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I agree 100%. I don't know what show they watched. He had a diverse set of segments. I suppose he didn't do a full expose on a wealthy eatery's cuisine but he went to nightclubs and spoke to some heavy hitters.
That is the point. He spoke to wealthy people but we didn't see what high end Nigerian food is.
Normally but when he goes to black countries he seems compelled to show the poverty. He was in Haiti several years ago and spent all show in shelters built for victims of the earthquake, showing people cooking om charcoal. We never got a real showing of Haitian culture. In Jamaica he dwells in the ghettoes of Kingston.
I think that he fears he will be seen as racist if he shows how the better off live. Interestingly enough many of these better off happen to be black.
He does that in all of his shows. Vietnam, Korea, Uzbekistan, Dubai, Baltimore, all of them. He likes to go to where 'the regular people' go.
He's always done that.
This is the first thread where I've ever heard otherwise...and he's never been a 'hotty totty, find the wealthy people place, get a little kickback for sharing the info to other wealthy people' kind of person.
Abu Dhabi and the other emirates have oil, but not Dubai.
Dubai has some, but only a fraction of Abu Dhabi’s. The other emirates have even less or nothing. Still, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are both part of the same country.
Dubai has some, but only a fraction of Abu Dhabi’s. The other emirates have even less or nothing. Still, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are both part of the same country.
95% of Dubai's economy is not petroleum based. My point is that those fancy skyscrapers were built with money from other sources.
I remember a feeling of But what about the rest? when I viewed one episode on Ghana, one on Kenya, one on South Africa. Each episode seemed lopsided. Would have been far more interesting to see at least three strata within a country. Not just one. I don't get a chance to watch Anthony's every episode but what I've seen over the years is an odd focus on poverty, or anyway what u.s. citizens would call poverty. How about showing poverty, a step up from poverty, and two or more steps up from that. All of it is real. Most countries he visits - they have a least a three tier dynamic - so let's see it. Even if the suits say No! I'd think Bourdain surely has some pull by now so why doesn't he exercise it more?
The problem isn't that he showed poverty. I love Anthony Bourdain and how he always goes to the tough areas. The problem is that when talking about Lagos and Africa as a whole, at least in western (American/UK mostly) documentaries. The most famous places are often the poorest of a generally poor place. While look at the famous places of NYC for example their is Harlem but are there any specific Bronx neighborhoods that are poor today, do most people think Brownsville when they think NYC? The problem starts when Lagos, one of the wealthiest cities on the continent (Only 20 million people but the 5th biggest economy in Africa if it was a city-state and is expected to be the third after Egypt and Nigeria itself by 2020) has Maroko as the most popular neighborhood to visit when in Nigeria itself it is a little bit more than a footnote to the average Nigerian. Ikoyi, Lekki Victoria Island wealth is never shown except to talk about Eko Atlantic Project. Lekki alone is hard to find in many cities (half a million plus people mostly living in American sized middle class houses. I mean those areas don't look impressive but when you have people going to a rundown apartment near Victoria Island and acting like it is representative of the average household living in those neighborhoods and calling it "middle class" when half of the apartment dwellers don't even have electricity is disappointing. I don't expect you to focus on the million to two million doing well when 19 million are struggling but their going to the poorest of the poor or going to a depressed area/ apartment surrounded by actual middle class people and calling it middle class.
The problem isn't Anthony Bourdain as he is doing his shtick, the problem is that he is like the 5th person to show Maroko. He is like the fifth person to never actually show the Lekki-Victoria Island-Lagos Island- Ikoyi part of Lagos that is continuously ignored.
It's like making a documentary on New York City and never stepping a foot or even showing a picture towards Manhattan although that is likely were your hotel is located.
I say more balance is needed in his shows. A bit of a broader, more inclusive, view would make his work even better than it is now. Maybe he doesn't see this. Or maybe he does see it and a decision has been made to still keep representing places they way they've pretty much always been representing places. Could be they are biased or it could be the old "don't mess with success" mantra. Could be both.
Normally but when he goes to black countries he seems compelled to show the poverty. He was in Haiti several years ago and spent all show in shelters built for victims of the earthquake, showing people cooking om charcoal. We never got a real showing of Haitian culture. In Jamaica he dwells in the ghettoes of Kingston.
I think that he fears he will be seen as racist if he shows how the better off live. Interestingly enough many of these better off happen to be black.
In Shanghai, he did the opposite where he only showed rich people stuff, I wonder if that has to do with China's authoritarian government.
I say more balance is needed in his shows. A bit of a broader, more inclusive, view would make his work even better than it is now. Maybe he doesn't see this. Or maybe he does see it and a decision has been made to still keep representing places they way they've pretty much always been representing places. Could be they are biased or it could be the old "don't mess with success" mantra. Could be both.
Compared to other episodes I wouldn't say the Lagos episode is necessarily more lopsided or poverty focused. He also ignored the glitzy parts of Houston when he visited. The "ghetto on water" - sorry I forgot the name - looks pretty cool and makes for much better television than another upper middle class suburb.
Parts Unknown is also a much less food centric show so I wouldn't expect him to focus on high end Nigerian cuisine here anyway.
IT certainly should but oil wealth in Nigeria isn't enough to see changes for 200 million people. A place with only 3 million like Abuja can be built on government wealth which is funded by Oil region, Abuja taxes and Lagos taxes etcetera (Rest of the country has terrible tax system so essentially have no real tax revenue). You can't support a country that big on 20-40 billion dollars of oil money. Maybe when oil peaks again and oil is closer to 100 dollars you'll see a 100 billion dollars from oil money a year but even then Nigeria needs a a trillion dollar economy to really do anything that looks substantially modern uniformally across the nation. Most of that money is split with oil companies and even without corruption what will 10-30 billion get you? A modern highway system? A few modernish areas in each major city? It wouldn't change Nigeria at all when we are talking 100-200 dollars per person on infrastructure spending. In Dubai with ten million people a 80-160 billion dollar economy can support the entire country. The same money made from oil as Dubai with no corruption would still leave most of Nigeria besides PHC (and surrounding cities), Lagos and Abuja looking no different from before as most of the country has so much work to be done to even get as advanced as Lagos and Abuja.
Pretty much , ive been to nigeria 4 times so far and PHC,Lagos, and Abuja are decades ahead of most of the other states in nigeria (you can even add Calabar ) ,i hope things turn around but things wont change unless the corruption in govt and upper positions are at least cleared out
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