A Movie Reflection: The Gods Must Be Crazy

This movie clearly showed how different people adopt to stimuli. Xi, from an African
tribe, displayed this by going through a long journey just to throw away the Coca-cola bottle,
which they thought of as an evil thing. The whole tribe had seen how the evil thing had
promoted anger, envy, hatred, and thus leading to, violence.

At first, Xi thought of the Western people as weird and strange considering that it was
the first time that he was exposed to people who are of different races. This reaction would be
natural for any person/tribe from other people, things, or places (society, technology, or nature)
to be freshly exposed to anything that is not familiar to him/them.

Xi may not have had the technological advantage (i.e. guns) but he still had his
immense knowledge on hunting which helped Andrew, a microbiologist, and Mpudi save Kate,
a newly-hired teacher, from the armed guerrillas that kidnapped them.

In the end, Xi threw the evil thing into what they (he and his tribe) thought of as the
end of the earth. His view of the earth may be related to an ancient view, which is flat,
believing that the edge of the world is on top of a cliff with a very deep landscape below
covered by clouds. He went back to his home in Kalahari Desert and was happily welcomed by
his son and the rest of the tribe.

In addition, the movie also showed how different the concept of happiness is for people
who grew up in different environments. For people living in Kalahari Desert, happiness is simple
achieved with everything that is naturally provided. No one had unfulfilled wants because they
did not know anything that they could want other than what is at hand in their environment. On
the other hand, people from the USA may find happiness with discovering new things with the
new technology that they had grown themselves dependent into.

Xis tribe may not have had the concept of feudalism or ownership. This was also
illustrated when he was imprisoned for shooting a goat in a farm. Although he might have been
taught how to drive by Mpudi and look at a telescope, Xi did not want any of the technology.
He even threw the cash that Andrew gave him.

Moreover, it showed how people in different cultures and settings had embraced,
resisted, and exploited the effects of the growing globalization at that time. Those people in the
movie who had clearly shown embracing were Andrew, Jack, Kate, and Mpudi. For Andrew, he
had shown the embracing of the new technology as he exposed himself into the use of
telescopes, the knowledge of microbiological science, etc. For Jack, he had revealed this with
his indulgence of liquor, car, etc. Fore Kate, she had portrayed this by her immersion and
teaching in a different society. It can be a way of showing her interest of educating those
people towards a life of different environment filled with new technology. For Mpudi, he may
have shown a bit of embracing as he had already been living with it for years after having been
exposed with bushmen for a long time.

On the other hand, those people who had clearly shown resistance to the effects of new
technology are the people in Kalahari Desert. Xi had represented his tribe by showing how they
do not want to be affected by unfamiliar things or environments by leaving Andrew and Mpudi.
He could have gone and lived with them. He could have went back to his tribe and brought
them with him to the new village that he had been to. He could have brought the money and
introduced the concept of ownership to the whole tribe. But he chose not to.