• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
AFRIPOL

AFRIPOL

en English
ar Arabiczh-CN Chinese (Simplified)nl Dutchen Englishfr Frenchde Germanit Italianpt Portugueseru Russianes Spanish
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Mission Statement
  • Articles
  • Book Review
  • Archive
  • Contact Us

The Legend of Tarzan: Samuel L. Jackson Cast To Pacify Hollywood Racism

July 2, 2016 by Admin Leave a Comment

Samuel L. Jackson

Hollywood movies depictions of Africans, Black faces and Black skins on the silver screen have been used by the whole wide world to justify racism toward Africans and Black people. Go to China, Japan, India and many foreign lands that have never interacted or ever meet Black people in their lives and already they have pre-conceived notions about people with greater melanin visibility.

How and where did these people learn about Blacks and feed themselves with morbid negativity on blackness? Hollywood and international News media are the culprits.

Let us talk a little about the movie and book named “Tarzan”. In the movie Tarzan, bad and unfathomable things happen to image and humanity of Africans. The hero of the movie was a White man – the king of the Jungle (man and beast) while Africans the owners of the land were depicted as salvages.

“Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan first appeared in the novel Tarzan of the Apes (magazine publication 1912, book publication 1914), and subsequently in twenty-five sequels, several authorized books by other authors, and innumerable works in other media, both authorized and unauthorized.”

The great African American actor, Harry Belafonte once described “Tarzan” as the Hollywood most racist movie. He even put Tarzan movies in same category with the venomous D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation. This is how Belafonte described his experience with Tarzan movie:

“In 1935, at the age of 8, sitting in a Harlem theater, I watched with awe and wonder incredible feats of the white superhero, Tarzan of the Apes. Tarzan was a sight to see. This porcelain Adonis, this white liberator, who could speak no language, swinging from tree to tree, saving Africa from the tragedy of destruction by a black indigenous population of inept, ignorant, void-of-any-skills, governed by ancient superstitions with no heart for Christian charity.Through this film the virus of racial inferiority — of never wanting to be identified with anything African — swept into the psyche of its youthful observers. And for the years that followed, Hollywood brought abundant opportunity for black children in their Harlem theaters to cheer Tarzan and boo Africans.”

In the 2016 Tarzan movie, a popular Black actor, Samuel Jackson was featured in the movie as second fiddle to Tarzan main character, who is the hero of the movie. Showing a Black face and black body was necessary in 2016 to deny any racism perspective and to avert any backlash that will question Hollywood commitment to racial justice and fairness.

In Hollywood movies, Africa will ever remain the “dark continent” and place of noble salvages that cannot survive without “Tarzan” aid and benevolence. Many Africans can never fathom why the Hollywood gatekeepers chose to depict the cradle of civilization, a continent of more than 55 countries as primitive and without history. But an old habit is difficult to let go.

Thank God for the rise of Nollywood and with it Africans can begin to tell their stories and rewrite many injustices done to them on the silver screen. It is now left for Nigeria’s Nollywood to counteract Hollywood propaganda and tell the whole wide world that Africans can see, hear and talk.

Filed Under: Strategic Research & Analysis

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

More to See

Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have Declared war on the Global chocolate industry over cocoa prices (video)

March 20, 2023 By AFRIPOL

(video) I Will Never Call And Congratulate Sanwo-Olu For This Sham Of An Election – Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour

March 19, 2023 By AFRIPOL

RSS AllAfrica News: Latest

  • Africa: VP Harris Stresses Democracy During Africa Visit
    [VOA] Accra -- On the eve of her meeting with Africa's only female head of state, Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that having more women in power is a key ingredient for a healthy democracy.
  • Rwanda: Paul Rusesabagina, Who Inspired Hotel Rwanda Film, Arrives in U.S.
    [DW] Paul Rusesabagina, whose efforts to save people during the 1994 genocide inspired the Hollywood film "Hotel Rwanda," has arrived in the US following his release from a Rwandan prison.
  • Congo-Kinshasa: UN Refugee Agency in Mozambique Appeals for Help to Aid DRC Refugees
    [VOA] Maputo, Mozambique -- The representative of the U.N. refugee agency in Mozambique said refugees fleeing war-torn parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo are making an already complicated humanitarian crisis in northern Mozambique even worse.
  • Burkina Faso: Burkina Faso Banning Free Press 'Bit By Bit', Says France 24 Journalist After Broadcaster's Suspension
    [VOA] Washington -- The journalist whose interview with a terrorist organization resulted in Burkina Faso suspending France 24 has spoken with VOA about what he says is a decline in media freedoms in the country.
  • Malawi: UN Concerned About Disease in Malawi's Displacement Camps
    [VOA] Blantyre, Malawi -- The U.N. humanitarian agency says Malawi needs immediate help to deal with diseases spreading in displacement camps for Cyclone Freddy survivors. The Malawi health minister told reporters Tuesday that the government is beefing up its medical staff but a local newspaper says the country needs more money to adequately deal with […]
  • Senegal: Senegal Braces for Fresh Protests Ahead of Opposition Leader's Trial
    [RFI] Senegal's opposition coalition maintained its call for demonstrations on Wednesday and Thursday during leader Ousmane Sonko's defamation trial despite a ban on protests by police authorities.

Tags

Achebe Africa Anambra Boko Haram Buhari CBN Corona Virus Egypt Igbo IMF Inflation Jonathan Kenya Nigeria Okonjo Iweala Peter Obi Sanusi Senate Soludo South Africa Soyinka United States
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Archives

Footer

Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center, AFRIPOL is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa.

Recent

  • Ghana President Publicly ends Cocoa Export to Switzerland.
  • VP Kamala Harris Gives Emotional Speech After Visiting Cape Coast Castle In Ghana (video)
  • U.S Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at Ghana Jubilee House to meet President Akufo-Addo
  • US Vice President Kamala Harris arrives in Ghana for African tour (video, Pics)
  • Peter Obi exchanged views on the state of the nation with OBJ @ Anambra Airport (pics)

Search

Tags

Achebe Africa Anambra Boko Haram Buhari CBN Corona Virus Egypt Igbo IMF Inflation Jonathan Kenya Nigeria Okonjo Iweala Peter Obi Sanusi Senate Soludo South Africa Soyinka United States

Copyright © 2023 · AFRIPOL