To: The Film
and Publication Board of South Africa
As a coloured
queer man I was deeply disturbed that the film Inxeba (The Wound) was
reclassified to a rating of X18 for strong "pornographic" content as
well as “perceived cultural insensitivity and distortion of the Xhosa
Circumcision tradition (Ulwaluko)”. There are several problems with this line
of argument.
Labeling something as pornographic is
tantamount to calling it "obscene" "crude" or even
"lewd". Watching the film, I see no scenes that depict such
obscenity. Every scene in which intercourse occurs is only suggested and never
fully exposed. To suggest that two males having discreet intercourse on screen
is obscene sets a dangerous precedent in a country whose constitution prevents
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In addition, labeling the
movie pornographic is a direct insult to the LGBTQ community of South Africa
whose stories, like everyone else's, need to be told. I find it quite ironic that films like Fifty
Shades of Grey—a film bordering on the pornographic depicting white people
having BDSM sex— are able to pass the censorship board but when writers and
directors want to tell LGBTQ South African stories then this is relegated to
the obscene. The lack of consistency and the blatant support of a
heteronormative society is (in all honesty) deeply offensive.
From the
beginning of the film it appears that the Xhosa initiation rite is an integral,
male-grooming cultural process where caregivers bring up young initiates into
their manhood—a similar male-grooming, cultural process that can be observed in
many great civilizations like the Ancient Greeks for example. I do feel that
the film pays attention to that sense of brotherhood while still attempting to
make a clear distinction between the initiation rite itself and a queer man’s
experience of that initiation rite. It is in this distinction between
individual experience and tradition that the film begins to move towards arguing
for a broader conception of African masculinity. In my personal capacity the
film has enlightened me on the vital cultural processes that the Xhosa culture
has in place in order to bring young boys up as men. Moreover—as a cultural
artefact— the film calls viewers to engage in a dialogue with it that is
important for South African communities. Notions of masculinity within
traditional structures of culture need to be discussed and critiqued in South
Africa if cultures are to be reinvigorated and renewed to include LGBTQ
identities. To exclude these identities
on the basis of them being “unAfrican” is an old and tired argument that plays
into the hands of European Christian colonizers who came to Christianize the
African continent. What I mean by this is that the notion of queer identity as
“unAfrican” is a myth: there have been countless instances of queer life in
Africa before colonialism and I urge those who are interested in the topic to
do the research themselves.
Though cultural
sensitivity is important we cannot place all cultures and traditions beyond the
pale of criticism and exploration. To do this would limit us as a rigorous
democratic society engaged in fostering a nation that is accepting of diversity
in all its hues and orientations. Culture and tradition are important
structures that ground and guide society but we must be mindful of oppressive
patriarchal ideologies that hide behind culture and tradition in order to
enforce a fragile fabric of heteronormative morality. In a country like South
Africa where women are raped, abused and oppressed excessively (and where men
have died or been seriously hurt during these initiation rites) it must be the
task of cultural artefacts like Inxeba to question traditional notions of
masculinity and how these ideologies guide embedded thinking around what it
means to be a man and how a man should love another man or woman.
Where some
people see prejudice and cultural denigration, I see a film that uncovers the
homoerotic love and support existing between African, Xhosa men. The Wound is
much more than a film depicting a Xhosa initiation ceremony. In the
interactions of Xolani and Vija we as viewers see two men who have been warped
under the expectations that traditional ideas of masculinity have heaped upon
them. Inxeba is—therefore— about men attempting to help heal each other from a
deeper, more substantial, wound: the wound of what society dictates a man
should be.
The banning of
this film sets a dangerous precedent for LGBTQ stories in Africa as well as
cultural artefacts that critique and interrogate tradition and culture. There
is nothing wrong with cultural debate, but the censorship of art is a perilous
road that silences the stories of Africa that most desperately need to be told.
I emphatically beseech the tribunal to reconsider their decision and unban
Inxeba (The Wound).
Sincerely
Jarred James
Thompson