Some Belated Thoughts On Sankofa

This is an excerpt of a paper I wrote on Sankofa for another class.  In it, I discuss how the camera distributes power.

Let The Camera Do It To Her: How the Camera Distributes Power in Sankofa

In Sankofa, the Afro-futurist vision of sexuality is shown through both a literal camera as well as a metaphorical camera—that is, a third party gaze through which sexual acts are witnessed.  The ways in which cameras are controlled, distribute power and bear witness in the film support the Afro-futurist vision of sexuality—specifically female sexuality—as a device that has been forcefully and unjustly controlled by Western white men. 

We first encounter this vision of sexuality in the second minute of the film, when Mona, a black female fashion model, is posing for a white male photographer.  As the photographer moans sexually and says, “This is how I like it,” and “More sex,” Mona poses seductively for the camera.  The act is highly sexualized, with Mona acting as the feminine subject, herself acted upon by the phallic camera, which is in turn controlled by a white man, who commands her to “let the camera do it to [her]” and “get [her] hot.  The camera grants the photographer a power he would not possess otherwise: the power to control this woman’s sexuality.  He does so by placing his camera where he wants and encouraging his model to perform accordingly. 

Also significant in this scene is Mona’s costuming: she wears a bright blonde wig and an animal print bathing suit.  This wardrobe presents two different ideas of beauty—African-American beauty, specifically—held and perhaps perpetuated by Western white men.  The first, represented by the blonde wig, is that the white female is the epitome of beauty.  Only by attempting to duplicate that look can black women be cosmetically attractive.  By wearing such a garish blonde wig, Mona takes this idea to an extreme, but an extreme that is encouraged by the photographer.  The second idea of African-American beauty is presented by Mona’s animal print bathing suit, which represents the conception of black women as animalistic and exotic.  Again, this is encouraged through the photographer’s sexual comments.  Mona’s occupation also reinforces this: as a model, she is supposed to be the image of beauty and perfection.  Her outfitting says that for her, a black woman, to be beautiful and perfect, she must embrace the white image of beauty or the exotic beauty with which she is associated.

This modeling continues in scene a minute later that begins with an image of phallic structures and the off-screen sounds of sexual grunting.  When the camera pans over to Mona, she is straddling one of these phalluses.  Again, the camera’s gaze encourages her to be sexual and practically normalizes the photographer’s sexual grunting.  That is, when using the camera as a tool, the photographer is free to moan and yell sexual suggestions to Mona.  The camera allows the photographer not only to be sexually aggressive but also to maintain his role in tailoring black female sexuality to the white male ideal.  Again, as the possessor of the camera, he holds the power to present Mona how he chooses.  And as exemplified by this and the earlier modeling scene, he chooses to present her as an exotic, sexual creature.

In the third scene I examined, Mona—now Shola—is on the plantation.  One of the plantation owners drags her to a secluded area late at night and violently rapes her from behind.  Meanwhile, her lover Shango is trapped in a stockade nearby, forced to listen to the crime but completely unable to prevent it.  There are parallels between this rape scene and the earlier modeling scenes.  In all three, there are three key components that create power and perspective: the photographer, the camera and the subject.  In the first set of scenes, the photographer is the white male fashion photographer.  In the second, it is the white plantation master.  The camera in the first set of scenes is the literal camera the photographer holds.  In the rape scene, the camera is Shango.  It is less literal but it is still “held” or locked into place by the “photographer.”  In all scenes, the subject is Mona/Shola.  Crucially, in all instances, the camera is controlled by the white man, forcing the black woman to be the subject and granting themselves power to determine the nature of her sexuality: exotic, animalistic and powerless.  The “photographers” demonstrate their power over a subject by acting on her sexually.  In the first pair of scenes, that sexual act is mostly verbal, but also enacted physically through the photography and posing.  In the rape scene, the sexual act is mostly physical.  In all three scenes, Mona/Shola is a subject of the white man’s sexuality—forced to be submissive and obey the man’s power.  This is performed first through the wearing of the animal print bathing suit and second by being penetrated from behind, crudely known as “doggy-style” (as if to reinforce that, there is even a dog barking off-screen in that scene). 

Now, this rape scene is witnessed two ways:  First, by the audience, placed in uncomfortable proximity to the act, the grunts and sickening motions forcing a reflection on the earlier sexual modeling scenes; and second, by Shango, who must witness the act without any power to stop it.  Shango is the “camera” viewing the rape and, through his positioning, renders it a personalized perspective.  His account allows for no sexuality, only brutality and horror.  Of course, in the context of the film, his perspective is still limited and controlled by the “photographer,” his master who locked him up.

Cameras and photographers are significant in Sankofa both literally and figuratively.  Their placement and gaze dictate who is in power and how they exert this power over their subjects.  In the case of this film, that power enables the Western white man to unjustly and forcefully control black female sexuality, an idea in direct opposition to the Afro-futurist belief in empowerment.