BY VICTOR OCHIENG’
In the evergreen play titled An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, a cautious character called Aslaksen keeps on admonishing others to proceed with moderation. In my own analysis, in case Dr.
Thomas Stockman would heed to this free piece of advice, the litany of miseries and misfortunes would not befall him. He believes in the dictum: the strongest man is the one who stands alone. But due to extreme stance, his sons Ejlief and Morten are expelled from school.
The daughter, Petra, and the friend Captain Horster are retrenched from their places of work. To add insult to injury, his window panes are shattered by the hubbub, and his black pair of favourite trousers are torn without a tad of clemency.
Dr. Stockman still holds the view that the strongest man is the one who stands alone, but this price expensive as a glory, is the one he has to pay for abject lack of moderation. Albeit, we cannot accuse him for paucity of modesty or scarcity of morality.
That happened in one of the Scandinavian countries in the distant past. Being that Literature is the mirror of the society, which focuses on past, present and future – during this ill-fated season that we are battling with the Covid-19 contagion, we have witnessed a lot of drama among artistes.
As we talk about first, second, third, and even fourth wave of this pandemic in Kenya, there is call for everyone to go for the jab. People are encouraged to go for the vaccination to curb the spread of this virulent virus. This is in order. Though, I think that some of our artistes also need the jab of modesty and moderation.
Let us help some of our comedians who are ready to walk stark-naked just in the bid to court cheap fame and mammoth following. Also, some musicians should be helped before they destroy themselves.
One musician’s exuberant dancing style has left heads spinning, tongues wagging and mouths drooling. Sometimes, he rolls in mud like a mad man.
And sometimes, he climbs tree trunks and mounts on domestic animals with the agility of a cobra – which makes the sane and sober members of the public think of the frenzy of baboons and mischiefs of monkeys.
In the wake of the drama, Dr. Ezekiel Mutua, Chief Executive of Kenya Films Classification commented on his twitter handle:
“I have a feeling that the musician is a danger to himself and that his fans could be cheering him to self-destruction. Is this style sustainable? Is it even sane? Unless he is super human, this guy will hurt himself. Someone please stop him.”
Recently, a video went viral. It was the same musicia at it again. He was dancing beyond skeletal limits in one of the clubs in the City in the Sun. It was normal tune.
This time round, the musician full of energy and enthusiasm crossed the Rubicon. The video going round is obscene. It is not good for consumption. It is rife with shame. For in it, the man is canoodling a lady in the full glare of the cameras taken by his fans in the scene. It is what prompted Dr. Ezekiel Mutua to comment again on the social site, “… that’s gross. You have crossed the line.”
Personally, on this, and many more, I support Dr. Ezekiel Mutua. For he has been on the forefront, fighting gallantly to restore sanity in the world of entertainment. Be it music, be it film production, or matters stand up comedy, the artistes must adhere to moral standards. For the art to sell or appeal to the consumers, it must not be dirty.
The time is ripe, for our artistes to know that it is advisable to go beyond entertainment and focus on edutainment – they should churn out forms of entertainment that are educative. That is what will make them produce classic work that can appeal to all and sundry, and also, withstand the test of time.
As a literature scholar, I know why those who loathe modesty have given Dr. Ezekiel Mutua all forms of monikers as a form of mockery. Of course, some call him Moral Police. While others call him Deputy Jesus. In the whole scheme of things, he is just doing his job. That of ensuring that any form of entertainment adheres to moral standards. This is in line with Moral Theory used to judge artistic work.
Basically, every form of art like music, should be good and aesthetic. To say that the work is morally good or has puissant influence on people so as to make them morally better, is another thing.
Though these two kinds of judgements diverge at a certain point, pundits posit that they are not entirely unrelated. But the bottom line is, every form of art must glorify values, but vilify vices. Our music must be full of moral rectitude.
Our content must be clean. We must protect the young generation from dirty content that can corrupt their minds. For in their blessed ignorance, identity crisis and identity moratorium, they don’t know how to the maize from the chaff.
The writer is an orator and author. vochieng.90@gmail.com
