When colonialism ended, India and Africa, after years of being controled by Britain and France, respectively began their journey toward independence. However the shadow of colonialism makes this social transformation difficult for these vulnerable reborn countries. During the period of post-colonialism, many social and political issues emerged from both Indian and African societies. One of the most challenging for the residents at India and Africa was the tension between tradition and modernity. Satyajit Ray and Ousmane Sembene, important figures in India and African film history, use cinema as a powerful medium to address this problem and to evoke social awareness.
From Satyajit Ray’s first notable film Pather Panchali, one of the social and political significances of this film is that it shows the conflict between tradition and modernity. This tension is virtually and audibly presented in the train scene. Followed by the first shot of the huge power line, we hear the noise of something coming. However, from Durga’s facial expression, we do not know exactly what it is. She suddenly stops and stands there. She frowns while she’s carefully listening to the strange electronic hum with wonders. Durga slowly goes towards the huge pylon and listens to it. Like his sister, Apu does the same thing. Then he repeatedly asks his sister about the pylon but receives no answers. It clearly shows that the pylon is something new and exotic to these kids. When the train finally arrives, it is not presented subjectively but as a modern object that arouses Apu and Durga’s curiosities. The noise of the train engine interrupts the peace and harmony of the rural stasis. Then within the close up of Apu and Durga, the train enters from the right side behind them. This set up separates the train and the kids. It makes the appearance of the train seem totally out of place to the surroundings especially to Apu and Durga even though they are placed in the same image. After the long shot of the train, we see Apu running towards it. Then from left to the right, a reverse pan shot brings us to a much closer view of this modern invention with its blown-up fragment. We see this huge black roaring “thing” quickly swishing by and at the end we have a glimpse of Apu running towards us on the other side through the rolling wheels.
Both the pylon and the train, as products of industrialism, illustrate the significant changes in post-colonial India. As Chandak Sengoopta suggests, “As a smoke-belching train hurtles through the fields in the film’s most famous scene, the ‘seemingly idyllic rural world’ is shaken, as historian David Arnold has put is, by ‘ the dynamism, perhaps the adventure, perhaps the latent menace’ of modernity” (Satyaijy Ray: Liberalism and its vicissitudes 18). If the appearance of the pylon foretells the approach of modernity, then the smoke-belching train would actually mark its invasion and extension. When the train ostentatiously passes through the fields, Apu, who signifies the new reborn India, becomes the witness of this modernized performance. However, he is so little and vulnerable compared to the gigantic machine that he has not yet the power to move forward. Therefore he stops, vacantly watching this monster swishing away. The train engulfs him. The alienation and mysterious of modernity engulfs him. At the end of this scene, the black smoke that left by the train eventually causes us to ask what modernity brings to India? Civilization, wealth, or developments? Ray does not give us the answer. However, what we observe is the black dense smoke that slowly devours the sky and the beautiful kaash flower field. Furthermore, the following sequence of Granny’s death also highlights the conflict. Apu and Durga’s Granny, the old Indian woman, represents the past of India. Her spirit and body carry the weight of history and tradition. The death not only ends her own life but also ends the history and tradition that she inherits. In this way, after he discovered the power of modernity, Apu again become the witness to the death of tradition. The close up of Apu staring at his granny’s corpse shows his astonishments and fears. This transition is too overwhelming to him. Therefore at this time, he chose to run away. From these two juxtapositional sequences, we see the modernity exploding; the tradition becomes endangered. Choosing between modernity and tradition, post-colonial India faces a dilemma. Apu escapes from the past while he not yet has the power to move forward to the future. So which direction should the new India go? Ray realistically shows his biggest concerns by portraying the hardest situation of life in the post-colonial India.
Ousmane Sembene also takes the conflict between modernity and tradition as a breakthrough point to criticize the post-colonial African government of Senegal. In Xala, this tension transfers into the opposition between the western “Frenchness” and the traditional “Africaness.” The portrait of female characters in Xala particularly demonstrates this tension. In the scene where El Hadji collects his two wives for his wedding to this third, Sembene introduces us to three different types of African women by contrasting their dressing styles. El Hadji’s elder wife, Adja, is a traditional docile African woman. She wears a vibrantly colored grand boubou with her hair wrapped in a scarf. We not only see a faithful and supportive wife but also discover the African traditions, history and religious duties from Adja’s dressing and body gestures. Oumi, El’s second wife who is completely different from Adia, is totally modern and westernized. She wears a black backless dress with sunglasses and a wig. These western “consumer goods” that she wears highlight Oumi’s “possessive individualism” and her characteristic of money worship. During their conversation in Oumi’s apartment, she also disparages the traditions as she speaks in French, referring to Awa as an “old dried up fish”. And finally El Hadji’s third wife, N’Goni, has no mind of her own, is dressed in her white European style wedding dress under a veil simply as an object to satisfy El’s sexual and materialistic desires. The transformation of these three women parallels and leads to the corruption that El Hadji has been through. Sembene says, “He got his first wife before becoming a somebody. Along with his economic and social development, he takes a second who corresponds, so to speak, to a second historical phase. The third is only there for his self-esteem ” (Xala, Sembene Ousmane 1974: The Carapace the failed, Laura Mulvey). During this process, El Hadji too, is engulfed by the western modernity. He dresses in western suit, speaks French instead of his mother tongue, and spends a huge amount of money to get a wife who matches his understanding of western modernity. As he betrays his first wife, he betrays his African traditions and identity too. When El’s second wife mercenarily takes away his money and his third wife brings him the “Xala,” his blind worship and imitation of Europeaness finally destroy him. It shows that the European power continues to rule the country even after Senegal’s independence. Sembene reveals the hypocrisies and absurdities of the post-colonialism through El’s ridiculous marriages.
Work cited:
1. Satyaijy Ray: Liberalism and its vicissitudes
2. Xala, Sembene Ousmane 1974: The Carapace the failed, Laura Mulvey
3. ‘Xala’ and the curse of neo-colonialism: Reflections on a realist project by Gerry Turvey
