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Why Is It Okay That African Accents Are Faked Or Imitated In Movie Roles?



I sat down to see a movie the other day, which I was genuinely enjoying until a character was introduced speaking a god-awful "African" accent. That was not the first time some actor was trying to speak like an African and completely sucked at it. I kept sighing and screaming at my screen whenever the character came on

"We do not sound like that!"

" I could have acted this role for free!"

 "We have millions of Africans why not allow them to play these roles?"

 On behalf of Africans all over the world, I am here to say we are done! Enough!
Enough with the fake African accents in the movie, television shows. It was never funny. Why? Because we are being misrepresented with these fake accents.

 We hear these fake accents on television and be all confused wondering what you mean. How is it possible that an "African" accent manages to confuse the very people an actor is trying to represent?

It is not ok to randomly choose someone that looks African and tell them; Hey! you are going to play Adekunle a Yoruba man in this movie so go learn a Yoruba accent. This is totally unfair because there are actually Africans who can play these roles and the most interesting part about hiring an African to represent his/her people is that just like the Hispanic, Indians, Chinese people you hire in these movies, the African would be a natural and not have to fake an accent.

How is it ok that an African accent should be faked or imitated but other cultures are properly represented?

 And no, African accents are not ridiculous and so is our sense of style ( that's a story for another day). The narrative of Africans being and sounding ridiculous have played on for too long to the point that Africans are beginning to fake accents that they have no business with, desperately trying to sound different. Think about it! 

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Comments

  1. Akintade Jesupelumi Victor20 May 2019 at 15:48

    It sounds very weird and funny most times. And like you rightly said, it is very possible to get an actual native to play those parts, and would do it quite well.

    ReplyDelete

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