SABC 1: Uzalo 01/01/2019

Name of the monitor: Sakhile Dube
Name of Television station: SABC 1
Name of programme: Uzalo
Date of broadcast: 01/01/2019
Time: 20:30-21:00
Clip Timing: 6:19 – 9:45
Genre: Drama Series
Theme: Crime and Violence, Women empowerment, Family relations.
GBV focus explicit or implicit? Implicit
Gem Classification: Subtle Stereotypes
Provide a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTc_Hc0c9b0

A brief description of the scene

A young woman (Zekhethelo) is angry at her boyfriend who got her into drugs and she got sick. Following her recovery, Zekhethelo asks her father Nkunzi to teach her how to use a gun but Nkunzi says no. Her father believes that she only wants a gun to murder her boyfriend despite her saying that she wants it for self-defence. She persists but her father refuses and does not take her request seriously.

Analysis

This scene perpetuates subtle stereotypes about women enacting revenge and letting their emotions dictate their lives. Zekhethelo claims that she wants a gun for self defense but her father assumes that she will use it to shoot her boyfriend and end up in jail. This assumption perpetuates a subtle stereotype about women taking extreme measures when they are hurt by a man. Her father should not have made that assumption but recognised her need to have a gun to feel safe, and instead should have told her to channel her anger into safer forms of self-defense.

Traditional gender roles are also reinforced in this portrayal. Nkunzi is usually seen in an environment associated with work and business. His authority is emphasised and he often has conversations with female characters when they interrupt him at work. He is often seen as a voice of reason. Zekhethelo is portrayed as a nagging daughter whose father won’t take her seriously.