As much as various movies and music are largely seeking to entertain the masses, we still expect to derive beyond entertainment, some kind of education, awareness or inspiration from these arts.
The roots, popularity and interests Ghanaian music and movie have gained over the years can be attributed to their relevant social content.
A common defining element of a true Ghanaian movie or music most of us were exposed to were the ones tackling various social, economical and political issues in our societies, presenting these to us with an entertaining coat.
Over the years, things seem to have changed in our Entertainment world. You can all it modernization, commercialization or westernization, one thing which is clear is the lost of satire in our current arts.
Large percentage of our current movies and music packages speak less of us as people. They are tackling less of our socio-political issues. If I will not be seen as far stretching, I can say most of the movies and music we have today do not relate or reflect on our Ghanaian settings.
Gone are the days when movie makers would pick various “commonly” occurring social issues and address these things in their movies, adding up some fun and presenting them to us in a nice entertaining package. In simple words, our movies and music were lesson teaching arts, reflected on our social and cultural settings and were on point.
I said gone are the days because most of our contemporary music and movies lack these essential elements. You can finish watching a 3 hour Ghanaian movie and cannot still digest the moral, education or inspiration behind the storyline.
I have seen various Ghanaian movies where folks are shooting guns on the street “openly” like some computer video game rebels. I have questioned my self on many occasions in relation to such movies if these things really happen in our societies. If they do not, where are they borrowing them from and why are they not tackling what is happening around us then?
The guilty verdict does not throw itself to our movie industry alone; the music industry is equally guilty. You listen to some of the current songs making waves in Ghana and the musicians seem to be speaking in a total different dialect. What they talk about has nothing to do with the people or the happenings around them. The audience or listeners cannot in anyway relate to the subject they speaking about.
When it comes to most of our modern Ghanaian music, the beats are good, the voices of the artistes are worth listening to but the songs lack subjectivity and value.
Look at the movies and you will find if not the same, a worse model. The actors and actresses look stunning, sound quality and video quality are on point but the storylines are diabolical, totally alien to our society.
I cannot even point which of the industries (music or movie) is doing the worse when it comes to elements beyond entertainment which it is suppose to address.
Which do you think is loose-fitting when it comes to social and moral education, inspirational and motivational messages and content relevance? The Music or the Movie Industry? You judge!
Check the music video below by Guru, it is on point and addresses societal issues, many videos out there are far from this.