There is no better way to describe this week than the quote above. I am a fascist on free education opportunities so when the Gordon School of Business Science advertised that they were running a Business Bootcamp for businesses in the ICT sector; I jumped at the opportunity.
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| Yes, blogging is part of ICT |
What I never espered expected was the gruelling schedule which runs from 8:30 am to 5pm from Monday to Thursday. You know how 8:30 am usually means 9 am, and 5 pm means 4 pm- not at GIBS! This has resulted in me setting meetings from 6pm- yet somehow they start at 7pm! Ultimately resulting in being too late for Generations and Uzalo!
I grew up on Generations. I wanted to be Queen when I was
about 9 years old, but as I grew older that changed dah-liing. Karabo has always been and continues to be a conundrum for
me, she is like Marlena from Days.Her drug habit to the blind stint (remember when
Marlena was demon possessed?) to the many men vying for her attention while she
is unable to make a decision. Pick 1 dammit! It was out of nostalgia that I watched this
programme with my uncle, now I am following with many reservations - which I will share!
Uzalo was not even on my radar, my uncle watches it as a
gap filler between Generations and Muvhango. All due respect to the Muvhango cast
and the nation of Venda, but I cannot with that show. Its like skinning a cat, where do you begin? If PETA doesn’t
catch you first.. I tried to watch it for 1 week and I gave up; same thing
happened with High Rollers on SABC 3 and Power- an American TV series. Its like
Orange is the New Black, there are certain award winning shows I can’t watch
because I do not have the capacity for them.
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| Beautiful man, terrible show! |
1) (In) Fidelity
When I started watching these shows for a second I thought it was norm for people to accept playing second fiddle to another man or woman. Seriously, what is normal? Fidelity or infidelity?
Karabo, Tau and Zola! Can she just pick puppy she wants to take home already! Well, Simphiwe and Smanga faded! Mazwi and Nolwazi get me thinking, so can you turn your side chic into your main chic?
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If you are a side chic, you dreams are NOT valid!
I feel we need to make that point very clear!
Onto Uzalo, that Nombuso was a freaky farm girl, the atypical church choir girl! Married to a pastor and banging a thug! While at the same time, the man of the cloth wasn't so clean himself - sleeping with the sister of the thug that is smashing his wife. This comes off as incestuous.
Even across the shores President Grant and Olivia Pope are caught in a knickers knot, remember when Mary Jane was in that mess too?
It clearly doesn't matter what tax bracket or geographical location you are in, keeping pants on is a universal challenge! With all we see on TV, is it too much to expect a monogamous relationship?
2) Suicide
In both shows, there are characters that have committed suicide Uzalo’s Amandla and Generations’ Simphiwe. One did it out of rejection and the other was dejected. Suicide is a very fragile topic especially among youth, according to a report published last year 10% of youth deaths are caused by suicide. South Africa also has the 8th highest suicide rate in the world, therefore this is clearly a subject that has to be approached delicately.
Simphiwe was caught up in some GTFOHWTBS BDSM and felt guilty for cheating on her husband- which culminated in her slitting her wrists on her wedding day, dying dramatically in church in her gown. Whereas young Amandla was born as the result of an affair to an opportunistic mother and egocentric father who rejected her, leading her to overdose on whoonga- I am not entirely sure what that is. Please do enlighten if you have more information.
I think Generations may have handled the theme slightly better because they showed a 1 second blurb on where people suffering from depression or feeling suicidal can get help. Uzalo kinda left it to the viewers to figure out so here, we figured it out:
Do not be ashamed for needing help, life is hard! Support, compassion and even a cup of tea you didnt pour for yourself can go a long way! For more info, click here.
3) Repentant Gangsters
Kumkani came out of jail a completely different man! Who would have thought he would ever want to do the right thing thus turning Tshidi into a villain- so much for brotherly love! Even Cosmo had a lapse of common sense when dealing with that leach Esther. Does Lucy have a heart though? Who would steal from her poor pensioner mother? And keep the money in the freezer? That's cold!! (Pun totally intended)
Mastermind on the other hand- the strained relationship between Amandla and Xulu got him to reconsider where his loyalties really lie. When drugs were ruining Amandla's life, the community was there to support him in the form of Ayanda's family- while the people responsible for her sorrow were in their ivory tower... or in this case their workshop!
I kinda hate it when a bad guy goes soft, it takes the edge the away from him! I love how Justin Beiber has reformed his life though, keep it up! However I think its important to show that behaviours have consequences- especially considering the poor role models we have in society. We need to show kids better values to aspire to, there are so many good stories and hopefully you do can share yours with someone that needs to hear it!
What other themes have you identified in the shows that you want to point out?
Stay tuned because next week I will bring the rest of my unsolicited opinion!
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