God's Must Be Crazy

An Anthropological Glance at The Gods Must Be Crazy

1. In the film “The God’s Must Be Crazy” we see a contrast from the “civilized” world to that of the “non-civillized” world. What does civillized seem to mean in the film?
In the film civillized seems to mean modern life. It talks about how civillized man refused to adapt himself to his environment. Instead he adapted his environment to suit him. The civillization they are talking about is the cities, roads, vehicles, and machinery.
2. What statements/conclusions might an anthropologist who subscribes to cultural materialism make about the introduction of new technology to the society?
A cultural materialist believes that material factors are the starting point to understanding a culture. The Bushmen had little to no material or stuff to begin with so an anthropologist who subscribes to cultural materialism may find that it would be hard to introduce new technology into their society. Because they are so behind on technology as it is it would be very difficult for them to understand how to adjust to life with material they have never used before. They also examine music, free time, recreation, and the arts. They would notice that the Bushmen’s idea of those things would be very different than ours and they would react differently to things that we would consider music or recreation for example.
3. What statements/conclusions might an anthropologist who subscribes to functionalism make about the introduction of new technology to the society?
Functionalism looks at how society functions as a whole, and how all the parts of society work together. In the Kalahari desert everything and everyone worked well together; the Bushmen all worked together to operate their society. When the one bushman found the bottle of coke it caused an uproar in the society; at first they embraced the new technology, but later it caused an issue when people fought over it and it harmed the society. The Bushmen are minimalistic and wouldn’t be able to embrace new technology the way we could. The Bushmen would need enough for everyone so it doesn’t cause problems in their way of life, and the other societies would also need to be slowly introduced to the new technology so the balance of power is even (between government and citizens).

4. What statements/conclusions might an anthropologist who subscribes to structuralism make about the introduction of new technology to the society?

If an anthropologist who subscribes to structuralism were to talk about the existence of societies in the Kalahari desert and the introduction of new technology, they would only look at them as binary opposites. They would be considered as binary opposites because the Bushmen tribe does not know anything outside of their tribe knowledge that has been passed down through generations, meanwhile technology is always improving making people’s lives easier allowing them to be lazy in a sense. Another reason why one who subscribes to structuralism would conclude societies in the Kalahari tribe being a binary opposite to the introduction of new technology is because technology takes away people’s time, and the lack of technology gives the Bushmen freedom. The “civillized” people had a schedule where they did everything at a certain time and the Bushmen did what they wanted and had no sense of time besides day and night.

5. What were some of the benefits of change in this society?
A benefit of change in the society was when they got the coca cola bottle and it helped them get the majority of their daily jobs done. It was an efficient tool and it let them do things quicket and with more precision than before when they were just using wood and their own two hands.

6. What were some of the consequences of change in this society?

A consequence of change in the society was when they got the bottle and everybody began to fight over it. All of a sudden all the Bushmen were doing something that required the use of the bottle and then they all started to fight for it. When one person had it, another person needed it and if they didn’t get it right away it seemed as if they were jealous and then got upset with the other person. The change caused jealousy and conflicts within the society.

7. In your opinion was change a good thing? Justify your answer.
In my opinion change was not a good thing for the Bushmen because they were used to such a simple lifestyle and the change brought onto them caused them to stray from what they were used to for so long. The change caused them to be dependant on something that they never needed before. If they hadn’t have found the bottle they would not have known that they even needed something like that and they would have continued to do the same things that they were doing without it.