1,720,965 research outputs found
From “Makers of Images” to Cineastes? Looking Critically at Festivals and Critics’ Reception of Nollywood
Full text linkAt its inception in the early 1990s, the Nollywood film movement did not attract a positive appraisal from most “learned” critics. Its non-conformist approach to filmmaking made most critics to associate it with the act of just “making images” as well as a lack of respect for cinema. Even major film festivals seemed “not friendly” to Nollywood films. Today, the quality of Nollywood films has remarkably improved even though much is still to be done. However, it remains important to examine if such improvement in quality has affected international film critics’ reception of Nollywood films. Using secondary sources and critical observations this author examines how Nollywood film criticism has evolved over these last years. The author focuses specifically on how the FESPACO and Cannes Festival have received Nollywood productions.
The Female Media Producer as an Advocate of Women’s Empowerment in Nigeria: The Cross River State Experience
No full textThis paper presents an investigation into Nigerian female journalists’ definition of their role vis-à-vis the two concepts of women’s empowerment/emancipation and feminism. It examines the level to which the country’s media and social environment are conducive to feminist journalistic expression. The paper argues that although a good number of female media producers in the country, demonstrate a strong adherence to feminism and women’s empowerment/emancipation, they are hindered from fully materialising their orientation. These hindering factors include, among others, patriarchal socio-professional fixations, weak female representation at decision-making levels in the media, and limited financial resources to create gender sensitive programmes
The Bible as Relic, Fetish or Talisman in Nollywood Films: A Semiotic Perspective
Full text linkMany Nollywood Christian films tap into a plurality of myths and idiosyncrasies prevailing in Nigeria in particular and the Christendom in general. Some of these myths and idiosyncrasies revolve around the perceived magical powers of the Bible, particularly the Holy Book’s ability to neutralize or prevent the designs of paranormal and satanic entities. In line with such Christian myths, many Nollywood Christianity-based films deploy various typologies of artifacts, signs and special effects to represent the Bible as an object which is more than a mere carrier of holy scriptures and the voice of God. In this paper, attention is given to the different indexical and symbolic signs used in Nollywood filmic productions to represent the Bible as a fetish or a relic. Using a critical review of secondary sources and relevant films, as well as semiotics, the paper identifies the use of visual and sound effects as one of the procedures deployed by Nollywood film directors to naturalize and popularize fetishist beliefs about the Bible. The effects popularly used by these film directors include radiating bibles, open pages of the Bible that generate dazzling light, ardent fire or meteoric energy with which pastors counter the attacks to satanic forces or deliver people in distress
Nollywood Films’ Depiction of the Nigerian Society: A Reflection or Distortion of Reality?
Full text linkThe Nigerian video film industry - codenamed Nollywood - has been criticised on various bases. One of such bases is the myth that, its productions insidiously tarnish the image of Nigeria on the international scene. Related to this criticism is the claim that these films are in the most part over exaggerated stories which distort the Nigerian socio-cultural reality and mislead foreign audiences into seeing Nigeria in a bad light. Although true to a category of Nigerian films, this reading must be nuanced for at least two reasons: first, reality is a complex concept which may, in some contexts, even be very elusive; second, films are theoretically speaking a window into their society of origin. Although make-believe, they do have elements of reality. All may depend on the definition the Nollywood film critic or audience gives to reality. In this conceptual paper, a systematic review of secondary sources and critical observations are used to examine how Nigerian films’ ability to reflect or distort the Nigerian socio-political reality is fuelling the social debate on Nollywood’s contribution to the Nigerian image crisis.
Pornography and Objectification of Women in Nollywood Films: A Study of Nigerian Actresses’ Perception of Acting Sex and Nudity Scenes
Full text linkInternet blackouts in Africa: A critical examination, with reference to Cameroon and Nigeria
Full text linkInternet blackouts in Africa have largely been examined through the prisms of human rights and economic development. This has resulted in highly negative assessments; Internet shutdowns have widely been branded as violations of the rights of African citizens, and the bane of economic development. However, while unarguably extreme, Internet blackouts are not necessarily unjustified or unwarranted. Even influential bodies such as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) recognise the need to shut down the Internet under certain circumstances. Governments often justify Internet shutdowns by citing principles or values that are valid in principle. These include protecting their sovereignty, combating ‘rascality’ among telecom operators, and maintaining peace and security. Given this, it is important to examine the extent to which Internet shutdowns in Africa have been justified, or whether they have been used to advance authoritarian rule. To this end, this study uses documentary analysis and critical observations to explore the morality of Internet blackouts in sub-Saharan Africa, and specifically whether or not the recent shutdowns in Cameroon and Nigeria have been justified
Nollywood Cinema as a Tool for Pro-Lesbian Advocacy: A Feminist Reading of Unaiedu Ikpe-Etim’s Ife
Full text linkIn spite of the homophobic nature of Nigerian society, the LGBTQ+ rights movement has been very visible in Nigeria. A number of local pro-LGBTQ+ initiatives have sought to challenge the conservative myths and homophobic stereotypes that prevail in the society. One method used for such advocacy has been avant-garde cinema, particularly lesbian or gay films. A case in point is Ikpe-Etim’s 2020 romantic film titled Ife. As an unusual Nollywood movie, Ife strongly makes a case for the human rights of lesbian, bisexual, and queer women in Nigeria. Its very positive representation of what Nigerian legislation and censorial forces consider deviant sexualities has fueled a huge controversy in the Nigerian socio-cultural sphere. This controversy has been understudied. Using Anthonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony and the feminist film theory as interpretative tools, this paper examines how Ikpe-Etim’s film is both a counter-hegemonic and queer feminist initiative. The paper argues that although Ife contributes to proselytism for LGBTQ+ rights and feminism in Nigeria, it has serious weaknesses and limitations. Despite the producer’s and director’s sexual identities and work as activists, straight Nollywood filmmakers have remained reluctant to join the LGBTQ+ rights movement
Francophobia as an expression of Pan-Africanism in Francophone Africa: An exploration of the Cameroonian political and media discourse
Full text linkThere has over the decades been a recrudescence of francophobia in many francophone African countries. This has attracted the attention of scholars across the world and has fuelled a discourse which has myopically constructed francophone Africans’ francophobic sentiments either as a purely xenophobic movement or a nationalist feeling. Meanwhile, for many members of the African diasporas and intelligentsia, francophobia is essentially an expression of their panAfrican convictions. In effect, for many francophone pan-African political activists, the act of fighting and mitigating neocolonialism in their countries is inextricably tantamount to exhibiting francophobic sentiments. Such an act is also tantamount to deploying various forms of animosity against France. This is so perhaps because France is arguably perceived as the most dominant neocolonial force in their countries. In this paper, this popular trend is illustrated with close respect to the Cameroonian experience. Using secondary sources and critical observations, the paper specifically looks at how various manifestations of French neocolonialism have given birth to waves of anti-French sentiments among the intelligentsia and in the media; and how this anti-French feeling is mostly expressed in the name of Pan-Africanism. The paper thus examines how Pan-Africanism has, to both the Cameroonian intelligentsia and the media, meant adopting a virulent anti-French discourse or rhetoric. In line with this central objective, the paper answers three principal research questions: what body of evidence proves that there is French neocolonialism in Cameroon? How has French neocolonialism engendered a virulent pan-African discourse that is basically anti-French? And how has this panAfrican francophobic discourse been observed or manifested among the Cameroonian intelligentsia and in the country’s private media?
Keywords: Anti-French sentiment, neocolonialism, Pan-Africanism, nationalist media, domination, Françafrique. Cameroo
From “Apeiron” to Albatross: A Conceptual Discourse on the Decolonisation of Cinema Education in Sub-Saharan African Universities
No full textThe persistence of westernised systems of education in African countries has engendered various decolonial movements in African institutions of higher learning. From the 1985 great Nairobi literature Debate to the 2015-2016 #RhodesMustFall and the #FeeMustFall movements in South Africa, the transnational campaigns launched against vestiges of colonial education have amply been perceptible in Africa these recent years. In the field of cinema teaching in particular, these campaigns have remained understudied although perceptible. The campaigns have taken the form of symposia, conferences and book projects aimed to push for the inclusion of the African Knowledge System and indigenous languages and pedagogies in the teaching of cinema in the African universities. Although laudable, these decolonial efforts are faced with numerous challenges, four of which include the elusiveness of decolonisation concept, the persistence of the African inferiority complex, the apparent lack of political and the inherent un-Africaness of cinema as a phenomenon or a discipline. The present paper seeks principally to examine the challenges mentioned above and proposes a way forward. Hinging on critical observations and secondary sources, the paper specifically addresses three questions. First, it explores various movements for the decolonisation of cinema education in Africa. Second, it examines the challenges facing the decolonial movements in the continent and third, it analyses implications for the success of the decolonisation of film teaching in Africa
PROBING THE FEASIBILITY OF THE INDIGENISATION OF NIGERIAN MEDIA IN AN ERA OF CULTURAL GLOBALISATION: A STUDY OF NIGERIAN RADIO AND TV PRODUCERS
No full textThe myth of media imperialism (presumably engendered by the globalisation current) has motivated most less developed countries to adopt customised media policies geared towards cultural protectionism. In line with this protectionist movement, Nigeria has adopted a local content policy which, over the years, has militated for a national media output which is dominantly shaped according to its local cultural specificities. This policy which strongly urges endogenous broadcasters to thrive to attain a 100 percent local content has variously been assessed by media practitioners and ideologues. Using secondary sources and critical observations, this paper argues that, although laudable, the idea of resorting to local content regulation for cultural protection in the Nigerian media sphere has been poorly conceived. Government has so far failed to provide all the accompanying measures to secure the success of this policy. As conceived by Nigeria, the policy does not provide a comprehensive and clear cut definition of local program and Nigerianess. Also, the policy’s insistence on a 70-100 percent is utopian. It really overlooks the fact that Nigerian audiences have progressively become Westernised and logic will want media producers to pragmatically go for western or westernised media programs, so as to stay afloat
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