The Uplifting Effects of Unfamiliarity in Walkabout & The Gods Must Be Crazy by Grace Langella

When the act of change is thought about by humans, it tends to be linked to many negative emotions and actions. This tendency for humans to directly correlate change with negativity results from all of the stress and anxiety that overcomes them once put into situations of unfamiliarity. Because of the disoriented feelings we get once exposed to something new, humans keep themselves tied to a monotonous lifestyle that holds them back from experiencing a new way of living. Although being fixed on a rigid way of life brings feelings of comfort and safety for humans, there is an importance that needs to be shed on breaking away from a repetitive lifestyle in order to understand the valuable disparateness that exists in the world. When exposed to differences that break them out of their comfort zone, humans tend to experience culture shock, for they have no idea how to behave in situations that are new and uncommon to them. Because of how easily people crack under the pressures of unfamiliarity, we are able to see how fragile homeostasis really is and how much one’s energy can drop as a result. In both Jamie Uy’s The Gods Must be Crazy and Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout, we are able to see the fragility of homeostasis and the drastic impact it can have on one’s life; whether one comes from an isolated, indigenous community or Western society, an abrupt change can be traumatic to survival and cooperation between members of a society.

For the Kalahari Bushmen, cooperating with one another is never an issue; living in apartheid South Africa, everyone goes about their day as they please, making sure to maintain a sense of peace and community. Contrary to Western civilization, the Kalahari Bushmen aim to keep their society simple by refraining from focusing on technological advancements and things that can disrupt the serenity in which they live. In order to show the great contrast between societies and draw a satirical depiction of Western civilization, Jamie Uys incorporates a voiceover in the beginning of the film, which comments on the need for people living in Western society to reinvent themselves every fifteen minutes (Uys, 10:03). By commenting on this ridiculous way of life, Uys makes it clear that Western society follows a structure that is needlessly strict, restraining humans from reaching a point in their life that is well balanced and valuable.

In The Gods Must be Crazy, Jamie Uys paints a picture of a civilization that is perfectly balanced and valuable for everyone that is part of it. Although the Bushmen’s prestigious society seems to be indestructible, their ideal lifestyle gets turned upside down and ruined once an unfamiliar object arrives and dominates the way that people behave. As a Coke bottle falls from the sky, it is seen as an “ubiquitous byproduct of the civilized world [that] becomes both a tool and an object of jealousy when a Xhosa-speaking Bushman, Xi, discovers it and brings it to his tribe” (Gottwald, par. 2). Once Xi brings the Coke bottle into his society, an immediate outbreak occurs and people that once lived “collectively, enjoying and praising nature,” begin to turn on each other and create disharmony in their once tranquil society (Eshetu, par. 3). At first, the Bushmen look at the Coke bottle in confusion, unsure of what to do with such an unfamiliar object; however, they eventually realize how great of an impact it can have on their everyday lifestyle, which causes their behavior to change and the fragility of homeostasis to be exemplified. The people within Xi’s society become filled with jealousy, anger, and violence because “for the first time in their lives, here was a thing that could not be shared because there was only one of it [...] a thing they never needed before became a necessity” (Uys, 10:28). Using the Coke bottle to “represent something so vast and unique as civilized society,” Uys makes it evident that anything that comes from Western civilization, even something as insignificant as a Coke bottle, has the ability to poison any balance and social dynamic that once existed in the Bushman’s society (Antoine, par. 4).

Another situation that Uys includes in his film to exemplify the negativity of Western civilization when compared to indigenous life is Kate’s experience as she moves from a civilized lifestyle to a more natural one. While living in Western society, Kate spends her time as a writer for a city newspaper; in doing so, she finds herself “letting social norms control her and what she writes about” because “instead of writing about something that peaks her curiosity, she is limited by convention to write about topics that are ‘sweet and light’” (Spellman, par. 5). After realizing that she is bigger than the bounds that limit her in Western society, Kate moves to South Africa where she finds her unique intelligence to be a factor of progression rather than regression in society. Upon her arrival into the Bushman civilization, Kate is taken in with open arms and praised for her willingness to educate and expand their ways of thinking—completely contrasting the experience she had while living in Western civilization. By having Kate’s experiences be drastically different in the two societies, it shows how harmful Western civilization really is. In Western society, Kate aimed for making a change by expressing herself through her writing but was so constricted by the limits of society that she was forced to quit. 

Being constricted by the limits of society is something that people living in Western culture experience every day; however, it does not seem to bother them because they are brainwashed into thinking that living such a limited life is completely normal. Viewers are able to see the consequences of this mindless acceptance through The Girl and her little brother in Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout as they venture into the Outback and find themselves in need to connect with nature. Because The Girl and The Boy have grown up “in a world where they learned proper etiquette, were taught to get educated to ensure future employment, and were given food instead of having to hunt for it,” they find themselves completely lost the moment they are put into an unfamiliar situation and forced to adapt (Bellesheim, par. 2).

As time elapses and The Girl and The Boy meet an Aboriginal who is willing to help them survive, their lack of knowledge and inexperience of other cultures is exemplified even further when The Girl is unaware of the language barrier that exists between her and the Aboriginal as she attempts to ask him for water. Viewers are also able to see the inexperience of The Girl and Boy the moment that The Girl comments on her brother’s appearance, exclaiming, “You must look after your blazer. It’s got to last. We don’t want people thinking we’re a couple of tramps” (Roeg, 34:28). The Girl’s exorbitant concern about the way her brother looks in the middle of the Australian Outback, as they are barely surviving and getting through each day, goes to show how poorly Western civilization prepared them for times where they would be exposed to a new way of living that is completely different from anything they have ever experienced before.

When people are exposed to something that they have never experienced before, there tends to be various ways in which it is handled. For the Kalahari Bushman, the exposure to a foreign object, such as the Coke bottle, initially caused chaos throughout society; however, once they realized that the bottle was not worth the trouble it was causing, Xi walked to the end of the Earth to throw the bottle in the sea and allow his society to go back to living in tranquility. 

Although the return to homeostasis was easy for the Kalahari Bushmen, it was not as easy for The Girl as she returned home from the Outback and realized everything she left behind will never be attainable for her ever again. As Roeg displays The Girl grown up with her husband as he speaks about his promotion at work, viewers are able to see her in another world, ignoring everything he says, as she thinks back on her time in the Outback where life was much simpler and filled with happiness. Looking at how different both situations of aberration resolve, it becomes evident that real living is being one with nature through a more simplistic way of thinking; however, the only way humans will be able to understand this is by testing limits, experiencing culture shock, and comprehending the fragility of homeostasis.

Works Cited

Antoine, Myrtchena. “What Do You Do with Trash: A Review of WALKABOUT & THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY.” Taking Giant Steps, 2017, https://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2017/03/what-do-you-do-with-trash-review-of.html.

Bellesheim, Allison. “Walkabout: Where the Wild Things Are.” Taking Giant Steps, 2017,

https://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2017/02/walkabout-where-wild-things-are-by.html.

Eshetu, Hanna. “Pursuit to Restore Serenity.” Taking Giant Steps, 2018, https://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2018/11/pursuit-to-restore-serenity-by-hanna.html.

Gottwald, Benny. “Putting Masculinity on the Chopping Block.” Taking Giant Steps, 2018, https://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2018/02/putting-masculinity-on-chopping-block.html.

Roeg, Nicolas. Walkabout. Perf. Jenny Agutter, David Gulpilil, and Luc Roeg. Twentieth Century Fox, 1971. Film.

Spellman, Jennie. “The Dark Side of Civilization.” Taking Giant Steps, 2018, https://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-dark-side-of-civilization-by-jennie.html.

Uys, Jamie, Director, writer and director. The Gods Must be Crazy.

The Dark Side of Civilization by Jennie Spellman

America likes to claim the title of being one of the most “civilized” countries, but what does civilized truly mean? After watching Jamie Uys’ The Gods Must Be Crazy and joining KP’s class discussions, I became genuinely disturbed by the word civilized and its true definition. Throughout our lives, we are influenced by societal norms and peer pressure. Everything we embark upon is done with the consideration of what other people will think of us. We are goaded into what we wear, what we do, what we buy all to answer the silent question: how will I fit in? In “The Ironic Hospitality of the Kalahari Desert,” Morgan Morrill writes of our American lifestyle, “There is barely time to breath in this machine-like world with the amount of meetings and activities that everyone has written on to their calendars” (Morrill, par. 1).

At first, I believed I was not a part of this machine-like world until writer and director Jamie Uys helped me understand just how deeply rooted societal conformity is in my life choices. He delivers the effects of restrictive societal norms for the viewer to experience first-hand. In comic fashion, The Gods Must Be Crazy analyzes the days of the week and our distorted perception of time. I thought back to the film Walkabout in which director Nicolas Roeg demonstrates that the true flaw of civilized culture is its inability to adapt or adjust to circumstances. He allows the viewer the chance to analyze the actions of a civilized British schoolgirl in the Australian Outback, an environment that is deeply unfamiliar to her. In different ways The Gods Must Be Crazy and Walkabout reveal how these pressures obstruct our ability to habituate, accommodate and acculturate to new conditions.

   

Furthermore, The Gods Must Be Crazy is a mockumentary about the Kalahari Bushmen and their way of living. The film compares the Bushmen lifestyle to the civilized lifestyle in apartheid South Africa. Uys employs satire in order to force the viewer to see the civilized world in a new light. Although Uys only focuses on the civilized world for a portion of the film, he targets the many failures of cultural adaptation. As the camera moves away from the serene and calm habitat of the Bushmen, the viewer is then hit with sequences of crowds, busy streets, and towering buildings (Uys, 00:05:30). The contrast that Uys creates highlights the wholesomeness of the Bushmen community against the civilized lifestyle displayed in short, chaotic fragments. The voice of the narrator accompanies these scenes in a demeaning tone. The narrator explains how “civilized man refused to adapt himself to his environment and instead adapted his environment to suit him” (Uys, 00:06:36-00:10:30). The civilized man thus set standards for society, which we call social norms.

In “How Social Norms Affect Our Decisions,” Doctor Carrie Steckl describes social norms as, “expectations that inform us how we’re supposed to behave in certain situations – [that] are ubiquitous in our society” (Steckl, par. 2). She explains how social norms have four common aspects: they tell us what to do and what not to do; they are socially shared; they carry an element of control or sanction; and they highly influence one’s behavior (Steckl par. 3). These expectations ultimately control how we act as individuals and how we act as a community. 

In The Gods Must Be Crazy, Kate Thompson is a writer for a big city newspaper. When one of her coworkers asks her to write a story about handicapped children, she quickly refuses the idea saying, “Sorry. I’ll only print sweetness and light, even if it bores the pants off them” (Uys, 00:07:05). Just a few seconds later another one of her companions asks if she could write a story on the teacher shortage in Botswana. Instead of considering the idea, Thompson says again, “I don't know. I got bawled out for writing a story on mugging. My page should be sweet and light, like Liberace and Jackie Onassis” (Uys, 00:07:36). Thompson is letting social norms control her and what she writes about. Instead of writing about something that peaks her curiosity, she is limited by convention to write about topics that are “sweet and light” even if they may be boring. Society writes the script of our lives, and like good actors, we play the part. These constraints are preventing us from adapting and advancing as human species.

The inability to revamp and reshape our limited outlook is taken further in the film Walkabout. Roeg shows us the journey of a teenage British girl and her younger brother who must endure the Australian desert on their own when they are abandoned by their suicidal father. During their “walkabout,” they encounter a young Aboriginal man who is accustomed to the dry Australian desert. Throughout the film, The Girl is unable to acclimatize to the Aboriginal way of life due to the expectations of her civilized lifestyle. In “Walkabout: Where the Wild Things Are,” Allison Bellesheim writes, “The two children are symbols for civilization, as they grew up in a world where they learned proper etiquette, were taught to get educated to ensure future employment, and were given food instead of having to hunt for it” (Bellesheim, par. 2). Coming from a strict and demanding society, The Girl cannot conform to a new way of life in her walkabout. This theme is highlighted throughout the whole film, but it can specifically be seen when she first meets the Aboriginal hunter. She is unable to ask him for water due to the language barrier (Roeg, 00:36:30). Further on in the film, The Girl worries to her younger brother about their appearance, even though no one is there to see or judge them. She says, “You must look after your blazer. It’s got to last. We don’t want people thinking we’re a couple of tramps. And you’ve put a hole in your pocket. Don’t! You’ll ruin your nice shoes” (Roeg, 00:34:28-00:37:10). Her bizarre reaction is merely an effect that social norms have engraved in her brain. Even further into the film as The Girl, The Boy, and The Aboriginal are painting on the rock walls, she complains saying, “I wish we had a proper pencil” (Roeg, 01:10:53). Her rigid upbringing in a “superior” and civilized society has caused her to become so incredibly closed off to change that it obstructs her from refashioning herself. My classmate Lindsay Knight describes her as, “cracking under modern society, living the same type of monotone lifestyle instead of adapting to the Aboriginal way” (Knight). Mentally stuck in her civilized ways, she proves unable to grow culturally.

On the first day of class, we learned about three diseases in our society, especially for our generation: short attention spans, overwhelming competition with one another and a paralyzing fear of being judged. The third one stood out to me the most. It is the fear of stepping out of social norms, which stops us from widening our outlook and deepening our personal growth. One elemental step in life that people are unfamiliar with is college. In American society, it is assumed that one will go to college right after high school. However, this may not be the right path for everyone. Although high schools host college fairs and college panels, they seem to be missing a very important alternative: gap year programs. This past semester, as I was studying at Hofstra University, one of my closest friends taught at a private school in Thailand. Not only was she pursuing her interest in becoming a digital arts teacher, she was also evolving and growing as a person. Her gap year “walkabout” helped her discover her true path in life in a way she would have never been able to have done while in college.

Having the strength to step out of the societal comfort zone enables us to learn in rare ways. Without this courage we are forever stuck in society’s restrictions, stopping ourselves from becoming our best. We visually identify the consequences of conformity in these two films as the inability to make individual choices. The way in which “modern” society forces conformity so strictly in The Gods Must Be Crazy and Walkabout has helped me to discover a new way of living. As I have grown throughout my first year in college, I have learned to not care what others think. I have been able to overcome my fear of being judged, which has led me to grow intellectually and as a person. The toxicity of conformity in today’s society is apparent to me now, and if others are not willing to see this, we may not be able to advance and adapt to upcoming obstacles. As the true meaning of civilization is uncovered in these films, the question is raised: how will viewers defy the high pressures of social norms and break out of the cage society puts us in?

Works Cited

Bellesheim, Allison. “Walkabout: Where The Wild Things Are.” Taking Giant Steps. Kirpal  

Gordon, 13 Feb. 2017. Web.

Knight, Lindsay. February 12, 2018. Class Discussion.

Morrill, Morgan. “The Ironic Hospitality of the Kalahari Desert” Taking Giant Steps. Kirpal

Gordon, 14 Mar. 2018. Web.

Roeg, Nicolas, director. Walkabout. Twentieth Century Fox, 1971.

Steckl, Carrie. “How Social Norms Affect Our Decisions.” Mental Help Network.

mentalhelp.net, 26 Apr. 2013. Web.

Uys, Jamie, director. The Gods Must Be Crazy. Twentieth Century Fox, 1984.