The Gods Must Be Crazy

This film starts off as sounding like a documentary. It talks about the everyday life of an African Bushman. However, as the narrator keeps on talking, it moves to a humorous depiction of the differences between the Bushmen and the people of the “Modern World”. It’s funny because a lot of what he says is true. Human kind has increasedly made life harder by wanting more and more. We make children learn more and more because we want people to make us more iPads and better technology. Humans make life harder by choice. We put people in roles that we create. I really start to wish for a life as easy as the Bushmen’s life because for them, life is all about happiness and not being jealous of others.

This film really is a criticism of the modern world. The Bushmen’s problems are due to the coca-cola bottle that falls out of an airplane or helicopter. The Coca Cola bottle is a typical American symbol because coca-cola is an American company and an American drink. Therefore, it was the developed world that creates problems. The film also criticizes how people in developed countries live. They go to work at a certain time because they are told to, and they work when told to. These people are similar to pack animals that are made to work. The Bushmen are similar to wild animals- they can't survive in a world where they are enclosed or enslaved.

The film The Gods Must Be Crazy is more similar humor-wise to the film Modern Times because it has a lot of slapstick humor. The filming style is similar as well because at times the people and objects move faster than they do normally. This gives a more humorous aspect to the film because the movements of people and objects are very cartoon-ish. It kind of is disconcerting because it looks like the film is a cartoon, where in the beginning it seems like the film is a documentary. It also makes you cringe a lot because you sort of see what will happen based on all the bad luck before. Some examples are when the Bushman drives, or when Mr. Steyn is using the car with no brakes and keeps making a mess of things.

There are a lot of examples of situational humor, such as the fact right when the wilderness vet, Mr. Steyn, is changing, a warthog comes out and chases him until he runs into the new teacher, Ms. Thompson, but then promptly disappears so he looks like a pervert. It happens again when a rhino, the fire preventer of the desert, comes to stamp out the fire. He tries to push Ms. Thompson away from the fire, and she thinks he’s being perverted again because she does not see the rhino.

However, this film deals with a lot of serious issues, such as war, unfair justice systems, kidnapping, stealing, and death. The Bushman is put in jail for something he does not understand. The police and justice system don’t care about the truth, nor care about his health. The children are kidnapped by a killer and used to give him safe passage as hostages.