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Soleil Ô, the French-Mauritian 1967 drama film directed by Med Hondo was shot over four years with a low budget to discuss the story of African immigrants and their struggle as they made their way to Paris, France. Soleil Ô is the title of a West Indian song that tells of the pain of the black people from Benin who were taken to the Caribbean as slaves. Hondo includes various deeper meanings in the small visual details and interactions throughout the entire film giving it a lighter feel to a heavier topic.

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With an ironic and narrative tone, the film begins with what seems to be a brief background on the colonial relationship Africans have had to experience leading to the post-colonial voyage of fleeting to their colonizing country in hopes of a better life. The film begins with the time period in which the Africans were under French Colonial rule in which they were punished for speaking native African languages and the religion is implemented as a social construct as a form of control. These acts become visual representations of the relationship between ‘Colonizer & Colonized’ and ‘Westerners & Easterners.’ A relationship talked about by theorist Edward Said in which colonial rule is justified and advanced by Orientalism, a systematic knowledge in Europe that categorizes the East in which the image of Easterners is of irrational, depraved, childlike, and different placing the Europeans as better than and of supreme nature and is only reinforced by Colonialism. This brief background context ends with the fighting of Africans for the French and more significantly amongst Africans themselves. This scene itself became very representative of Africans as colonial subjects and used by Western Imperial powers for their benefit. For example, many empires used their colonial subjects in World War II, but as the colonizers implemented their culture and values, exploited the people and their resources, they destabilized the original setting causing further issues that have inhibited the progression of Eastern areas to the same level as the West. This has then become the post-colonial reality for many in the East, leading to this longing of security and stability many Easterners feel that the West ‘has’ as talked about in The Stuart Hall Project (2013) by Jon Akomfrah.

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The rest of the film follows the struggle of the main character as he moves to Paris to live out his new life. He is presented as a man on the hunt for a new job that quickly learns the life of an African immigrant in the West will be one filled with racism and discrimination due to pre-existing stereotypes and generalizations made about those in the East. These pre-existing generalizations about those in the East are part of this Orientalist narrative pushed by Europeans since those who possess the knowledge, possess the power and authority. They have the power to spread their generalizations and their perspectives on the Eastern people at the moment of meeting during colonialist ventures, but these narratives that place Europeans as superior and rational become the predominant view on Easterners. Also discussed by visual culture theorist Nicholas Mirzoeff, he presents this event as the one of double vision in the moment of encounter between the colonizers and the colonized specifically in 1492 therefore creating the basis for visual culture and modernity itself, as history is written by those in power. The main issue is that Easterners become the ‘subject race’ dominated by another race who supposedly knows them better and knows what is better for them than they know themselves, feeding into this narrative of Easterners as submissive and helpless people that are waiting for Europeans to ‘help.’ Presented in a rather innocent manner, as the African man is seated outside while looking at job postings on the newspaper, a little white girl goes up to him asking if he wants any bread. In theory what is supposed to be a kind act of sharing plays into this predetermined assumption that Easterners have less than Westerns and need the help of the wealthy Europeans since they are doing them a service. Another main stereotype presented in the film is that of African men having big penises shown as a White women actively flirts and chases after the main protagonist only to sleep with him and humiliate him due to this stereotype of the Eastern as the exotic and the sexual.

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The man continues to look for jobs and finds himself being discriminated against due to his race in the land of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. He is constantly being stared at amongst the crowd for being African due to ‘Negro/Arab Menace’ and the ‘Black Invasion’ that was perceived by the French during the time of the influx of Eastern immigrants. But in the process of attempting to adapt the Western ways, Eastern immigrants become ‘slaves’ in the civilized modern world and cannot seem to escape these preconceived notions leaving them with less opportunities and more events to be humiliated and taken advantage of therefore becoming ‘White Negroes.’ This then makes their assimilation more difficult discussed in the scene with a group of African immigrants giving their different opinions on their hardships, where some even consider going back to Africa after being told things such as, “go home,” and, “we are not the same.” But in a world where the Western narrative has become the general doctrine, how much more insight, opposition, and resistance do Easterners have to undertake to assert true equality or as Capitalism and Neo-Colonialist ventures mix becoming more hidden does equality become a fallacy?

English experimental filmmaker, Ben Rivers, originally published his 2015 film, The Sky Trembles and the Earth is Afraid and the Two Eyes are Not Brothers. Considered to be more narrative and a departure from Rivers’ previous films, it is a dramatization of Tangiers based American expat Paul Bowles’ 1947 short story “A Distant Episode.” The plot of the film revolves around the main character played by Oliver Laxe, an avant-garde filmmaker of French descent but raised in Galicia, Spain. Set in Morocco, the dream-like atmosphere of the film follows Laxe as he descends into subjugation of a band of nomads when he abandons the set of his latest docu-fiction film The Mimosas.

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The first half of the film follows a slower pace depicting Laxe and his crew in the process of shooting The Mimosas. Shot more abstractly and with minimal dialogue, the first half of the film gives the viewer little to work with to make sense of the story line. Placing higher importance on the visuals and the aesthetic, it sets a certain tone for the rest of the movie. The story line then deviates when it follows an unexpected turn of events after Laxe strays away from the set driving off into the desert, he is then kidnapped by Reguibat nomads, later attacked and tortured as his tongue is then cut off. While being held against his will in obvious suffering, he is clothed in a hand sewn rusty opalescent suit made of tin can lids becoming an ‘ornamental slave.’ Becoming a walking wind chime, the avant-garde director becomes objectified and seen as a source of entertainment by being repeatedly ask to dance. Slowly losing perception of reality and time while being held in captivity he is then sold away by promoting his dancing skills, only to refuse to dance for the buyer and be made fun of by the the musicians surrounding him. Upset because he feels as though he was tricked, the buyer confronts the nomads and is killed for demanding the money be returned. The nomads then escape into the desert, leaving Laxe curious about the potential of escaping. Later, seeing there is nothing in between him and freedom, he escapes his holding cell and escapes into the desert. fin.

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Paul Bowles’ “A Distant Episode” follows the story of a linguistics Professor in the fictional city of Ain Tadouirt. The beginning of the short story differs from the book as it is assumed he is an Arabic scholar, the professor searches for Hassan Ramani and learns he has passed away. Encountering many uncomfortable experiences with the locals, the professor asks for the help of a qaouaji where he tells the professor to follow a path. While wandering alone he attacked by a wild dog and then similarly to the film had his tongue removed, attacked, and enslaved by Reguibat nomads. Later sold, and objectified the new owner is upset with his purchase to confront and decapitate one of the merchants. While the new owner is gone, the Professor frantically escapes, running into the town.

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Linking a clearer inspiration with “A Distant Episode,” the second half of the film highlights the subtext on post-colonial retribution and the nature of authorship as describes by Guy Lodge in Variety. The film becomes a self-reflection for River’s study of cultural appropriation in which those appropriated regain their autonomy through the kidnapping and severing of the appropriator, in this case Oliver Laxe. Being French and raised in Spain is a play on the colonization itself by choosing Laxe as the main character, as he embodies both colonizing powers of Morocco. The act of attacking, kidnapping, and selling him objectifies and commodifies the colonizer leaving him vulnerable, reversing the roles of the colonizer and the colonized. The severing of the tongue is symbolic in itself as it represents communication and sensuality in combination with what seems to be his breakdown during captivity during the frustration of being forced dance. The acts play into the torture-porn subgenre as Laxe is stripped of humanity and dignity rendering him ‘a bare life’ in a place with what seems a place with no escape (as theorized by Giorgio Agamben.) By portraying the colonized as the subjugators of mental and physical torture it plays into the stereotype of the colonized as primitive and sexually deviant, leading many to perceive the short story as Orientalizing such as theorist Edward Said.

Regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language, Polish-British writer Joseph Conrad gave us The Heart of Darkness (1899), a novella considered to be a parable on human nature. The events taken place in 1890, after Conrad himself sailed up the river of the Congo Free State–at the time under the control of King Leopold II of Belgium–inspired him to write a novel condemning imperialism. It describes the voyage up the Congo River of the narrator Charles Marlow as he is sent on a journey to find Mr. Kurtz, an ivory trader. Originally issued as a three part serial, the novella consists of Marlow retelling his experience to those with him during another trip sailing up the River Thames in England. In addition, Conrad draws parallels between England and the Congo depicting both as the heart of darkness drawing attention to the hypocrisy of Colonialism and Imperialism.

Heart of Darkness gives explicit commentary to racial relations and the image of the African man, specifically the Congolese man, shaped by Colonialism and Imperialism. The description of Marlow’s journey presents a hierarchical difference between the Colonialists and the Native Africans due to his descriptive and ‘loaded’ language. Marlow describes the African man as ‘black shapes, criminals, enemies, savages, primitive, prehistoric, a piece of machinery, black shadows of disease and starvation, and n*gger,’ presenting them as inferior due to their race. As well, he makes certain implications that feed into stereotypes and generalizations about Black people still prevalent in today’s society such as African people being primitive, lazy workers, dependent on the White man as they cannot take care of themselves, and as dumb.

As the West has pushed this narrative of the African man, it became the predominant view for while but through globalization and progress regarding racial equality it is no longer spoken of and seems to only appear during hostile situations. For example, during altercations regarding racial tensions in the United States many have made comparisons of African Americans as gorillas and referring to them as backwards, primitive, or savage-like. The pushing of a racist narrative can be explained theorized through Nicholas Mirzoeff’s explanation on the basis of visual culture in which Colonialists in 1492 pushed their perspective and their view of the natives and of Colonialism as a good thing therefore becoming the predominant view for the time period.

While in contrast, Marlow describes the White man in a positive way, almost admiringly, referring to one white man as elegant and amazing while describing his clean attire and look. These comments are used as justifications for Colonialism and a hierarchical system based on race and appearance.

As well, Conrad’s description of how Colonial empires and its citizenry viewed ‘unknown’ lands to them as empty and for their taking coincides with another one of Nicholas Mirzoeff’s theories that shapes visual culture. Mirzoeff explains how Colonists viewed Africa as ‘the dark continent,’ disregarding the natives already there with an established way of life instead claiming the land as their own. In the Heart of Darkness, this becomes a prevalent topic as Marlow often describes Congo as empty due to King Leopold II exploiting the country’s people and resources freely as he desires even referred to as Leopold’s backyard. For Capitalistic and Mercantilistic means this is why in the novella, the natives are forced to work for the Company in which they are extremely overworked.

Director Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 American epic war film Apocalypse Now is about the Vietnam War, starring Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen. The film was loosely based on Heart of Darkness following a similar river journey from South Vietnam to Cambodia undertaken by Captain Benjamin L. Willard who is on a secret mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, a renegade Army Special Forces officer accused of murder and who is presumed insane. The film touches upon similar topics as the book such as that racial hierarchy and considering other’s land as less than and for the West’s taking.

During the film, reference to Vietnam’s French Colonial history is made as the French feel it is their home and their right to be there with the purpose of Capitalistic expansion and the creation of businesses. The French’s willingness to hold onto all their colonies were all justified by the undermining of those that were already there. The French therefore implemented French ways like in Algeria, going as far as to make it an extension of France with many pied-noirs born there and granting French citizenship to some native Algerians.

In one specific scene, they call attention to the purpose of American political interference due to millions of deaths of American soldiers but coming to no concrete resolution at the end of the war essentially losing it’s original purpose such as the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many wars since the heavily mediatized Vietnam War have had large amounts of backlash and protests, even being deemed acts of Neo-Colonialism/Neo-Imperialism so the United States can show their power in the global arena.

With almost a century’s time difference, both touch upon similar themes regarding Colonialism, Imperialism, and racism with events relevant to the time period in which the media was created. Although no longer the dominant narrative of ethnic minorities due to globalization, Colonialism has adapted to the different social and economic system in which we live in the 21st century, as it is a fight for power and wealth leaving those who are vulnerable at the hands of those at a higher hierarchical status.

Ella Shohat, a Professor of Cultural Studies at New York University and a researcher in Post-Colonial studies, explores the ambiguity regarding the term Post-Colonial in her paper “Notes on the ‘Post-Colonial’” (1992). She herself being an Iraqi Arab-Jew in the United States has found herself central to the issue regarding the Post-Colonial subject, especially at the time of the Gulf War in which the piece was published.

Shohat argues for a more limited specific use of the term post-colonial situated in a more relational context vis-a-vis other categories of the term. She presents issues with the different terms in Post-Colonial studies such as the term Post-Colonial, the prefix ‘Post,’ Third World, and Neo-Colonialism. The prefix ‘post’ in Post-Colonial carries with it the implication that colonialism is now a matter of the past, undermining colonialism’s economic, political, and cultural traces in the present day. This dismissive connotation enforces a narrative pushed by the First World that these treacherous acts have been dealt with while simultaneously pushing present day colonialist ventures with a range of different reasoning whether it be Capitalism or religion. This implication undermines issues that persist in former colonies that have been caused due to colonialism such as racial hierarchy embedded in Jamaican culture. Racial hierarchy was briefly touched upon by Stuart Hall in The Stuart Hall Project (2013), consequently affecting Jamaican society causing an increasing in the demand for skin bleaching procedures and products. The term Third World in combination with the term post-colonial risks implying those countries are lagging behind creating a demeaning connotation to the term. As well the concept of the First World/Third World struggle is presented in which nations experience changing relationships among societal groups and with waves of immigration to First World or wealthier countries in hope of prosperous beginnings. Hall presents this issue as well when he describes his personal journey of migrating to the United Kingdom where he finds himself finding it difficult to acknowledge the UK as his home due to racial differences and in which during the process of immigration many ironically refer to First World countries as home.

Shohat explores the spatio-temporality ambiguity the term post-colonial brings due to the different time periods in which different countries gained their independence but simultaneously discredits those that are still in colonial situations now termed as Neo-Colonialism. The issue with an ambiguous spatio-temporality aspect creates a vague starting point for the post-colonial and regardless the independence of former colonies never meant true independence of First World hegemony as it has now taken different more indirect forms and soft power. The creation of the term as well as all connotations to the term Neo-Colonialism suggests continuities and discontinuities with an emphasis on past colonial practices, implying oppression, and the possibility of resistance present in the short film The Revolution of the Machines (1967) by Madkour Thabit. The Revolution of Machines (1967) is an Egyptian short experimental film that depicts machinery and the industrial sector of Egypt along with subtitles reading, “this is ours, we built them, we will protect them.” The images along with the subtitles emphasize how Third World countries have to stand their ground against First World intervention and in a proudful nationalistic manner they show the Egyptian industrial capacity countering narratives of backwardness.

A big effect of colonialism is the tension in contemporary cultures between the official end of direct colonial rule and its presence through hegemonizing neo-colonialism within the First World and toward the Third World, channeled through the nationalist patriarchal elites in their countries. Although not explicitly linked to issues following direct colonialism, the Moroccan experimental film Retour à Agadir (2013) by Mohammed Afifi, films the reconstruction of the city of Agadir after an earthquake. The film depicts images of the clear colonial impact on the architecture and design of the city as well as the contrasting rubble of the fallen buildings with Moroccans, becoming representational for many different nations with similar visual references of their colonial past in contrast with the more ‘native’ references. The images of the film become representational to the idea that Third World countries, specifically Middle Eastern countries, are in constant conflict where instability stems from colonialism.

As well, it has caused the creation of a resistant collective identity leading to the creation of new traditions, customs, and subcultures. The issue with the one encompassing term of Post-Colonial regards the question if there is a homogeneous past because who is to know what was before the colonial rule to refer back to it as the original culture? As well, Shohat brings up the question about who is mobilizing this narrative of the past creating certain types of identities, identifications and representations and for what reasons implying an implicit form of First World hegemonic power. She ends her piece by concluding that the concept of the “post-colonial” must be interrogated and contextualized historically, geo-politically, and culturally and a need for more flexible relations among the various conceptual frameworks -a mobile set of grids, a diverse set of disciplinary as well as cultural-geopolitical lenses -adequate to these complexities to account for the different pre and post colonial situations different countries had to endure.

Akomfrah, John, director. The Stuart Hall Project. 2013.

Afifi, Mohamed, director. Retour a Agadir. YouTube, YouTube, 1967, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-2oj-14_c4.

Shohat, Ella ‘Notes on the Postcolonial’, Social Text, No. 31/32, Third World and Post-Colonial Issues. (1992), pp. 99-113.

Thabit, Madkour, director. The Revolution of Machines. YouTube, YouTube, 1967, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6P2wV2VizY.