Nollywood industry is a popular industry like Hollywood and Bollywood. Actually, Nollywood is younger than both other industries. Nollywood has level up in competition with both Hollywood and Bollywood. Largely, due to the 200 million population of Nigeria.
Nollywood like most other industrial sectors were started on the platform for Empowerment, Employment and Entertainment. The three “Es” on which the foundation was established on, have been neglected and has led to abuse or misuse of its initial purpose for which Nollywood was established. For example, we look at the sole aim on which waste management was created which is used to eradicate toxic materials from the environment to stay healthy so as to prevent diseases. But when responsibilities are not taken for environmental sanitation, there will be a wide range of pollution in the society. Likewise, the Nollywood industry.
The industry has made a lot of rag to riches actors, actresses, directors, media crew, and also put food on the tables of many Nigerians (via employment). Nollywood scenes put smiles, laughter on souls of Nigerians on the aspect of Entertainment. On the side of empowerment, neglect of our cultural background and heritage have been on decline and getting to the verge of been destroyed.
According to movie scene or home video scenes there are standard four shots.
Four shots that are used on the movie scene or home videos are:
- Landscape shot: is known as the scene horizon and beginning of every film.
- Long Range shot: is the scene that shows the first activities of the actors/ actresses.
- Close Up shot: is the scene that shows off faces of the actors actresses in action.
- Over The Shoulder Shot: is the scene of actors and actresses looking at each other. whether talking or acting. E.g. Dialogue.
Comparing Nollywood with Hollywood and Bollywood.
When you look at other counterparts in the movie industry like Hollywood and Bollywood, we tend to see that their cultures are promoted to its viewers but not same in Nollywood. Therefore, the televisions in our homes are teachers which open us to different views of life in our world. An example of Hollywood conscious scene is that they promote the USA citizens to be good and law abiding (fighting to save the world), and also Bollywood always dance in their movie and you must see their religious temples. While for Nollywood, we see fake cultures, like Kings and Queens wearing crowns in the parlour and unruly royal sons and daughters with bad habits like sex hyper activity and smoking.
From the listed shot scenes listed above, most Nollywood third scene is a shot in bedroom. Naturally only two things go on in the bedroom and over stimulation of this scene (bedroom scene) have changed the thought pattern of kids. Nollywood Home Videos were encouraged in African homes, because of the much violence and wide gap in culture between USA and Nigeria.
Nollywood started with promoting Nigerian culture with home videos like living in bondage. A story about how a friend led a close friend into using his wife for rituals which was due to the strong positive spirit of the wife. Everything went wrong. Now Hollywood and Bollywood will never produce such a movie because it’s not in their culture of using family members for money rituals.
We learnt from living in bondage that we should work smart and never follow short cuts to destiny through rituals. These movies were great success and subsequently more Nollywood home videos started rolling out. We all started neglecting the fact that televisions educates us for positive or negative reasons. An example of a movie that infused negative behavioural pattern to our children in the history of Nollywood is the home video called Glamour Girls. This movie once trended across every Nigerian homes. The movie played a story line where female students got admitted into universities and in the name of campus activities turned into high level prostitutes. Glamour Girls ended as a set of well trained girls entering the university system and joining fine girls who did prostitute with High Level Statesmen . She had everything and had no reason to turn student prostitute. But later fell out to join the glamour Girls on campus.
One of the commercial sex activities of the former innocent girl that ended the story line was that, the girl was exchanged for sex in the hotel and she discovered it was her father that needed the sex. The man sighting his innocent girl on campus turned prostitute had an heart attack on the bedroom and died. She ran away from the hotel room and the home video ended in a great tragedy.
The implications of this particular movie is that Glamour Girls have already entered into the soul of many campus girls as this action of student prostitution was paying and the played caution on familiar faces/ relatives. Today, parents have left their home Education to TVs and guess what? Nollywood home videos is also one of the teachers. Nollywood is now a run away train because ethics and codes are now ignored. It’s a professional scene that tattoo meaning BAD on scene. So, Nollywood home videos modify this by bringing Ghanaians with tattoos and loose culture to hide under the umbrella of we are Africans to introduce hard core scenes and pollute viewers. Their target is young minds.
Examples of Uncensored Movie scene are:
- An actor with tattoo on the breast should not be seen professionally in a castle or high class areas (they belong to the streets). Nollywood has cast that culture to the gutters. Now when a young Nigerian sees an actor or actress with tattoo on the breast (be reminded that TV is a teacher) on a Nollywood movies, he or she starts conforming that this is normal and try to live it too.
- When young Nigerian sees actors and actresses in Nollywood wearing clothes not befitting for the place they are, the children and youths start accepting this abnormal culture as norms and today we have 18 /19 years old fresh from Secondary Schools going straight to get tattoos instead of constitution of federal republic of Nigeria and cramping one page. All the youths want to become rappers and musicians by just smoking hard drugs and alcohol and wearing tattoos. Nollywood doesn’t tell them that artists go to performance schools to become experts.
While Hollywood and Bollywood promote their culture positively and are monitored by sound mind organisations and group, Nollywood doesn’t have NGOs with sound mind objectives monitoring and enforcing censorship. Yes we have censorship board in NIGERIA, but no NGO is standing up to them for lowering Home Videos standards and polluting viewers.
Various effects of Uncensored Home Videos on our Youths and Children:
- It’s the TV that taught them to leave Secondary School Examination Hall and get tattoos
- It’s the TV that taught them to leave home and engage in hard drugs wild parties
- It’s the TV that taught the youths to prefer money rituals than the rules of money
- It’s the TV that taught the girl population to just go for sex for any amount of money (most of third scenes in Nollywood Home Videos is a bedroom scene)…
- It’s the TV that taught the youths that breaking the rules makes one rich
Now these are all fake cultures
They crept into our homes in the name of one of foundation of Nollywood (the three Es)…it came as entertainment…when we the adults watch and laugh (our kids see these as normal)
Example in USA: Mothers close the eyes of their kids with authority when they see violence or pornography on TV and their kids mistakenly watching it. Mothers in NIGERIA don’t even know that TV IS A GREAT TEACHER talk less on controlling what their children should see on Nollywood Home Videos. These Nigerian mothers are innocent, they need help from sound mind Organisations and the lives of these mothers are so hard that they rely on sound mind Organisations to guide and protect their kids for them.
Responsibilities of parents
- Parents should go to schools to investigate what their kids are been taught during school hours uninvited.
- Parents do attend their wards Parents Teachers Association (PTA)
- Campaign must be started from this platform to stop Nollywood from continuous pollution of viewers mind from evil practices and prostitution also know as Slay Queens.
They are cancelling culture in Nigeria Society. That’s why politicians uses a buy voting system to get elected for a political post. The former President of USA, Dr Donald Trump stood against cancelling of culture in America. The Nollywood administration needs to be controlled and restricted from damaging the upcoming Gen Z mind-set from being corrupted.
Nigeria is a beautiful country with so much potentials wasting everyday due to cancel culture the potentials watched on home videos. Young teens and adults are demonised with sexual perversion and hard drugs as a result of content they watched on the television. Therefore, we can’t dispute the fact that TV IS a teacher to its viewers.
We need to wake up and understand that Nollywood home videos are spreading like a social cancer on our TVs. The three Es of NOLLYWOOD need to be equally distributed because the empowerment sector is lagging behind. We also need to really check the records of people that are in Nollywood and Sensors Board, most of them don’t have sound mind else they would have stop cancel culture on our Nollywood home videos.
In conclusion, Nollywood home videos need to be directed towards Nigerian culture documentary. Nigeria has about 150 tribes. Today’s youth know only IGBO,HAUSA,YORUBA,IJAW AND FULANI (it was actually President Buhari that made youths become aware of the Fulani Tribe). But Fulani Herdsmen have always been on ₦200 note Just as discovery channel is busy empowering and educating USA citizens with adventures
Nollywood Home Videos and Directors should also focus on discovering NIGERIA for us. Government NTA is overloaded with programs. History should be preserved to retain both our heritage and culture.
Thanks
ROTDOW Team
