5 - From the Spectacular to Oral Spectacle
Corresponding Author(s) : Nehemiah Chivandikwa
Africa Development,
Vol. 49 No. 4 (2024): Africa Development
Abstract
This article explores the use and adaption of oral spectacle in Zimbabwean film as an innovative measure in filmmaking using Tsitsi Dangarembga’s film, Everyone’s Child (1996) as a case study. Drawing on insights from speech act theory, this article examines filmmaking techniques that incorporate African indigenous storytelling techniques methods to engage the audience's imagination and represent spatialities. The study employs a qualitative research methodology, including critical discourse analysis and semiotic analysis, to analyse the selected film. The researchers explore the use of rich oral spectacle drawn from traditional African as a powerful and inexpensive alternative to expensive Western Hollywood-style spectacular special effects. This represents a radical innovation with both aesthetic and ideological implications. The findings establish that Zimbabwean filmmakers employ indigenous epistemologies that draw on traditional oral storytelling techniques to effectively replace physical representations and locations, such as landscapes. By centring their work on oral spectacle and drawing on narrative traditions, filmmakers are able to engage audiences in a more authentic, relatable and immersive experience of the stories they tell.
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- Bakare, L. E., 2025, Costume And Make-Up in Dramatic Communication : The Superstory Example. December 2024. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.14552151
- Austin, J.L., 1975, How to do Things with Words, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Bartolini, N., MacKian, S., and Pile, S., 2019, ‘Spirit Knows: Materiality, Memory and the Recovery of Spiritualist Places and Practices in Stoke-on-Trent’, Social & Cultural Geography, Vol. 20, Issue 8, pp. 1114–37.
- Bere, W., 1999, Contemporary Visual Practice and Established Conventions in Zimbabwean Theatre: A Documentary and Analysis, Unpublished Masters’ thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
- Bere, W., n.d., Oral Spectacle in Zimbabwean Theatre of the Late 20th Century. Available online at: https://mville.digication.com/performance_seminar_ africana_performance/Papers.
- Berger, A.A., 2008, Seeing is Believing, New York: McGraw Hill.
- Bhattacharyya, R., 2015, ‘Understanding the Spatialities of Sexual Assault Against Indian Women in India’, Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography, Vol. 22, Issue 9, pp. 1340–56,
- Bordwell, D., and Thompson, K., 2010, Film art: An introduction (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
- Bryman, A., 2012, Social Research Methods, 4th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Chivandikwa, N., and Muwonwa, N., 2011, Vele Abantu Sinjalo: Nationhood and Ethnolinguistic Dissent in Zimbabwean Television Drama’, in D. Kerr, ed., African Theatre: Southern Africa, Martlesham, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer.
- Dangarembga, T., 1999, ‘The Art of Film: Breaking Taboos’, notes from a talk presented at the Book Cafe, Harare, 5 August 1999.
- Diawara, M., 1992, African cinema: Politics and culture. Indiana University Press.
- Everyone’s Child (1996). DVD directed by T. Dangaremba. Zimbabwe: Media for Development Trust in conjunction with Development for Self-Reliance.
- Finlayson, C.C., 2012, ‘Spaces of Faith: Incorporating Emotion and Spirituality in Geographic Studies’, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, Vol. 44, Issue 7, pp. 1763–78.
- Foucault, M., 1972, The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language, translated from the French by A.M. Sheridan Smith. New York: Pantheon Books. Hall, Stuart, 1981, The Rediscovery of ‘Ideology’: Return of the Repressed in Media Studies. In Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972-79, edited by Stuart Hall, Dorothy Hobson, Andrew Lowe, and Paul Willis, 56-67. London: Hutchinson.
- Haynes, J., 2011, ‘African Cinema and Nollywood: Contradictions’, Situations, Vol. 4, No. 1: pp. 67–90.
- Harrow, K.W., 2007, African Cinemas: Decolonizing the Gaze. Africa World Press. Hungwe, K.N., 2000, Narrative and Ideology: 50 Years of Film-making in Zimbabwe, Houghton, MI: Michigan Technological University.
- Kabira, W.M., 1983, The Oral Artist, Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers.
- Keane, W., 2008, ‘The Evidence of the Senses and the Materiality of Religion’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, pp. S110-27.
- Kerestetzi, K., 2018, ‘The Spirit of Place: Materiality, Spatiality, and Feeling in Afro-American Religions’, Journal de la Société des américanistes, Vol. 104, No. 1. Available online at: https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/15529.
- Killingsworth, M.J., 1993, ‘Product and Process, Literacy and Orality: An Essay on Composition and Culture’, College Composition and Communication, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 26–39.
- Mbewe, M., 2013, ‘Why Does the Zimbabwean Film Industry Suck?’, Creative Loop, Available online at: https://www.creativeloop.co.zw.
- Mboti, N., 2016, The Zimbabwean Film Industry. African Communication Research, 7(3), 145-172. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/5RUPD
- Ncube, L., and Tomaselli, K., 2019, ‘“Watch my Back and I Watch Yours”: Beyond Habermas’ Public Sphere Concept in Democratic and Participatory Dimensions of Pre-Colonial Shona Society Public Spaces’, Journal of African Media Studies, Vol. 11, Issue 1, pp. 35–50.
- Okome, O., 1996, ‘The Context of Film Production in Nigeria: The Colonial Heritage’, Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, Vol. 24, Nos. 2–3.
- Palanimurugan, P., Sivaprakasam, V., Pooja, M., & Sherlin, S., 2024, The Impact of Technology on Cinematic Storytelling. IRE Journal, 7(8), 138–146. https:// doi.org/10.36648/1550-7521.21.66.404
- Pratt, A.C., and Gornostaeva, G., 2009, ‘The Governance of Innovation in the Film and Television Industry: A Case Study of London, UK, in A.C. Pratt and P. Jeffcutt, eds., Creativity, Innovation and the Cultural Economy, London, Routledge, pp. 119–36.
- Rwafa, U., 2008, ‘Lyrical Film: The Case of Tanyaradzwa’, Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 188–95.
- Rwafa, U., 2011, ‘Song and the Zimbabwean Film: Flame (1996)’, Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 47–58.
- Rwafa, U., 2015, ‘Re-inventing African Oral Traditions and National heritage[s] Through Film Images: The case of ‘Keita! The Heritage of Griot’ [1995] and ‘Kare KareZvako: Mother’s Day’ [2004]’, Communicatio, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 459–70.
- Stoler, A.L., 1995, Race and the Education of Desire: Foucault’s History of Sexuality and the Colonial Order of Things, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
- Thrift, N., 2004, ‘Intensities of Feeling: Towards a Spatial Politics of Affect’, Geografiska Annaler Series B: Human Geography, Vol. 86, No. 1, pp. 57–78.
- Tomaselli, K., and Eke, M., 1995, ‘Perspectives on Orality in African Cinema’, Oral Tradition, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 111–28.
- Ureke, O., 2016, Cinematic Fact and the Film Services Industry: Production Contexts and Contexts of Production in Zimbabwe (1980–2016). Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.
- Ureke, O., 2020, ‘Locating Sembène’s Mégotage in Zimbabwe’s Kiya Kiya Video-film Production, Journal of African Cultural Studies, Vol. 32, Issue 2, pp. 146–60.
References
Bakare, L. E., 2025, Costume And Make-Up in Dramatic Communication : The Superstory Example. December 2024. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.14552151
Austin, J.L., 1975, How to do Things with Words, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Bartolini, N., MacKian, S., and Pile, S., 2019, ‘Spirit Knows: Materiality, Memory and the Recovery of Spiritualist Places and Practices in Stoke-on-Trent’, Social & Cultural Geography, Vol. 20, Issue 8, pp. 1114–37.
Bere, W., 1999, Contemporary Visual Practice and Established Conventions in Zimbabwean Theatre: A Documentary and Analysis, Unpublished Masters’ thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Bere, W., n.d., Oral Spectacle in Zimbabwean Theatre of the Late 20th Century. Available online at: https://mville.digication.com/performance_seminar_ africana_performance/Papers.
Berger, A.A., 2008, Seeing is Believing, New York: McGraw Hill.
Bhattacharyya, R., 2015, ‘Understanding the Spatialities of Sexual Assault Against Indian Women in India’, Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography, Vol. 22, Issue 9, pp. 1340–56,
Bordwell, D., and Thompson, K., 2010, Film art: An introduction (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Bryman, A., 2012, Social Research Methods, 4th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chivandikwa, N., and Muwonwa, N., 2011, Vele Abantu Sinjalo: Nationhood and Ethnolinguistic Dissent in Zimbabwean Television Drama’, in D. Kerr, ed., African Theatre: Southern Africa, Martlesham, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer.
Dangarembga, T., 1999, ‘The Art of Film: Breaking Taboos’, notes from a talk presented at the Book Cafe, Harare, 5 August 1999.
Diawara, M., 1992, African cinema: Politics and culture. Indiana University Press.
Everyone’s Child (1996). DVD directed by T. Dangaremba. Zimbabwe: Media for Development Trust in conjunction with Development for Self-Reliance.
Finlayson, C.C., 2012, ‘Spaces of Faith: Incorporating Emotion and Spirituality in Geographic Studies’, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, Vol. 44, Issue 7, pp. 1763–78.
Foucault, M., 1972, The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language, translated from the French by A.M. Sheridan Smith. New York: Pantheon Books. Hall, Stuart, 1981, The Rediscovery of ‘Ideology’: Return of the Repressed in Media Studies. In Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972-79, edited by Stuart Hall, Dorothy Hobson, Andrew Lowe, and Paul Willis, 56-67. London: Hutchinson.
Haynes, J., 2011, ‘African Cinema and Nollywood: Contradictions’, Situations, Vol. 4, No. 1: pp. 67–90.
Harrow, K.W., 2007, African Cinemas: Decolonizing the Gaze. Africa World Press. Hungwe, K.N., 2000, Narrative and Ideology: 50 Years of Film-making in Zimbabwe, Houghton, MI: Michigan Technological University.
Kabira, W.M., 1983, The Oral Artist, Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers.
Keane, W., 2008, ‘The Evidence of the Senses and the Materiality of Religion’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, pp. S110-27.
Kerestetzi, K., 2018, ‘The Spirit of Place: Materiality, Spatiality, and Feeling in Afro-American Religions’, Journal de la Société des américanistes, Vol. 104, No. 1. Available online at: https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/15529.
Killingsworth, M.J., 1993, ‘Product and Process, Literacy and Orality: An Essay on Composition and Culture’, College Composition and Communication, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 26–39.
Mbewe, M., 2013, ‘Why Does the Zimbabwean Film Industry Suck?’, Creative Loop, Available online at: https://www.creativeloop.co.zw.
Mboti, N., 2016, The Zimbabwean Film Industry. African Communication Research, 7(3), 145-172. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/5RUPD
Ncube, L., and Tomaselli, K., 2019, ‘“Watch my Back and I Watch Yours”: Beyond Habermas’ Public Sphere Concept in Democratic and Participatory Dimensions of Pre-Colonial Shona Society Public Spaces’, Journal of African Media Studies, Vol. 11, Issue 1, pp. 35–50.
Okome, O., 1996, ‘The Context of Film Production in Nigeria: The Colonial Heritage’, Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, Vol. 24, Nos. 2–3.
Palanimurugan, P., Sivaprakasam, V., Pooja, M., & Sherlin, S., 2024, The Impact of Technology on Cinematic Storytelling. IRE Journal, 7(8), 138–146. https:// doi.org/10.36648/1550-7521.21.66.404
Pratt, A.C., and Gornostaeva, G., 2009, ‘The Governance of Innovation in the Film and Television Industry: A Case Study of London, UK, in A.C. Pratt and P. Jeffcutt, eds., Creativity, Innovation and the Cultural Economy, London, Routledge, pp. 119–36.
Rwafa, U., 2008, ‘Lyrical Film: The Case of Tanyaradzwa’, Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 188–95.
Rwafa, U., 2011, ‘Song and the Zimbabwean Film: Flame (1996)’, Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 47–58.
Rwafa, U., 2015, ‘Re-inventing African Oral Traditions and National heritage[s] Through Film Images: The case of ‘Keita! The Heritage of Griot’ [1995] and ‘Kare KareZvako: Mother’s Day’ [2004]’, Communicatio, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 459–70.
Stoler, A.L., 1995, Race and the Education of Desire: Foucault’s History of Sexuality and the Colonial Order of Things, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Thrift, N., 2004, ‘Intensities of Feeling: Towards a Spatial Politics of Affect’, Geografiska Annaler Series B: Human Geography, Vol. 86, No. 1, pp. 57–78.
Tomaselli, K., and Eke, M., 1995, ‘Perspectives on Orality in African Cinema’, Oral Tradition, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 111–28.
Ureke, O., 2016, Cinematic Fact and the Film Services Industry: Production Contexts and Contexts of Production in Zimbabwe (1980–2016). Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.
Ureke, O., 2020, ‘Locating Sembène’s Mégotage in Zimbabwe’s Kiya Kiya Video-film Production, Journal of African Cultural Studies, Vol. 32, Issue 2, pp. 146–60.