Do you want to go to Africa?

I went on a business trip to South Africa before Christmas and brought many Christmas gifts back to Shanghai. The children's uncles, aunts and cousins in South Africa are worried that they will forget Africa, so the gifts include camping clothes from South Africa, wooden wild animals and a copy of Tippy: My Book of Africa.

I remember when I left South Africa more than a year ago, I went to the bookstore in Cape Town to find some African books for my children and brought them back to Shanghai. I saw this book. A little girl with blond hair, blue eyes and white skin, half naked, wearing an animal skin skirt, climbed on the elephant's head, rode on the elephant's body, leaned on the ostrich's back, stood on dead branches, knelt on a big stone, walked in the desert, stroking the little leopard's head and let the little crocodile climb over her hand ... At that time, she didn't buy this book, but bought several African animal encyclopedias, because she felt that the little girl was really close to nature and wildlife. Of course, I didn't mean to blame the little girl at all. I thought: how can there be such parents!

My son is an animal fan. Other little boys like cars and transformers. My son likes animals. Those encyclopedic animal encyclopedias are always in his arms and on his pillow. He can name all kinds of animals in Africa, and he can distinguish the different horns and characteristics of more than a dozen African antelopes. However, Tippy's African story failed to catch his eye, and he was no longer interested after turning it over twice. He likes real animal pictures, those without artistic treatment.

So, I was the only one in my family who read Tippy's words through, which also confirmed my original "artificial" evaluation. Please see: "My name is Tippy, and I'm African." "Wild animals are like brothers to me, which is normal. I grew up with them, and African wildlife was my initial playmate. " "My talent is to communicate with animals, not all animals. I can only communicate with wild animals in Africa. I talk to them with my head, my eyes, my heart and my soul. I know they can understand me and answer me. " "People often call me Xiao Tai Shan's sister, because Xiao Tai Shan is wild and I am wild. All the other little girls I know are domestic workers except me. I am wild because I live in Africa, far from the city, and because wild animals are my family. "

Internet search shows that Tippy is very famous. Although Zhenren 18 years old is attending a university in Paris, the "Little Mount Tai" created by her parents is envied and expected by children all over the world. Just look at the posts of domestic netizens and you will know: the real jungle princess! The spirit of nature! Beautiful photos! So free to live in nature! How envious! How cool!

In fact, we don't need envy at all, and we don't need to be cool. We take our children to the safari park in Nanhui. When the park is just opened or closed, when there are few tourists, we can get the same effect by letting the children undress and hug the elephant. Yes, Tippy's elephant brother Abu has long been tamed. He used to be the star of American circus, and also appeared in several movies and advertisements. When Tippy met him, he had just finished playing the movie "White Hunter with Black Heart" in Eastwood 1990, which was no different from the elephant photographed in Shanghai Wildlife Park. Tippy's other animal playmates are all raised by humans and live on farms, including ostriches and leopards, without exception.

There is no denying that Tippy was born in Namibia. She and her parents do live in tents and shoot wild animals. However, everyone who has lived in Africa knows that wild animals can't be played near at a distance, fearing that they are the minimum respect. Let a five or six-year-old girl perform with animals in front of the camera, which really looks like being in a deserted wasteland, which is more melodramatic.

In fact, many outsiders have lived in Africa for a long time and want to be a part of Africa. Some people are willing to let Africa be deeply planted under their own skin, hate it with the pain of love, shed blood and tears for it, and create shocking works, such as Lessing and Coetzee. More people just flirt with African tunes. Flirting is irrelevant and irresponsible. Flirting is superficial and curious. Just like the photographer's parents, Tippy's face and body must be painted dirty when playing with black children. Don't they know that mama africa loves cleanliness? Their children have to change starched clothes every day, which is the pride and pride of their mothers and Africans.

Of course, there are also many flirting people, including flirting photographers and writers, as well as a group of flirting fans and readers. When I was in South Africa, I once visited a friend's house, and the hostess took out a luxurious photo album from the bookcase and showed it to me. On the left of the cover is a well-dressed African girl, and on the right is a white woman with a camera, reaching out as if to brush the dust off the girl's face or arrange jewelry for her. In big letters, the cover reads: African Scenes: Diary of an African photographer by Mirella Ricciardi. The hostess said that this book was bought for her by her husband from Nairobi airport, and it was her favorite book, so she didn't want to put it outside, and only special guests would show it to others. Several guests next to her leaned in and sighed and said they liked it very much. One Africa that said she had disappeared was the first edition 197 1.

Ricatti can be regarded as an internationally renowned photographer. Africa in that book is really beautiful. Let me give you two examples: a group of fishermen came here, and their naked bodybuilding was far better than any Hollywood movie star in the gym. When they go fishing in the sea, they will not forget the headdress, neck ornaments and waist ornaments of the tribe. Of course, everyone takes a few huge and fresh fish; Half-naked girls walk in the camel team with huge round baskets on their heads, and their pace is more vigorous than that of supermodels. This book is a "diary", which records the photographer's experience in Africa for 30 years. There are scenes from the film crew of Out of Africa, and photos of her daughter half-naked with wild animals. Like Tippy's parents, flirts always express their complete return to nature through their children.

But the more I look at it, the more I think it's not Africa. What I couldn't get rid of at that time was a very vicious idea: this is the lens of European colonists! Of course, the housewives who visited other people's homes and sat with others at that time were all fans of Riccati, and the idea was finally suppressed in their throats. Ricatti was born in British Kenya. Her father is Italian and her mother is French. She grew up near Naivasha Lake, and her home is exquisite and wild. These two words really sum up the African complex of many white Europeans: they want to be close to Africa and separated by a layer of distance. Wild is full of wildness, African, but too European, exquisite, perfect, elegant and comfortable. I dare say that Ricatti's lovely daughters always take a hot bath full of bubbles before going to bed at night after falling and climbing wild animals. Their beds must be covered with soft blankets, and their white sheets must be ironed without a wrinkle by their African nanny.

Of course, Tippy's parents and Riccati are the same generation. They may not be as exquisite and perfect as the old colonial style, but all flirting affections come down in one continuous line.