La Noire is an adaptation of one of Sembene’s works. Black Girl is an exploration of a Senegalese woman who is transferred to France to work as a maid for a French family. In the film, Diouna cannot accurately express herself in French, but her thoughts are presented to the viewer through non-diegetic voices. One should not expect to think naturally in a foreign language, however, Sembene made such a film. the option is acceptable. cultural identity is stripped away and dissolved into a lower class person whose only role is to clean up after. of the Penati. Dissatisfaction with one’s situation leads to despair. Diouana decides to take matters into her own hands and end her life so that she can emancipate herself from the environment of servile captivity.
When Diouana arrives in France, she is dressed in high heels, a polka-dot dress and monkeys in the likeness of pearls. Her natural hair is bundled under a European conservative cap. Diouane’s disillusionment is evident in a subsequent flashback sequence in the film when she is with her boyfriend in Dakar. In the original story, Sembene expresses Diouana’s errors in the passage:
Now, without leaving Africa, he saw himself on the shore, returning from France, penniless, with all his clothes. She dreamed that she was free to go wherever she wanted without laboring like an animal. If Madame does not want her, she will be weakened.
Cinematically, his emotions are translated into a joyful emotion as he sings the childish song, “I’m going to France” and dances on the steps of the monument. Amatiusus reproaches her for having no regard for the dead, but she has innocence, and the identification of the errors with the monument, perhaps the image of the error and the distorted encounter of death. Diouana, on hearing the office, runs through her village shouting: “I will finish with the whites!”
Her friend tries to dissuade her from going to France for what he thinks is “domestic servitude”, but Diouana is only concerned with his anger rather than the validity of her decision. Her fantasy is illustrated in the next scene when she sleeps in bed fantasizing about being like one of the women in the French novel “Mon Chéri” with her European hairstyle. His lover is confused by his actions, but Diouana interprets his response as envy. After he truly experiences France, his illusions are shattered and his mind imprisoned by reality.
When he arrived at the apartment, he immediately ordered the cleaning to begin. His way of living with his family in France is very different from his experience with them in Africa. In Dakar, Diouana wears her native dress with her natural hair down and only takes care of the children, whereas in France her role is more domestic and she becomes a maid rather than a caretaker. Diouana has a view of John, Les, Nice and Cannes from her window, signifying her longings as well as the proximity of her dreams and goals.
Confused about her duties as a “helper” Diouana cleans the house in a nice dress and plate. shoes Madame Diouana expresses her disgust at his continually wearing the same clothes and gives her an apron, exclaiming: “She has been wearing it for three days! You are not at the party!” The enclosure is a symbol of domestic subjugation and the trap of Diouane as an African woman who belongs to the class of the proletariat and is therefore not allowed to enjoy the same lifestyle as the French bourgeoisie. When cleaning, Diouna thinks, “I came to take care of the children. Where are they? I am not a cleaning woman.”
While initially looking for a job, Diouana passed away, leaving two delegates of the Senegalese National Assembly. Their conversation: “There is no obstacle.” “It’s your business.” “It’s in my country.” “Not so great.” “Think about your family. In her search, she runs into two girls, one black and one white, who enjoy the same class privileges.
These two situations show that the struggle of Diouana is not only a struggle of race, but transcends into the realms of economics and class. Diouana’s sympathy with the social situation proves from the failure of the elitist leaders of his country “who could not perform it but saw themselves as constituting a social class, in its alienation – at least, as their clothing indicated – defines itself in terms of Europe.” The tragedy of the psychological confusion of Diouane and the idealism of France is perhaps the symbol of Sembene’s personal commentary on “foreign patriotism” and its disadvantages for the post-colonial African.
Through flashbacks we learn that Diouan’s friend, familiar with both African and European traditions, is directly responsible for his connections with the French family When she initially looks for work, he sends her to a “maid market place in Dakar where people choose to help with their wages . The slave market is like a slave market because women are not independent in control of their economic fate.
They are disfigured and diminished by the sight of the foreigner who comes to the grungy they do not want to hire, because they do not want to make a distinctive class. In Diouana’s account, “I sat among the wolves as if I were waiting for fate every day.” This statement indicates that the peaceful situation in relation to their lot has taken The relationship between the foreigner and the African is abusive and alienated and does not help in the emancipation of the Senegalese society, because the Diouana people have not been removed from the country. He gave them the opportunity to be financially free in their country. The idea that it is necessary to flee Africa to save the continent is contradictory and tragic in the presentation of the Black Girl.
Diouana’s culture is subjugated in the scene where Lena asks them to make rice because they have guests over. She asks herself why they want to eat rice when the maid of rice has never been made in Dakar. “Diouana is asked to show the talents of the learned and exotic native cook.” A French family ignorantly talks about their comfortable life in neo-colonial Dakar to the difference in the cost of living, which is obviously due to the economic exploitation of Africa. One of the guests asks Diouana to kiss him: “Let me kiss you, I miss you, I’ve never kissed a woman before.” She answers in the negative and the gentleman makes an insulting comment: “When you reassert your freedom, they have lost much of their natural disposition.” Another woman comments on the taste of the food, saying that she hopes it is an “aphrodisiac”, while another assumes that Africans only eat rice.
Diouana is presented to the guests of the French family. When Lena immediately rings the bell to request service, Diouana thinks to herself “they eat like pigs and jabber”. The perception of Europeans is more informed by that injury than the slave girl experiences. They show ignorant insults French deceptions of African culture. It is seen as an exotic material that needs proper training by the French in order to become “cultured” from European standards. In the interview that took place, the family explains to their friends that Diouana does not speak French but understands “animal”. Their perception of the maid is unfairly predicated on her lack of education and European social skills. Diouana’s illiteracy makes them believe that she is incompetent and that her only role in the world is to perform domestic work.
After this Diouana became more and more troubled. His greed increases when the children return and he stays in bed when he is supposed to make breakfast. The Lady cries out to her, saying: “If you do not take care of the children, you will not eat.” Diouna answers introspectively: “If I don’t eat, I won’t take care of the children.” She finally gets out of bed and they get dressed for a long time. He does not wear a pen, but wears a long comb and rebellious heels. Diouana thinks to herself, “Back in Dakar they must say that Diouana must be happy in France. She has a good life… But France is my kitchen, my bathroom, living room and my bedroom. Didn’t yesterday bring me here to shut me in?” The lady thinks that since Diouana had given her an old dress and received it from Africa, struck by poverty, it should be more agreeable to them to live in the cleanliness and luxury of Europe. Madame throws a fit when Diouana can’t get out of the bathroom and complains about having coffee. The thought never crossed his mind that maybe he needed a “maid” break from the house. At this point in the film, Diouana makes up her mind to drastically change her situation.
After his rejection in Diouana, the family writes a letter, pretending that his mother feels bad about him. his actions Mime replies to the letter, “Because I cannot write, if I could write, I would say all about my girlfriend” and what “lady” is. I am bound here. We don’t know anyone here. The brutality of the regime makes Diouana depressed and desperate as she searches for a way to escape her domesticity. She does not even receive earnings from him, which means that it is less than her freedom. Lena tries to remove Diouan’s mask without being invited. The lady’s jealousy and frustration with herself is not only because she believes that she is lazy, but also because she feels that she is a rival in her home. Diouana is lovely and exotic.
Her husband is quite captivated by her beauty as shown when he looks inside the room and checks the living room to make sure his wife is not looking. His sympathy and communication with Diuoana is expressed through silent stars and his suggestions that “perhaps it should be allowed to go out”. For her to respond affirmatively to his proposals, the lady places several restrictions on Diouana, not allowing her to choose what she is a “handmaid”. This scene captures the essence of how the Black family robbed the girl of her cultural identity, which gives Diouana character and human dignity. Here in the movie, the excitement of the soul is dead to life.
After this scene there is an internal dialogue in which she sings: “Never again will a lady scold me. Never again will I be a slave. Never again will she tell me to do the dishes, wash clothes and cook food.” Diouana puts on a white dress and exposes her natural hair as she supplies hers, exclaiming: “She lied, lady. She’s always lied. She’s never lied to me again.” He went to the bathroom and took out the palm. Diouane’s suicide is paradoxically placed with the scene of the French people enjoying leisure on the beach. The family decided to return the mask, Diouana’s belongings, and money to his Dakar family. Diouana’s mother does not receive money and her little brother takes her person and takes her around the village as an image of the dead.
The tragedy of this story is that Diouan’s sadness and despair made death seem to be the only solution to his freedom. France’s idealistic ideas were plagued by deadly beliefs and conflicts. His pain was released when his spirit returned to Dakar. Diouana’s opinion of the adjacent lady is ironic because she actually lied and changed her mind to believe that France offers more freedom, economic stability and growth than her own country. Diouana is one of the first female characters created by Sembene and although she had to face tragedy to obtain her emancipation, she made her own way out. Although she is illiterate, she is strong enough not to succumb at the expense of her happiness and freedom.
Unlike later Sembene women known in films such as Faat Kine and Xala, Diouana does not remain outside of Senegal and her conflict character is removed from the cultural context of her homeland. Despite the setting of the story, we can understand the effects of post-colonial thinking, especially Western and European idealism from Africans. Although the story of Diouana is a tragedy, it is as heroic and revolutionary as the character of Faat Kine and the women of Xala. Since Black Girl is Sembene’s first film of the line, it is safe to say that his cinematic language and thematic solutions of post-colonial solutions through female characters have not developed as much as with the later films. Perhaps the tragic outcome of the film is also a representation of the Sengal social climate at that time. The viewer wonders why Diouana chose to end her life rather than return to Senegal?
Sembene’s realist approach suggests that neither post-colonial Africa nor France enriched the environment for African women to be illiterate. Thus, the gradual and revolutionary reconstruction of the African nation through economy, education and politics is imperative. All the blame for the Diouana tragedy is that the country was not financially supported. The government advisors are responsible for the people, their lovers, and their families for not encouraging them to stay in their kingdoms to learn their craft. to allow her financially. But African society must take account of the perpetuation of colonial ignorance of thought patterns and the idealism of foreign happiness in cultural development. Diouna has everything from his environment to the living space in which he lives. Semebene explores the more conscious aspects of women in later films, while the exploration of cultural imperatives provides a deeper and unique understanding of post-colonial Africans and how they express them in film.
Report:
- La Noire de…. Dir. Ousmane Sembene Filmi Domireew/ Actualites Francaise (Senegal/Francais) 1968.
