TGMBC vs.

Reality
Mimi Rai

The Indie and Action film, The Gods Must Be Crazy, released in the 1980’s is about a tribal group of
Bushmen who live a content life in a remote African desert. Although TGMBC’s first impression might seem
like an innocent comedy, the movie brings up many falsehoods and stereotypes into the story. The movie,
TGMBC, promotes numerous myths that mainly circle around race and modernism.
TGMBC portrays the Bushmen as isolated from modern civilization. The Bushman are thought to be
primitive hunters and less civilized than the modern civilization. However, this myth is clearly false as shown
by the Washington Post article. In this article, the Bushmen live in ancient Bushmen villages. They were forced
to relocate by the Botswana government, and nearly force them into extinction. The Bushmen clearly can be
shown interacting with the modern civilization. However, what coming into interactions with the government,
the Bushmen were forced to leave their homes which their ancestors had lived in and had be kept each
generation after the other. By interacting with modern society, their culture and religious beliefs were broken.
Additionally, National Geographic further disproves this falsehood. “Romanticized as nomadic hunter-gatherers
uniquely close to nature, most of southern Africa’s indigenous Bushmen now live in settlement on land not their
own.” This portion of the article shows that much of the Bushman’s society has changed. Perspectives of
Bushmen have changed over time, as well as their lifestyle due to their involvement with modern civilization.
However, not all modern influences have affected the Bushman negatively. The documentary, “journey to Nya
Nya” shows that the Bushmen attend schools, going into stores, and have a community, showing that the
Bushmen have incorporate parts of modern society and has become influenced by it (such as the Inuits). The
possible reason the government would encourage this myth would be for land. When people view the movie,
they acknowledge the Bushman as separated from most of the world, but still content with their lives. They
would believe that the Bushmen were lesser than them because they didn’t have modern influences, but
shouldn’t be introduced to it. Many would believe that the Bushmen didn’t have any problems living in the
desert and wouldn’t bother realizing that these myths are false. They wouldn’t know that there are modern
influences showing in the Bushman’s culture and lives, or about the hardships the Bushmen face.
While there are many modern day influences showing in the Bushmen’s everyday lives, the movie
continues to bring up more falsehoods that oppose the truth. The movie shows that the Bushmen have never
seen a coke bottle, much less any technology devices. They claimed that Bushmen had never seen a rock in
their life and only used wood for everyday needs. This is clearly proven wrong as in the documentary, the
Bushmen attend school and have began using more modern devices, such as laptops. When the movie states that
the Bushman had never seen anything as strong as a coke bottle, the message being interpreted about the
Bushmen are they are simple-minded people, meaning that they wouldn’t be educated or taught to be
mannerful. On the contrary, the Bushmen shouldn’t be prejudged as “primitive” or “wild” because of their close
ties they have with nature. The Bushmen don’t need to be advanced in technology or have a well demeanor to
be considered modernized. The Washington Posts included that the Bushmen collect water with large steel
drums. Furthermore, National Geographic posted about a woman who used a steel rod to dig up for roots and
tubers. The modern objects the Bushmen use aren’t always advanced, but they use they objects to the fullest and
to help survive in the environment they live in. The filmmakers didn’t have a legitimate reason to why they
needed to add in the details about the coke bottle, but only to encourage racism. The filmmakers of TGMBC
show themselves as more superior than the Bushmen by basing their judgement on their perspectives of how
intelligent the Bushmen are. Their conclusions about the Bushmen and how modernized they are is only
affected by their viewpoints on races.
 Race was the force for the filmmakers to implant the falsehood of how much Bushmen have
acknowledged modern day technology. However, looking further into this myth can also bring out another
reason the falsehood was created. TGMBC addresses that the Bushmen haven’t ever seen or traveled in a car.
They displayed the Bushmen’s thoughts of vehicles as large animals with rotating legs, yet the accusation is
evidently inaccurate. In both the documentary and National Geographic post, the Bushmen have been said to
have interacted with cars. The government had forced the Bushmen into vehicles that drove them away from
their homes (Washington Post Article). This would have have given a negative reputation of vehicles to the
Bushmen. Not only were the Bushmen force to relocate, the National Geographic post claims how the Bushmen
are told by the government to dress up in traditional clothing and to rest by road tracks for tourists to view. This
leads onto why the government would promote this myth, for tourism and money. Tourists who wanted to view
the “Bushmen life” would be will to spend their money, which would go to the government, and would be able
to see the “clueless” bushmen. If the tourists learned that the myth was false, they wouldn’t spend their money
to tour the Bushmen or their environment, as they would view the Bushmen as any other human being they have
encountered. This would not attract any tourists and wouldn’t gain any money for the government.
In the end, the myths of the Bushmen were created by the government and the filmmakers to increase
territory, to promote superiority to themselves and modern civilization, and to gain profit from tourism. So,
what's the real reason for the government and the filmmakers of TGMBC to depict the Bushmen falsely? They
definitely didn’t establish these falsehoods for the welfare of the Bushmen. In all of the case, we recognize that
by demoting the intellect, sophistication, and ability of the Bushmen, the government benefits from themselves.