Behind the Facade of Image

I love watching movies. I especially like the ones set in a different era. This is because they allow me to picture how life was during a time many decades, or even centuries, before I was born. Being a writer, I am also fascinated by the story lines. I am amazed particularly by fiction writers who pen the scripts on which movies are based. However, I am not lost to the fact that these stories are just that, stories. Although some are quite realistic, many are far-fetched and I only watch them for the entertainment they provide.

Besides writers, I admire the actors who bring these stories to life. Talented actors make these stories appear extremely believable. I appreciate the many other people who are involved in the making of a single movie. The accolades that appear after most Hollywood movies require the playback of three of four songs just to scroll through. I am happy in the knowledge that one movie employs dozens of people, often for months on end.

 

The one thing in movies I don’t like is the fact that it’s all made up. Some of the streets from an 1880s western don’t even exist. What I could be seeing on screen are just painted cardboard facades propped up with poles from behind. Thanks to modern cinematography techniques, the actions and scenes appear real. Unfortunately, facades are no longer restricted to movie sets. People are nowadays living fake lives with many problems hidden under various props.

Collapsing Companies

In recent years, Kenyans have witnessed the collapse of big companies which had hitherto appeared to be doing well. Companies such as Uchumi supermarkets, Kenya Airways, and more recently, Nakumatt supermarkets, have undergone dire straits in periods immediately following ambitious growth and expansions. It is then obvious that these, and many other companies, are more concerned with image than actual financial well-being. It is doubly sad that most of the collapsing organisations are state and public owned making their poor performance widely felt.

Non-Performing Government

Still on public bodies, the government itself does not seem to be doing too well. The highly publicised and expensive projects conceal a not so glorious background. The government in unveiling grand projects such as the Standard Gauge Railway, does not reveal the level of indebtedness they have sunk us to. Neither does it reveal the decades’ long commitments that involve billions in debt recovery and interest that these projects entail. These payments will be made whether or not the project is profitable. In the name of image, we now have a brand new, debt funded, railway in addition to an old one which could not be run efficiently even though it had already been fully paid for.

Opportunist-Encumbered Opposition

The opposition, just like the government, is also sorely bothered by image. From where I sit, only one person in the opposition appears to have a vision for the country. The rest are merely riding the wave in the hope of crumbs of power falling into their blubber-endowed laps. These newly ordained angels have no qualms about pointing the ills ailing our country even though they were all sitting pretty in a dictatorial government until one Joshua came and plucked them out. They are convinced that if their personal image improves, then somehow that of the entire country will follow suit.

Social Media Relationships

It is possible in this day and age, to meet, date, marry, have children, grow old together, die, and get buried on Facebook. It is for this reason therefore that updating one’s social media status is as important as life itself. What a person is going through in real life is not as important as the image he or she portrays on Instagram. It’s all about image. A social media footprint is so critical even for companies and organisations that there is a new industry of people specialising in it.

Award Winning Parenting

Relationships between parents and children are no longer important. What is crucial is how external observers perceive them to be. Students becoming number one is more important than pursuing their passions in life. They can use any method to come out on top, including paying to see the questions upfront. The parents on their part are standing fully behind their ‘ambitious’ children to ensure that this objective is met. They are therefore ready, cheque books in hand, all set to bankroll the entire operation. After all, Image is everything.

Fashion Sense (or Lack Thereof)

When it comes to dressing, nothing is out of bounds, including nothing, as a form of fashion. Form-fitting curve-accentuating outfits are all the rage. It is all about appreciating your ‘strongholds’ by revealing them because after all, why did God give them to you. Fashion designers are not there just to fulfil a basic human need for clothing. They are required for a new kind of basic human need; the need for an image that stands out in the midst of ‘mediocrity’. I wonder what hides behind the facade of image.