CULTURAL PROMOTION AND IMAGE PORTRAYAL IN THE NIGERIAN MOVIES
CULTURAL PROMOTION AND IMAGE PORTRAYAL IN THE NIGERIAN MOVIES
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Date
2007
Authors
IHECHI NWOGU, LINDA
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Abstract
Entertainment has been one of the vibrant outfits that sustain man and
add to his longevity because it plays a very vital role on his psyche. It is
generally accepted that the western nations are dominating the entertainment
sector in the entire media practice today. Therefore, the need to project Nigeria
in the entertainment sector gave rise to the Nigerian Home Movie Industry. The
Nigerian Home Movie Industry is nationalistic, a movement that tries to challenge
the influx and the influence of foreign culture through foreign movies on
Nigerians. Through the movies Nigerians are educated on their indigenous
culture as against the foreign culture represented and promoted globally. Several
misconceptions about Nigerians are also corrected.
Though Nigerian culture is being promoted, there are still mounting
challenges, as the image of Nigeria is being represented positively and at the
same time negatively. The problem has to do with local hegemony in form of the
money bags who determine what the thematic thrust of each movie made will
be. Consequently these persons engage in making movies that are violent, full of
crime, obscene behaviours, and movies that encourage behavioral decadence. At
the climax of the control of these overlords, there came up what is called
alternative hegemony, a struggle by some positive - minded Nigerians to counter
the repeated show of crime with movies that are worthwhile and which promote
morals.
The focus of this study is to project the hegemonic activities of the Home Movie
practitioners in the business of film making. The study takes a closer look at the
ways the image of Nigeria is represented and the impact of such representation
on Nigerians and the general public, using four Nigerian movies, namely, “Dons
in Abuja,” “Hot Girls,” “The Peace Maker” and “The Price”. “Dons in Abuja”, and
“Hot Girls” stand for negative image portrayal while “The Peace Maker” and “The
Price” stand for positive image portrayal. The objective of this study is to
recommend ways of using the Nigerian Home movies as a tool for identity
promotion and image laundering for Nigerians in the effort towards national
development.
The study adopted various tools in the collection of data; library research
on work previously done on areas related to the study. It used for its information
materials both in audio - visual and live interviews. The study reveals that the
motion picture is one of the fastest and one of the most viable ways of exporting
culture for economic gains. It also observes that the Nigerian movies have not
succeeded in promoting the culture and image of Nigeria as a result of local
hegemony on the side of the practitioners. Most importantly, the study reveals
that the movie practitioners are more concerned with enriching their pockets,
relegating to the background the cultural implication of such representation.
Therefore, it suggests that movie - making for image laundering should not be
left in the hands of individual producers but should be sponsored and controlled
by government and philanthropic Nigerians who have the development of the
country in mind.
The study establishes that hegemony taken from a positive light can be
adopted in making good image portrayal to be the dominant and controlling
feature in every movie made in Nigeria as against the dominant and controlling
negative image portrayal.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the Postgraduate School, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria,
Nigeria in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of a Master of
Arts (M.A.) Degree in Development Communication, Department of Theatre and
Performing Arts Faculty of Arts Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria.
2007
Keywords
CULTURAL,, PROMOTION,, IMAGE,, PORTRAYAL,, NIGERIAN MOVIES