Christiana Awuni,Ghanaian actress
Ghanaian actress Christiana Awuni has defended the use of abusive language in Kumawood movies, saying “it is part of our everyday speech” as Ghanaians.
Kumawood movies are done in Twi have been criticised for the use of intemperate language which, according to critics, corrupts children.
But Ms Awuni, speaking on Entertainment Capital on Accra100.5FM on Saturday 4 March, said she found nothing wrong with the use of insults as they make the movies more real.
“We’ll insult because insults are a part of the language and that cannot change,” she told show host Bismark Boachie, popularly known as DJ Premier.
According to her, because of the misinterpretations many Twi words are liable to, the language risks being adulterated.
“When you say ‘meko didi’ (I’m going to eat), people say mind your language or when you say…fa hy? mu (put it inside), people get offended. But that is the Twi language. How else should we say it?” she quizzed, adding: “An insult is when someone uses such a word as ‘kwasea’ (fool),” she explained.
She noted that in everyday life in Ghana, when two people fight, they verbally abuse and rain insults on each other. So in an attempt to make their movies as real as possible, they do not use veiled language, especially when a scene demands that they insult.
According to her, critics do not see anything wrong with insults in English language movies, including Ghanaian movies in which only English is spoken, but take offence when same happens in Twi movies.
“It is our language and we can’t change it. The insults are not a problem,” she reiterated.
She debunked the assertion that children pick up insults from watching the local movies, for which reason Kumawood movies are a negative influence on children. She argued that improper conduct results from poor upbringing at home.
“Children even without watching movies insult all the time. They learn from home. I know a village without electricity so the children do not watch movies, but they can insult. So where did they learn it from? It is not the movies, it’s about how they are brought up in their homes,” Awuni argued.
According to her, concern should shift from insults in Kumawood films to English-speaking Ghanaian movies which are fast degenerating into soft porn.
