Tropical Dream Palaces by Goerg Odile;

Author:Goerg, Odile;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Published: 2020-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

On the screen and in the cinema

What atmosphere reigned at the pictures, both inside and out, and before and during, the show? The experience went beyond the simple viewing of a film. This scene, which took place in Bamako in 1937, gives an indication:

A crowd flocked in front of the large gates, waiting to be allowed in to buy a ticket. Among the waiting crowd, some ambled aimlessly, others chatted amicably, others shouted out. Young hawkers, crates on their heads, touted their wares, crying: ‘Get your sweets, cigarettes, matches, dates! Get your cola, lemonade, peanuts! Stock up! Stock up! Soon it’ll be dark and you won’t be able to buy anymore!’ … ‘Tickets!,’ yelled the seller … A short while later, the spectators, blinded by the electric lamp light, started looking for something to do while waiting for the show. … Suddenly, the lights dimmed and came on again. It was the signal to go back to one’s seat … A deathly silence fell … Strange noises broke the silence and beams of light sliced through the dark (Bâ 1967).

Interactions before the show—the purchase of food and tickets, general conversation—filled the void before the screening started. The hubbub described by Bâ was also characteristic of the film shows at the Empire Cinema in Freetown. Tickets were sold beforehand, but spectators would rush to grab the best seats as soon as the doors opened (Anthony 1980: 138). Other accounts by African or European spectators complete the picture.2 Beyond the size of the cinemas, and thus their potential audience, they reconstitute the ambiance and elements of the audience’s behaviour.

Once inside, the spectators would take their seats and continue their discussions in an atmosphere that was undoubtedly closer to that of working-class cinemas—as depicted in Giuseppe Tornatore’s film Cinema Paradiso (1988), set in a Sicilian village—than to the reverent mood that the gentrification of screenings progressively imposed in Europe, as they left the fairground and entered the comfortable Rex and Palace theatres. Rare are the images of spectators tightly packed on wooden benches, circulating between the rows—of the pleasure on their concentrated faces, the lively commentaries, or the expansive gesticulations. As an imported media, the cinema unquestionably disrupted social and cultural practices, but it nevertheless integrated with certain existing forms of sociability; the spectators’ interaction with events on the screen reproduced the dialogue between public and storyteller during village gatherings, or the call-and-response exchanges between audiences and actors in Mali’s Koteba theatre. Indeed, cinema was referred to as tiyatra (the local pronunciation of ‘theatre’) in Mali (Haffner 1978). Gesticulations and commentary punctuated film shows. In the interwar years, then, a cinematic culture emerged that surpassed the movie theatre and incorporated existing spectatorship practices into the behaviour of audiences before, during, and after the show.

A typical show at the Gariglio Hotel in Lomé would follow a specific schedule, starting with Pathé-Revue newsreels, followed by a dramatic film in several episodes, and then a comedy. In the same city, Lawson would screen a comic short film, then a dramatic feature film, and finally another sentimental or comic short film.

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