“Kony 2012,’‘ the web documentary that launched a campaign to capture a brutal Ugandan warlord, has become the m

ost viral video in history. In one week, it earned more than 100 millions views and moved the American public to join efforts to stop Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, and bring him to justice. Kony and his army have been accused of abducting thousands of children in Uganda and forcing them to become child soldiers. Many were reportedly killed. But the film, created by the nonprofit group Invisible Children, has been criticized for distorting facts, simplifying a complex political situation, and promoting a condescending view of Africans. Many are also troubled by the filmmakers’ message that U.S. military intervention is the best way to halt Kony. That would involve the Ugandan government and rebel factions that have also committed crimes against citizens, according to critics. 

Todd Wolfson, an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Information who studies new media and social change, shared his views on “Kony’s’’ enormous appeal, its shortcomings, and its potential as model for other movements. Wolfson, who lived in Africa for six months, is co-founder of the Media Mobilizing Project, which aims to use mass communication to end poverty.

View "Kony 2012," a 30-minute documentary by Invisible Children

Rutgers Today: Why has the Kony video struck such a chord in the U.S.?

Wolfson: It plays on our emotions in much the same way as the Save the Children commercials, where you see these white middle-class people, usually women, filmed with the camera focused upward and light shining behind them.  “Kony’’ uses a very similar strategy, though it goes beyond ‘let’s give a few dollars for some food’ and shifts that model to a more Occupy Wall Street moment. The technique is a call to white middle-class young people to realize the possibility of making change to what are really extreme conditions. When we see this image of supporters, it’s all white people. I really strain to see a person of color in that video.

Rutgers Today: What are your concerns about the way “Kony” is being used to rally the American public?

 

Wolfson: It deals with an extremely complex issue, where there are many victims and certainly a lot of forces at play, not just Kony: the Ugandan government, globally- financed capitalism, the acquisition of land, and Western consumption. People aren’t as willing to look at that. It feels like if you criticize the video, you’re saying you support child murderers and child soldiers – and no one does. But it’s easier to think “we’re white saviours who are helping these people who can’t do anything for themselves’’ than to try and understand the complicated lives and politics of people who live 5,000 miles away.

Rutgers Today: Do you think a film that presented some of same issues as “Kony,’’ but in a more nuanced way, would be successful?

Wolfson: I don’t think the vision of the filmmakers, or the goals of Invisible Children, which we may not agree with, precludes us from learning from this as a viral media text and figuring out how to use it in ways that we would feel more comfortable with. The question might be how do you create a viral video at Rutgers that starts a mass movement to address the deep poverty in New Brunswick or in other parts of the U.S.?   We should all be putting our heads to that.

Rutgers Today: How can other filmmakers promoting a cause duplicate “Kony’s’’ success?

Wolfson: We don’t know why viral media goes viral, but what we do know about “Kony’’ is that it was very well funded. One thing that is likely is that with a lot of funding, you can create a lot of knowhow and influence 20 celebrities to get people to move things along quite quickly. 

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NOTE: Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell hospitalized after public breakdown

Read Washington Post story here.