A Post-Colonial Reading of the Central African Film Unit's (CAFU) Comical Films: Colonialists and African Perspectives

This article offers a post-colonial critique of colonialists and African perspectives of African spectatorship of comical films made by the Central African Film Unit in Rhodesia, present day Zimbabwe. The article deploys the post-colonial theory in order to unveil plural and separate Colonialists interpretations of African experiences of comical films. These readings dismantle the customary notion of a rigid, monolithic and homogeneous colonialist interpretation that has been peddled by forerunners in this area. The article also uses concepts of hybridity, resistance; appropriation and re-purposing that are espoused by the post-colonial theory in order to show African agency, not only in shaping the actual practice colonial film policy but also in inventing new meanings with regard to the cinema experience beyond the scope of colonial officials. Hence the article analyses how Africans turned the colonial comical film into a platform for opportunity, cultural recuperation and resistance.