The film, “Finding Fanon 2” utilizes the Grand Theft Auto 5 in-game video editor to interpret Frantz Fanon’s lost plays. Frantz Fanon was a politically radical humanist whose practice dealt with the psychopathology of colonization and the social and cultural consequences of decolonization. The movie starts off with two men; one black, one white, dressed in identical brown suits, with white shirts and ties. The men are falling from the sky, into a new world where they are completely equal. They land on opposite sides of the island, to which they then search for each other and begin their journey across the island. Throughout the entire film, the narrator begins what seems to be reading a manuscript of one of Fanon’s lost plays.
Fanon spoke of equality, language, gender, race, religion, social formation and more. He wrote in academic journals and highly profound newspapers where he shared his radical vision of anti-colonial struggle and decolonization for his readers globally. This short film takes his views and puts it into the perspective of the struggle for equality. The two men are equal, identical in almost every way except skin color and their struggle to formulate and continue their friendship in their new virtual world.
Using this virtual world, based upon Grand Theft Auto 5 game play, allows viewers to see the long journey both the characters took to find each other and then travel throughout the map. These visuals are accompanied with a consistent wind sound in the background to give an eerie feel that grasps the viewers attention to not only pay attention to the visuals but listen to the narrator as well.
The visuals show the different ups and downs that the men face. First through falling out of the sky, then to walking through the abandoned city in order to find each other. It seems as though they are the only two like minded individuals in this new virtual world where they share a commonality with one another. Their travels go through different forms of terrain representing the challenges of society and the different battles Fanon was facing throughout his lifetime.
Other Source used: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/frantz-fanon/
Within The Mind of McGowan 