Strange Conversations: Part One Hundred
Posted 13 March 2009 in Strange Conversations by Catriona
(Is this worthy of being number one hundred? Who knows?)
Has anyone seen the film clip for Toto’s “Africa”? If not, here it is.
We watched it, and almost immediately had an argument:
ME: See, isn’t that weird?
NICK: Yeah.
ME: See, I’ve seen worse film clips, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a stranger one. I mean, is the song pro-Africa or anti-Africa?
NICK: I don’t know.
ME: I know! And who was the man with the spear?
NICK: Well, his shield had the same pattern as in the picture the guy was looking for in the book.
ME: Did it?
NICK: Clearly, he was a supernatural entity who the white guy was hunting for, and he didn’t want to be found, so he took steps.
ME: You don’t know that.
NICK: It’s supported by the text.
ME: No, it’s not! It’s a semi-plausible reading based on an ambiguous and obscure originating text!
NICK: Treen, those are my specialities.
Seriously, watch the film clip. And listen out for my favourite line, in which, apparently, the lonely wild dog seeks some “solitary company.”
I don’t know what that means, and I still don’t know what the guy with the spear is doing.
Share your thoughts [20]
1
michelle wrote at Mar 14, 01:44 am
You’re worried about the dude with the spear? I’m more interested to know: Did the singer shrink at the end? And why are all their instruments made of wicker?
2
Wendy wrote at Mar 14, 02:03 am
i’ve just watched it and am really none the wiser as to what it’s all about but my guess is that the spear liberates Africa (as represented by the secretary with the glasses) from the way it has been constructed through European eyes and colonialist attitudes (i.e. glasses) and book learning (i.e. big pile of books and giant book).
However, I’m pretty sure that’s wrong and I;d be surprised if Toto themselves could explain it to you. If they can, then it’s pretty fuzzy in the clip.
The lonely wild dog…that’s confusing as well….Conclusion…excellent choice for your century of strange conversations
3
Catriona wrote at Mar 14, 02:19 am
Well, Michelle, now you mention it, I didn’t want to give too much away. But I do have a series of other Toto-related questions (in addition to “what’s with the dude with the spear?” and “is this song pro-Africa or anti-Africa?”):
What is he looking for in the books and why? I mean, how did that corner get torn out and why is it so compelling that he matches it up to the illustration?
Does the secretary die? Is that what we’re supposed to assume when her glasses fall on the ground? And, on a similar note, is the secretary the same person as the passport official?
Why are they all standing on a giant pile of books? I’m not really following the broader symbolism of that one.
What does this really have to do with rain? (In Africa or elsewhere.)
For that matter, what does this really have to do with Africa, except that they wanted to use “Kilimanjaro” and “Serengeti” in a song? (And, Toto? Pretty much a miss with that second one.)
Seriously, what is with the dude with the spear?
What happens to the girlfriend who seems to be so important in the early stages of the lyrics?
I think all their instruments are made of wicker for the same reason that one of the drums is covered in zebra skin and the lead singer is wearing what looks suspiciously like a safari suit: because it’s African.
On the other hand, Wendy, I find your analysis compelling.
4
h wrote at Mar 14, 04:31 am
You seek to understand a film clip released in the 80s, using serious analysis? Down that path lies only pain.
Try my explanation of 80s film clips, which is one-size-fits-all yet I defy anyone to definitively prove me wrong: the people who made it were taking a LOT of drugs. You can ponder the effect on both their ability to tell a coherent story, and the budget remaining to do so…
I know, my approach is simplistic. But it really does make watching RAGE much easier :)
5
Catriona wrote at Mar 14, 04:36 am
Well, it’s not terribly serious analysis.
I would like to know what’s with the guy with the spear, though.
I suspect the one-size-fits-all, serious-drug-taking theory of film clips doesn’t just cover the 1980s—it also explains much of the 1970s, the 1990s, and most of the 2000s, so far.
6
h wrote at Mar 14, 04:58 am
1970s, yeah… 1990s had the rider “we’re pretty overtly specifying the drug was e and we want to bang the buff dancers”.
Through the 2000s it seems a little less simple. The drugs mostly seem to go into the executive level, who throw huge amounts of money at producing indistinguishable clips for indistinguishable artists. One thing’s for sure in most pop clips – the choreographer HATES the artist; and by the way please note the product placement.
7
Catriona wrote at Mar 14, 05:07 am
I entirely agree with you on the 2000s, but I think that happened in the 1980s, as well. Then you had two competing visions—from the artists and from the marketing executives—both of which were fuelled by cocaine.
The ones that always make me giggle are Happy Mondays film clips. I always watch those in anticipation that one day Shaun Ryder will fall over and just not get up.
(Although I do realise that that “one day” would have had to be one day some twenty years ago. That doesn’t spoil my fun.)
8
Wendy wrote at Mar 14, 08:37 am
i don’t about my analysis …reading it again i could have unwittingly been doing a little sarcastic turn on “cultural studies 101” ….but then…i’m not so intrigued by the guy with the spear as i am by the magic carpet style giant book…and yes i thought it was implied that the secretary died…after years of white oppression…symbolised by the standing on the giant pile of books which “signifies” (aaaggh..help me!) European so-called civilisation. perhaps rain might broadly “connote/denote” (now getting out of control!) the potential regeneration of Africa…really goodness only know! why is this so intriguing?…i don’t even like the song. mostly likely, it’s just one of those random music videos which is just a collection of things that bear no relation to the actual song.
however, before i disappear into my navel…like you the thought did pass my mind that they just wanted to use the word kilamanjaro…but surely not! Although we’re talking the 80s here right? simpler times in music video perhaps?
9
Catriona wrote at Mar 14, 09:02 am
See, the whole “rain in Africa” thing frustrated me, because surely by 1983 Ethiopia, at least, was suffering from the drought that has brought it such dire straits by this point? So it seems a little . . . I don’t know. Mean spirited?
In terms of books symbolising European culture, that made me start thinking about African culture. It’s just not something that’s ever taught in history classes at high-school level in Australia, so I had to go to Wikipedia.
And there I found the following, some of which I already knew but hadn’t connected with Africa:
* both St Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430) and Apuleius (AD c. 123/125 – c. 180) were African: both were of Berber descent, or from North Africa west of the Nile Valley.
* Alexandria, and consequently its great, long-lamented library, is in Africa: I had no idea it was the second-largest city in Egypt, since I tend to think of Egypt purely in terms of mummies, Memphis, and Thebes. (Also, I cannot spell “Egypt,” no matter how often I type it.)
* pre-colonial literature includes the Epic of Sundiata from medieval Mali, the Epic of Dinga from the old Ghana Empire, and the Kebra Negast (book of kings) from Ethiopia.
The entire page on African literature is here, and it’s fascinating.
Of course, Wikipedia emphasises that the African literature best known in the West is from the colonial and slavery eras, but I still feel guilty that
a. my first thought was also that the books were indicative of the white singer’s European/Europeanised background, and
b. my sole experience of African literature has been a single Athol Fugard play and a smidgeon of Wole Soyinka.
10
Kim wrote at Mar 14, 09:22 am
ah, toto. 30 years in the industry; 2 good songs…
11
Catriona wrote at Mar 14, 10:38 am
Two good songs, Kim? I can only think of “Africa” . . .
;)
12
Wendy wrote at Mar 14, 10:54 am
i don’t think i’v read any african literature?
suddenly feeling bad about that….i wonder if the power of one counts…although don’t feel bad about not having read that
13
Catriona wrote at Mar 14, 10:59 am
I haven’t read The Power of One, either, though it was massively popular among (some of) my peers when I was in high school. Luckily, I was a raging literature snob then.
The only African literature I’ve ever read has been read under the necessity of assessment, both high school and university, so we can feel bad about our Eurocentricity together.
14
Gritchen wrote at Mar 15, 06:37 am
Ha ha – I influenced your blog via Facebook!
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Catriona wrote at Mar 15, 07:54 am
You did! If it hadn’t been for that status update, I would never have looked at the film clip and become bemused about the dude with the spear.
16
Matthew Smith wrote at Mar 17, 04:36 am
Wikipedia explains it all. It’s about a white kid doing a school assignment about Africa but only knowing it through books. It’s about longing for an authentic experience. it’s also because the drummer bought some expensive conga drums and wanted to use them on the album. They guy with the spear is his projected native self.
17
Catriona wrote at Mar 17, 04:55 am
But what happens to the secretary? I still need to know that.
I’m pleased to be justified, in looking at that page, in thinking that
is a seriously bad lyric.
“Solitary company”? I mean, really?
18
Tim wrote at Mar 17, 09:24 am
It’s a political reference, possibly to the Mau Mau or to colonial and post-colonial warfare more generally; the ‘wild dogs’ are guerilla fighters on the lookout for a unit of enemy troops cut off from its logistical support, a ‘solitary company’. The song is obviously about the colonisers’ fear of Africa and their vain but destructive attempts to control and codify it.
19
Catriona wrote at Mar 17, 09:27 am
Oh, Tim! The argument that the song is about the colonisers’ fear of Africa and attempt to codify it is good, but the reading of the solitary company is brilliant.
20
Tim wrote at Mar 17, 10:10 am
Why, thank you. :)