The persistence of colonial power or neocolonialism is a common debate among any people of Africa and other developing continents in the world. Colonialism defines the contextual control employed by the majority of white culture on the African continents to exploit the natural resources and establish a political control over these countries. This way, the settlers’ mission of exploiting the economic resources of the continent bore huge impacts on the communities. Nonetheless, the phenomenal impact trickles down to the recent generation in various sectors of the economy. The most affected sector involved the film industry that depended on technology and financial resources to develop in the African contexts. Thus, Francophone defines the films and movies made by the French-speaking communities in the industry. Their production, distribution, and exhibition highlight the persistence of colonialism of Africa in various ways.
The context of the film in Cameroon displays the extent to which the European colonial powers destroyed the African heritage and culture in the film industry. Potentially, the producers highlight the comparative relationships between the traditional African heritage and the impact of the three colonial powers in Cameroon (Diawara, Manthia, 60-78). The works in the film are distinct are relative to the variety of issues in the society. Evidently, the history of Africa portrayed a peaceful community within their culture of performance and association. The arrival of the colonial powers destroyed the cohesive understanding among the society. Thus, prominent filmmakers such as Teno consider the efforts to regionalization and zoning of the international teams as a show of weakness in the African culture. Similarly, several other producers argue of the process as subjective of the diminishing values in the African cultures.
Ideally, in the production sector, the industry endures the manipulation of individual settlers in the country in pursuit of financial support and technical input. Evidently, the ancient Francophone had higher qualities and values in the societies as opposed to the modern production, where producers tend to embrace of the colonialists’ cultures of production (Teno, Jean-Marie, 40). The foreigners limited the freedom of choice and cultural expression to an extent that the production systems seeks to deploy reproduction of cinema in the Francophone emergence. This way, one can consider the development of the Laval decree as a common form of neocolonialism applied by the settlers to suppress the emergence of the Francophone films and inhibit prospect development in the industry. Predominantly, it portrayed the concerns of elevating the continued production of the foreign films within the countries as a show of superiority.
Categorically, cinemas marked the prospect of neocolonialism among the various countries as shown in the movies. The culture of the French language is common among many filmmakers even the current regimes. This culture of promoting the extension of the empire of the France is a clear indication of persistence in colonial influence in this industry. During the rise of both French culture and those of Germany and Britain, it was considerately evident that the new reign of cinemas was a major factor among these powers. Thus, the distribution of the France movies in the African society demonstrated the interests of the colonizers in the industry. They manipulated every aspect of distribution and display. One major impact lies in the strategy to manipulate the screen content that was distributed in that society at the time of expression within the industry.
Majorly, the Europeans manipulate the exhibition practices for the African Francophone films in different ways. Screening the films in Africa, for instance, adhere the control of the European distributors in the industry. Several individuals in the continent may not explore their screening potentials owing to the difficulties of screening the contents within their own countries without the support of the Europeans. An exemplary case exists in the Cameroon, where the citizens seem to have the desires for local films, but the exhibition processes are made difficult because of lack of capital and other resources within the country. The massive screening of the Francophone to target higher audience is another show of control of the African culture by the French colonies. It is true that most of the cinemas targeted the colonial impacts such as the process of liberation during the struggle for independence.
In conclusion, the European colonizers invested heavy interest in manipulating the African contexts of films and movies. Heavy investment in the industry helped the colonial countries to control the entire industry within Africa. Countries like Cameroon and other heavily colonized systems embraced the culture of the colonizers with totality. Hitherto, the current cinemas and films industrial production, distribution, and exhibition display contents of the colonial impacts that suppress the traditional culture of Africa. Thus, neocolonialism is embraced in the recent times owing to the reign of western characters and western funding in the industry.
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