HOLLYWOOD AND AFRICA, recycling the 'Dark Continent' myth, 1908-2020
310pp., illus., paperback, Makhanda, 2020
A study of Hollywood film productions about Africa. Films discussed include Robert Steven's King Solomon's Mines, John Carlin's Playing the Enemy, Clint Eastwood's Invictus, Kevin Macdonald's The Last King of Scotland and Walt Disney's Queen of Katwe.
"This is an important book that defines the master trope of Africa as the Dark Continent, to show its work in the past and that this mythos is still alive and well in contemporary Hollywood films about Africa … Even as it uncovers the continuing Dark Continent motifs, the book also reveals how these films engage contemporary celebrity, military, economic, and political cultures in the development of a neocolonial aesthetic.’ Robert Self, English Professor Emeritus, Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor, Northern Illinois University, USA
Okaka Opio Dokotum is Associate Professor of Literature and Film and Deputy Vice-chancellor (Academic Affairs) at Lira University in Uganda. A playwright, poet and filmmaker, he is a columnist for Rupiny, and serves on the jury of the Uganda Film Festival.