16 Sep 2007 |
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| Big Brother Africa II: Pornography And Money By Reuben Abati Reality Television (24-hour coverage of a real live event involving chosen individuals) has become a big deal among persons and families that have access to cable television in Nigeria and Africa. And perhaps no other Reality TV show programme has attracted more attention in recent times than the Big Brother Africa (BBA) show sponsored by M-Net Africa. Despite the fact that a small percentage of Africans have access to television sets and even a fewer number to Cable Television, or regular power supply, the interest that the Big Brother Africa programme has been generating since it was introduced in 2003 is a good advertisement of the power of television and its entertainment value. Big Brother Africa is patterned after Big Brother UK, there is also Big Brother Australia. The maiden edition of Big Brother Africa shown on Channel 37 of M-Net/DSTV took place in 2003 for 106 days; it was won by Cherise Makubale of Zambia. Cherise has since gone ahead to become an international celebrity and one of the finalists, Gaetano from Uganda runs a popular show on television. In that first edition, seven men and five women from different African countries were made to live together for 106 days; they were given weekly tasks, and they faced nominations and evictions, with audience participation from across Africa, and in the end the eventual winner went home with $100, 000. The popularity of BBA inspired yet another episode: the all-Nigerian Big Brother Nigeria (BBN) which ran on Channel 37 of DSTV from March 5 to June 4, 2006, with Katung Aduwak as winner. At the moment there is another Big Brother Africa show (BBAII) running on DSTV Channel 37. It also has 12 participants: six women and six men drawn from across Africa. They include Ofunneka Molokwu, 29, Nigerian, Richard, 24, Tanzanian, Tatiana, 26, Angolan, Lerato, 23. South African, Meryl, 21, Namibian, Maureen, 27, Ugandan, Maxwell, 26, Zambian, Bertha, 28, Zimbabwean, Code, 31, Malawian; Jeff, 23, Kenyan, Justice, 23, Botswanan and Kwaku, 30, Ghanaian. The programme is in its 42nd day, and already there have been some evictions with Justice, Jeff and Meryl already out of the House. Today, three persons are up for eviction, Richard, Tatiana and Maxwell. Evictions are determined through voting by Housemates and the general African public who are required to send SMS messages to advertised numbers. There is an unseen Big Brother, heard and unseen, who directs the entire episode by giving tasks to the Housemates and intervening episodically in the events. BBA II is scheduled to run for 98 days. The value of Big Brother Africa lies primarily in its metaphorical indications in terms of the insight that it offers into human nature. Twelve complete strangers are brought together and made to live in the same House for a specified period of time. In the process we watch as they form relationships, how they express themselves and each person's individuality unfolds; their talents and weaknesses, the differences among them and how this in itself holds some lessons about human nature. With a prize of $100, 000 at stake, we see how each individual comes up with strategies of outsmarting others and how human beings are willing to do anything and go to any length to upstage a competitor or group of competitors. In watching this drama of survival of the fittest, the viewers also invariably learns something about their own circumstances as human beings. BBA is the drama of life itself, a fact that is strengthened by its haunting naturalism. Man is portrayed as wily, manipulative, ambitious, kind, loving and mercurial: a complex being, an oxymoron; the architect of his or her own triumphs and failures. The unseen Big Brother and the presence of cameras and microphones which are directed to pick up every sound, every movement, every gesture 24/7 for the period of the event is a subtle reminder of the aphorism that there is nothing that is hidden under the sun. Whatever you do, someone, somewhere may be watching; ultimately human beings will be sanctioned or rewarded, and held accountable for their actions. Big Brother is back-stage, but he is ubiquitous. He or she is an archetypal character reminiscent of George Orwell's fictional Nineteen Eighty-Four, whose tyranny is similarly complete. BBA is a highly interactive and participatory programme, a good illustration of the power of technology, particularly mobile telephony and the internet which have both helped to turn the entire African continent into one small family and village. In 2003, the programme was criticized on two grounds: an over-arching obsession with money and low morality content. On the second ground, religious groups in Zambia and Uganda asked that the show should be banned from television. There were misgivings also in Nigeria, and concerns about Bayo Okoh, the then Nigerian representative. But even if this was an issue, the values of the idea were not completely obscured; indeed at the end of it all, Cherise Makubale the winner was received in audience by the living legend, Nelson Mandela, quite a strong endorsement. The 12 participants in BBA1 managed to come across as strong personalities with talent and focus. They raised public expectations about their future and potentials. There may have been some unsettling moments such as the shower hour (in which Housemates bared it all) and on-air romantic relationships, but the participants drew strong empathy. In comparison, however, the class of 2007 has played up all the negatives, making BBA II look like a terrible experiment in on-air pornography with the girls behaving like sex-starved animals in a zoo, and the men like a bunch of barracudas with "uncontrollable third legs". For over 40 days, we have been treated to a gross overdose of sexuality and pornography, the portrayal of women as sex objects, self-denigration by women, and the spectacle of 12 young Africans whose laziness is non-pareil and whose love of obscenity is without boundaries. I believe that there is a problem of casting with BBA II, the show director must accept the blame for coming up with such a selection of a trashy set. M-Net must return to the drawing table and ask the questions: what is the objective of the programme? What value is it adding? Is this corporate social responsibility or a search for brand equity and profit going out of hand? One strong message that is coming out of BBA II so far is that money is everything and that where a little profit can be made, anything is fair. M-Net and its mobile phone company collaborators are making a lot of money from SMS messages being sent at high cost by viewers during voting sessions and in form of feedback. They are likely to make more than triple the prize money of $100, 000 and the cost of production, not to talk of advantages in terms of brand equity. At work here is capitalism without moral restraint. The participants in BBA II also seem to have taken this to heart and what we watch on a daily basis is a group of young Africans "going for the money" as they say and throwing all caution to the wind. They and their fans insist that BBA is a game, fun, and entertainment. But I do not see how that justifies the jaundiced, sex-soaked picture of reality that comes across. BBA II is not about reality per se, it is a mindless, sex and booze driven manipulation of reality. The majority of young men and women in Africa are far more ambitious, and better organised. The programme is rated 16, but what is the guarantee that younger persons do not watch it? It should have been rated 30 (! ) with prior warning that it contains strong language and explicit sexual scenes. The Housemates wake up in the morning to do exercises but the programme really wakes up with the Shower Hour (between 7 and 8 a.m Nigerian time). The ladies bathe nude, baring it all. The only two exceptions are Lerato (Big Mama) and Bertha (the limping bitch with or without crutches), but although these two do not expose flesh on screen, they are among the most morally dissolute participants in the programme. I was glad to see Meryl, the Namibia, evicted. She flaunted her full and round chest, talked dirty and always found a way of pushing her chest or panties in front of the camera. Nearly all the words in her dictionary are taken from the dictionary of sex. Tatiana, the Angolan lawyer, finds it so easy to flaunt her flat chest and shapely waist. Initially, the men and women had their shower at different times, but by last week, the men had started joining the women in the bathroom, with the threat of a Dionysian orgy in the air.. The men wear boxer shorts, while the women, particularly Tatiana who is head over heels in love with Richard, or so it seems, is busy parading her body. After the shower hour, the rest of the day is taken over by so much talk about sex, allusions to sex and body parts and the reckless quaffing of alcohol. There have been suspicions of unprotected sex between Max and Lerato, the number one couple in the House. Richard and Lerato have also become a pair; Richiana as they are known are carrying on an illicit affair in front of the camera. They dance all day, grinding into each other. Richard, who is married is forever pointing to his phallus or dramatising it. Lerato is said to be engaged to another man in the real world. But the key message from Richiana is that adultery is an acceptable game. Maureen, the Ugandan, used to be a decent girl but she spends most of her time hooked up with Code who is either massaging her back or sleeping on top of her. Bertha and Kwaku are also an item. Kwaku used to be Meryl's on-screen lover, but as soon as Meryl got evicted, he shifted to Bertha. Lerato is so anxious, she can't take her eyes off Maxwell. The only person in the House who has shown some restraint so far is the Nigerian girl Ofunneka. There have been scenes of two women kissing each other (!). And the men are having fun running their hands all over the women's breasts. Occasionally, pop music stars visit the House: for example, Jabulani Tsambo (Hip Hop Panstula) or they perform at eviction shows (Tic Tac, the Ghanaian), but the key event is in the language of the programme. Standard discourse in BBA II is as follows: Tatiana: "Life will be impossible here for me without you" Richard: "You'll be okay. You'll have all these horny boys to keep you company". Richard: "I want you all to myself, so it's killing me to know that if I go, these other guys will have you for themselves. I want all of you, the parts that are happy, the parts that are sad... I'm crazy about you". This is a conversation between a supposedly married man and another man's fiancee who have only been together for a month or so. Some fans have said the women should be forgiven because it is hard to expect them to stay without sex for a whole month (that is the quality of response from viewers), but how about the values of loyalty, self-restraint and decorum? Some viewers have also said that they expect Richard and Tatiana's real world partners to understand. And I wonder: understand what? In BBA II, young viewers are being taught that it is proper to tell lies, be disloyal and use your sexuality to get what you want. The Housemates are given tasks to perform (building domino tracks, practising marksmanship, leading the House, cleaning and cooking etc) but there is scant emphasis on industry and responsibility. Sex is a fact of life, and it is okay to promote libertarianism, but television programming is not just about capital and entertainment, it is about building a hierarchy of values in society. The producers of Big Brother Africa have an urgent task before them: they should take a second look at the casting process for BBA, the design of the programme and their business model. Yes, there is a bored population across Africa for which voyeurism is a good form of occupation, but the culture establishment should not give the impression that it is bereft of ideas. In BBA II, it is as if sex is the only thing that the producers intend to sell in order to keep the viewers. They will have to find other ways of making the programme exciting.
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