Talking Movies: From Zap to Zapiro – Episode 4

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https://iframe.iono.fm/e/1491358

Welcome to Talking Movies, I’m Spling. This week we continue with episode 4 of From Zap to Zapiro.

As a follower who has been captivated by the journey from Zap to Zapiro, I must express my profound admiration for this documentary. The story of Zapiro and his iconic showerhead cartoon is not just about artistry or satire; it’s a tale that mirrors our nation’s tumultuous political landscape.

[The Showerhead Trailer music]

Ronnie Kasrils: Zapiro is considered one of the top 10 best cartoonists on earth.

Zapiro’s style often involves aggressive responses when he sees people infringing upon others’ rights. Under a shroud of suspicion regarding corruption, Zuma found himself in a rape trial. When asked about the sexual encounter, he mentioned having a shower to reduce his risk of infection. Cleverly, I associated with him various things that he had previously stated, and placed a shower atop his head. At that moment, I was tasked with creating content for AIDS awareness.

Mondli Makhanya: It was difficult to actually look at Zuma without thinking of the shower head.

Zapiro’s Thought: He required those corruption allegations to vanish in order to ascend to presidency. By mid-2008, I found myself filled with rage. This idea struck me unexpectedly, and the shock was immense.

Mondli Makhanya: My immediate reaction when I saw the cartoon was, fluke.

And Mondli phoned me up and he said, hey comrade, comrade, comrade, this is, this is hectic. Once you’ve seen it, there ain’t no going back.

[The Showerhead trailer ends]

Can you tell us how the showerhead documentary came about?

Indeed, there’s a slight awkwardness at the outset due to Craig Tanner, the director, informing us that it didn’t begin solely during the lead-up to his first visit in 2016. Instead, he had been attempting to reach me for quite some time prior to that. Being occupied is something I, along with many others, have in common. My schedule is always filled with various commitments.

Regardless of whether they’re cartoons I’m currently working on, have completed in the past, or those that stirred controversy in other assignments, there’s always some form of activity surrounding them. However, I failed to recognize what it was. To add to the awkwardness, he claims he tried reaching out to me for quite a while.

It’s unclear how many months preceded the year 2016, since he relocated to Sydney, Australia in 2008 from South Africa. In 2016, however, he visited us here, and the prompt for my response was his unique idea that I found significant. He mentioned this because of our public disputes with Jacob Zuma; Zuma had filed a lawsuit against me, a well-known figure, and I refused to back down.

After getting embroiled in this dispute, we eventually emerged victorious in both legal battles. This victory was twofold: it included my personal success, our collective win, and the triumph of the newspapers I was associated with, as the lawsuits were dismissed. He proposed building a project centered around a showerhead, possibly titled “The Showerhead“. Finding his unique and promising concept appealing, I decided to proceed with it. This is how our collaboration began.

In my review, I described the whole concept as Moby Dick in the way that Herman Melville talks about Captain Ahab and the White Whale.

That’s great. I love that.

I thought that was spot on in terms of tracking that trajectory for the whole story. And it’s just such a wonderful golden thread that works through that documentary. So I thought that was amazing.

Was there any contemplation about bringing your documentary work to life through animation? I’m just wondering if this idea has crossed your mind at some point, as it could significantly alter the overall feel of the piece.

I’m open to the concept of bringing my cartoons to life, but it has been attempted only sparingly before. If used extensively throughout the film, it might, in some way, diminish the essence of those cartoons, their purpose, and the impact they had on viewers.

I propose a different perspective because the original concept is dynamic and unpredictable, making it hard to fully grasp its impact initially, especially if it only appears in newspapers. To address this, I have two strategies. Firstly, while I’m open to the idea of animation, there are discussions about incorporating this in another project. Secondly, some of my cartoons have been used with limited animation before, and I believe that when these are brought to life on screen, they can create a unique impact. I think there’s a lot of potential for exploring this further.

But I certainly don’t think it detracts from the way Craig has told the story in this particular documentary, that the cartoons are there in their kind of original form, and that everything is around people’s reaction, the various commentators, my sort of interaction with my editors, in particular, Mondli Makhanya, because of the Lady Justice one, described as a kind of contrapuntal way, in which he uses our telling of the story, I say something and Mondli, cuts to Mondli, cuts back to me. In a sense, that animates the cartoons in a different way. So I think that it works in this particular documentary. But yeah, I certainly like the idea of animating editorial cartoons as well.

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2024-10-12 11:43