YOUTH AT THE HELM: THE YOUTHFUL PROTAGONISTS IN DISNEY'S KIZAZI MOTO AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR AFRICAN ANIMATION

 

In recent times, there has been a shift in the way in which the fabric of society is shaped.

Moving away from a lot of analogue and old era traditions and beliefs. Often referred to as stepping into the digital or "social media" age, where information is accessible and the youthful population is gaining empowerment at early ages and confronting the norms of society.

So, how about turning this through a lens towards animation? Especially when we focus on Africa?

Not sure, if you were keen to notice, but in almost every episode of Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, the protagonist is young. Yup. Young. 

Sometimes a rebel, sometimes a visionary, often both. 

True to the shifts that are occurring in society, they live in worlds layered with technology, haunted by ancestors, and pulsing with transformation. The characters, delve into some of the aspects that are there in the future, to the question of, "how would African youth, look like, if they were fused into an uninterrupted African society, able to harness their African traditional culture, while being globally resonant?"

These aren’t just fictional characters, they are reflections of the real African youth navigating a fast-changing continent today between their African traditional culture and the push and pull of their culture fitting in the modern world.

From the streets of Lagos to the metaverse of Nairobi, the youth of Africa are not just participating in the future, they’re building it.

Afrofuturism, as seen in Kizazi Moto, offers the perfect canvas for that evolution.

But the question we now ask is:

As youth take center stage in storytelling and story-making, what new image of Africa is emerging?

And what does this mean for how African youth are represented, not just on screen, but in the animation industry itself?

Protagonists Who Mirror the Moment

Afrofuturism has long been about reclaiming identity and imagining freedom. In Kizazi Moto, this takes on a fresh energy, filtered through the lens of youth, urgency, and the digital age.

So why the young protagonists?

From a storytelling perspective, a young protagonists offers a dynamic platform to explore the arcs of characters through various particular themes that offer the need for revolution, change and a coming of age that reflects the genre of Afrofuturism which reflects the ability to gain a stronger footing in a new age.

Additionally, youth are often at a stage in their life, where they are forming a sense of their identity as well as gaining their path in life. This symbolically represents Africa as a "youth" navigating it's independence to gain it's footing in African animation.

A few examples of this include:

You Give Me Heart – Love in the Tech Age

The protagonist is a young inventor navigating biometric emotions, heartbreak, and digital reputation. Nothing says "digital age" quite like the phenomenon of social media validation while trying to find love through it. 

He’s emotionally literate, creatively ambitious, and trapped in a tech system he’s too smart to believe in, but still caught by.

This is the urban African youth, who are coding by day, dreaming by night, resisting quietly.

Mkhuzi: The Spirit Racer – Resistance Behind the Wheel

A street-smart boy races against oppressive corporate overlords in a city where community resistance is hidden in plain sight. All this while still trying to be accepted as part of his heritage, although having been born different.

Here, youth is shown as politically aware, deeply local, and incredibly resourceful.

Surf Sangoma – Spiritual Rebellion

The young protagonist here struggles with the weight of tradition and a personal desire to surf, not metaphorically, but literally. His calling is spiritual, but his dream is modern.

Youth here is a bridge, between ancestral duty and personal freedom. 

As African animation looks to take shape, we can see that African youth as protagonists in Afrofuturism, are shaping a way in which, larger themes in coming-of-age archetypes can represent, but it only begs the question, what other aspects can be delve into with the diverse traditional African cultures, further explore?

Born in the Digital Age, Rooted in the Ancestors

African youth today are digital natives and cultural inheritors. Their eyes in African society, reflect having experienced a place and time in Africa, where freedom of speech, opposing norms and even creating new movements, is seen or accepted as a growth of society moving forward and hardly seen as defiance like previous moments of African's history.

However, they may be fluent in memes and AI, but they also carry oral histories, family rituals, and generational trauma, from the past. As Rafiki from Lion King said, "you can either learn from the past or run from the past".

Therefore, African youth are charged with being shapers of the future with their new insight and experiences that the older generation did not have the privilege of having. The protagonists in Kizazi Moto reflect this duality:

- They don’t abandon ancestry, they reinterpret it.

- They don’t reject tech, they repurpose it.

- They don’t run from complexity, they embody it.

This is where Afrofuturism thrives, it allows youth to be both creators and inheritors, refusing the idea that being modern means forgetting where you come from.

From a creative and animation perspective, this influence on the African youth offers a lot more depth towards our young protagonists, as their stories, are not only abut advancing but also forces the protagonists to be either accepting or rejecting of what the future holds.

I know, it sounds ironic, but this isn't about creating enemies or causing animosity, it is about reflecting the spectrum of characters and their motives in the face of change, and how the phenomenon of social change, is never easy or straight forward. It also forces creators to pose questions to the audience allowing them to reflect on what can be accepted and what should be rejected in terms of forging a path forward for society, and in this case, African animation. 

Youth Representation Is Youth Reclamation

Historically, African youth have often been reduced to statistics, which comprise of being unemployed, radicalized, overpopulated or disempowered. As mentioned before, youth is a phase of various changes, which are sometimes ignored for tantrums or hormonal ups and downs.

But in Kizazi Moto, they provide a chance for the voice of the youth of Africa to be explored, in terms of how they can be seen in other lights. Given the Afrofuturism genre focuses on the technological elements, it helps to show more. They’re problem solvers, spiritual seekers, freedom fighters, inventors and philosophers

This shift in representation is not just symbolic, it’s generational empowerment. To see young African characters shaping entire worlds is to tell young African audiences that the future is awaiting your voice and your new insights in a world where you know the best about today's world, and having the backing of the society's guidance.

Behind the Scenes: Young Creators, New Language

It’s not just the characters that are young. The creators behind Kizazi Moto represent a rising generation of African animators, storytellers, and visual innovators, many under 40, many building studios, collectives, and IP from scratch.

This is changing the tone and texture of African animation in real time:

- Language: Local slang, code-switching, and youth dialects appear naturally.

- Aesthetic: Influences from anime, gaming, TikTok, graffiti, Afropop.

- Perspective: Youth struggle isn’t glamorized or dismissed, it’s complex, and it’s the story.

What’s emerging is a new language of African animation. One shaped by youth for youth, but wise beyond its years.

The Bigger Picture: A New Look at Africa

So what does this embrace of youth mean for the future of how Africa is imagined?

From the animation and creative perspective, the use of youthful protagonists in the Afrofuturism genre or African animation in general, offer a way in which we can define or even redefine, the way, the youth can be reflected in stories, but also more importantly, how youth become or developed in stories to reflect an authentic and progressive African animation landscape.

As African animation continues to try and define itself in the larger animation world, it needs to know what their characters represent, not in a mainstream perspective, but in terms of how it their offer a new fresh angle to the kind of depth to they can offer. It isn't simply about African youth getting to talk about their growing pains in their growth stages, but also about creating cultural resonance to the local continent and the global audience, with the diverse context of traditional cultures and bringing them to the animation world.

It means Africa is no longer just old kingdoms, wise elders, or suffering narratives. It is:

- Bold, messy, contradictory.

- Ready to glitch the system.

- Rooted in Ubuntu, but coded in Python.

- Dancing to amapiano while channeling ancestors.

This is a new chapter, and it’s being written by a generation that’s not waiting for permission.

Let’s Discuss

- Which youth character in Kizazi Moto did you resonate with most, and why?

- How do you see today’s African youth balancing tradition and modernity?

- If you’re a young creator, how are you claiming space in this storytelling revolution?

Drop your answers in the comments and tag someone creating Africa’s future right now.