Introverted gaze at Nollywood as a means of escapism for African audience
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Date
2023-07
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Nasarawa State University, Keffi Journal of Theatre & Cultural Studies (JOCTUS)
Abstract
History of cinema in Africa is blighted with conscious duplicity by Europeans who used its introduction to the continent in early twentieth century to manipulate and control the native populace through distorted narratives. However, the popularity of Nollywood productions within the continent is presently changing some of that chronicles positively. The aim of this study was to explore how Nollywood movies have become a source of escapist entertainment for African audience whose needs for enjoyment draw them to gaze at its unique contents. The study did a content analysis review of the three most popular Nollywood films in Nigeria as observed through the Netflix platform for Nigerian subscribers in October 2020, to see why these films were embraced by Nigerian audience specifically and African audience in general. It was found that the content of the most popular Nollywood films represent the ways of life and aspirations of Africans, while competing European movies were not easily compatible with African narratives. The study concluded that although Nollywood movies have been incorporated by African audience, the technology required to tap into this abundant indigenous entertainment mode is limited to major African cities at expensive costs. This study has exposed the disparity between abundant entertainment availability and the sparse means with which to enjoy it. Government is advised to revamp its technological infrastructures to unclog the bottleneck that strains the potential developmental strides in entertainment through which income revenues could accrue to citizens and state.
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