In the film, The Gods Must Be Crazy, the Bushman people exist peacefully in the
Kalahari Desert. Because they are in such a different environment than us, they carry
different emphasis on their values, beliefs, and material culture than ourselves.
  When the cola bottle was tossed down from the sky, the Bushman thought the gods had sent it to them as some form of present or representation of themselves. They had never seen or heard of anything like it before, so they acted like children would in deciphering its purpose. First puzzled, then intrigued; they used it in place of tree limbs and typical Bushman tools. Due to its exceptionally useful nature, fighting began over who should get to use it. This tore apart families and friendships. Because it had such a great effect on the people, Xi decided it was his duty to get rid of the Evil Object. He wanted to be rid of it because of family values. The Bushman people were friendly, open, and sharing people, between families and friends in the village. A strong emphasis on this value is recognized because of the want to get rid of the bottle.
  

The Bushman society also has explicitly different beliefs than the “heavy men” do. We place a strong emphasis on being better and more advanced than everyone else is. The peaceful Bushman peoples take only what they need from the land and its resources. When they shoot an animal to take its life for their own, they apologize and offer up prayers for the creature’s life they are taking. They make their best efforts to make due with what they have an adapt.

  
Bushman’s material culture is the exact opposite of our own. We place an unnecessary emphasis on looking good, having the most money, and being better than as many people as we can. Xi and his people do not have very many material objects. They wear minimal amounts of clothing, as they don’t have any taboos on nudity or any sort of “degrading” behavior. The culture is more focused on intangible values and expressions, as opposed to our society, whom is in love with itself and needs to show off and boast about how wonderful it is.

  
The Bushman society varies greatly from us in almost every aspect possible. Such actions as these are amazing to see when we are used to thinking that living in such a way is abhorrent or inhuman.

Make your own free website on Tripod.com