Watching the #FeesMustFall crisis unfold on TV has been like watching an intense, all consuming TV show where you just know that what you're seeing is so much more far reaching than what's happening in the moment. It's so huge right now but its impact will be even more so.
You can picture people talking about it in decades to come, history books reflecting it and you can already imagine the movies and shows that will follow, which is what's been happening to me as I've watched.
There are so many people involved and each of them has a story of their own. Their own families, their own beliefs, their own struggles, all wrapped up in this crash of change.
As I sat watching last night I pictured the TV show and imagined the characters who would be in it and the complexities of their relationships. What really sparked it for me was a seeing a policeman going up against a student which made me wonder... what if he doesn't believe in what's he doing? What if he believes what the students believe? - a very possible situation because how would a policeman pay for his children to go to university with such high fees?
The show would have to capture these many conflicts. The things we aren't seeing amidst the chaos of the protests.
These are some of the characters I imagine would be on the show:
- The Reverend whose son is protesting. (Based on
Reverend Frank Chikane) In real life he accepts his son's position but on the show there's another conflict: his son doesn't follow the same religion as him so there's a different clash between them.
- The SRC president who has a long-time romantic relationship which goes through a major test when she discovers that his parents are on the other side of the fight. Where do his loyalties
really lie?
- The university lecturer who believes in the student's cause but isn't allowed to express it. What do they do? They resign. And?
- The student who isn't a leader or notable for any other reason but who gets 100% involved to the point of getting arrested.
- A student who has extremely wealthy parents suddenly disowns his parents' money and doesn't have any as a result. How does he survive as the protests unfold?
There are characters in every face we see in the crowd.
Of course the show would need to address what the students are saying and why and how they're saying it. It would need to H.E.A.R. them and not just listen. It would need to explore what their emotionally charged protest means on a grand and national scale and it would need to draw conclusions as every good show must.
Because it would be made in the future, the writers would have the advantage of hindsight and would know what's to come. They'd know the impact and would have to share a point of view about how things turned out.
Which we can't see or know now, which is why the show could only happen in years to come. I'm absolutely convinced it's going to happen... my guess is in 10 years. The title would have to be #FeesMustFall. I've tried thinking of others but nothing else encapsulates things as well. The only other alternative would be something that represents how things end.