Shuga drama made by MTV and backed by Unicef catches imagination of
young Africans
Sarah Boseley, health editor
Tuesday July 20 2010
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/20/shuga-aids-soap-africa-mtv
"It's the story of bright lives, entwining and colliding. It's the
story of morning afters and sweet departures ? and the indelible marks
we leave on each other."
That's how MTV describes Shuga, a three-part drama about the lives of
a group of students in Nairobi, Kenya, who play with cars and lovers
and above all, risk. It's a gripping three-part story, of sex,
ambition, hopes and fears and was shown all over Africa towards the
end of last year to packed halls. What MTV and its heavyweight and
highly serious backers, Unicef and Pepfar (the US President's
Emergency Plan for Aids Relief) could not know until now was whether
the fate of Ayira, the modern girl who wants it all ? including her
long-time love and an older man ? and her friends would have any
impact on its young audience after the credits had faded. Shuga and
two other dramas, made for Caribbean audiences and the Ukraine, are
soaps that their makers hope can save lives.
Unicef and Pepfar worked out priority messages to get across to young
people through the story, about having multiple sexual partners, about
the need to get tested for HIV, and about stigma. The messages were,
said Georgia Arnold of MTV, who pioneered the channel's Staying Alive
[http://www.staying-alive.org/en/" title="] shows more than a decade
ago, "almost subliminal". But the good news is that it seems to have
worked.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore were asked to
assess the impact of Shuga and of Tribes, the drama made in Trinidad
and Tobago, which were at the heart of what MTV calls its Ignite
campaign, involving social networking, counselling and testing linked
to organised screenings for people without TVs in the home.
Tribes did reasonably well: it was seen by 8% of the youth of the
country. But Shuga took Kenya by storm. A survey found that 60% of
Kenyan youth had seen it and they knew the main messages from the show
and could identify the lessons to be learned.
Almost 50% of groups of viewers who were interviewed talked about the
characters and the messages with close friends, but also with family
and acquaintances ? although only 15% talked about them with a
partner. More than 90% of the Kenyans and 50-60% of a panel of young
Zambians said they believed the show had an impact on their thinking.
Nobody knows whether a single viewer did anything differently. But all
the evidence says that the more people think about it and talk about
it, the more likely they are to opt for safer sexual behaviour, such
as using condoms and having only one partner at a time.
Shuga works because young people identify with the characters, says
Arnold. "They are great, sexy, passionate actors and actresses and
people clicked with them. The aim was to make a really good drama that
people would watch. There's always going to be a didactic element, but
you can make it in a way that it seeps to the back of the brain," she
said.
It's something MTV is well equipped to do. "We understand young people
and we are in their space," she said.
The show is very sexy but careful not to be too explicit: underwear
rather than nudity, writhing rather than body parts. But many of the
85 broadcasters in more than 100 territories to whom MTV gave Shuga
still opted for a slightly censored, what Arnold calls "pre-
watershed", version. But she doesn't think a young audience seeing the
uncut Shuga would be shocked. It reflects their reality, she believes.
"You have to be able to show sex. The likelihood is they are having
sex themselves," she said.
"There's so much hypocrisy. You see the magazines with the girls
wearing very, very little and that is OK, but if you put it on TV, you
have gone too far."
Eric Goosby, who heads Pepfar, said "there was a sense of challenge in
bringing together public health experts and creative talent to create
something that was both scientifically accurate and having a 'cool
factor'." Pepfar and Unicef, as well as providing technical help,
worked on gaining commitments from the Kenyan government: "The
relationship with the Kenyan government was particularly important
because of the sensitive nature of the content."
Shuga was "a compelling and aspirational story", he said. "And I think
it's universally appealing. It resonated with young kids in Baltimore,
where we screened it, as well as young people from rural Kenya. It is
also an empowering depiction of young women, and addresses some of
their unique vulnerabilities. In light of the devastating impact of
HIV on women and girls, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, we must
ensure that HIV prevention activities specifically address their
heightened risk, and explicitly work to improve their health
outcomes."
Jimmy Kolker, head of HIV/Aids at Unicef, said there was a real need
to reach adolescents and young people, which had made Shuga "a very
attractive proposition for Unicef." There had been concerns and there
were a few uncomfortable things for the UN children's agency along the
way, but "I thought it had to be realistic", he said.
Kolker was at the premiere in Nairobi and saw how young people loved
it. "What was even more important was that it got a buzz," he said.
"Kids themselves were using social networks, particularly SMS, to talk
about it. It certainly didn't need Unicef to promote it."
The research from Johns Hopkins has confirmed what MTV, Unicef and
Pepfar hoped from this type of docu-drama: Shuga 2 is now being
planned.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2010
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
No comments:
Post a Comment