voice and you are the heroes of so many generations to come, he said.

Ranthoyakgale, who is a lecturer at AFDA Film School concluded that he was nestling a generation of filmmakers who will be uncompromising in their pursuit to tell impactful, powerful and compelling stories with relevance to society.

As events progress, in other countries such as South Africa, LGBTQ visual artists challenge societal perceptions of the others. They end up becoming the leading figures striving for change and cultural awareness on such issues. For example,  visual artists explore the pleasure and pain that lies in all humans through vivid artworks.

For his part, Thapong Visual Arts Centre Coordinator, Reginald Bakwena said so far he has not come across any artworks that lobbies for LGBTQ rights.  “Of course we always encourage artists to go all out and express themselves through work of art,” he said.

Bakwena also said visual artists are some of the most expressive individuals when it came to voicing their opinions on a piece of art.  But he had observed that most local artists do not dwell on LGBTQ issues. He was however optimistic that they expect more artists to explore the issues in the future now that the whole atmosphere around LGBTQ has changed.