INFLUENCE OF NIGERIAN HOME VIDEO FILMS ON CRIMINALITY

Thesis Overview

<p> </p><p>Nigerian movies, popularly referred to as Nollywood movies, produced by the Nigerian film industry uses<br>formats such as video cassette, video compact disc (VCD), and more recently the digital video disc (DVD), in<br>producing their movies. These Nigerian movies are also shown on some channels such as “Africa Magic”,<br>“Nollywood”, “Magic Africa”, etc, on DSTV, “Cine Africa”, “MYTV”, as well as other cable networks which<br>people subscribe to and which are viewed by the audience through the television, which is classified under the<br>types of media, among others.<br>The media is evidently seen as one of the agents of socialization, in the study of the society. This means that the<br>media is capable of influencing the attitude, character, lifestyle and culture of individuals either negatively or<br>positively. Therefore, it is important to know what kind of movies are being produced for viewing, since as a<br>result of technology, more and more people in the society, have access to television.<br>According to Daramola(2005), “The mass media are very powerful socializing agents. The mass media are<br>mainly newspapers, magazines, radio, television and movies. They are impersonal sources and they reach large,<br>heterogeneous and widely dispersed audiences. Their exact role in socialization is controversial but as<br>disseminators of news and entertainment, they are extremely influential. The mass media therefore, especially<br>the television, have been linked by several studies of having great influence upon socialization of children,<br>adolescents and even adults”.<br>Consciously or unconsciously, people, most especially children and youth, learn different aggressive and violent<br>acts as they constantly watch these movies and most times they end up exhibiting such acts within their<br>neighborhood, in school and within other social gatherings. As they watch movies with violent themes, they are<br>likely to exhibit various criminal acts like bullying, kicking, raping and other delinquent behaviors. (Oslow,<br>2003)<br>The themes of these movies are indeed broad and covering Nigerian, African, and universal issues such as, the<br>evils of polygamy, extra marital affairs, elopement, different forms of rituals, cultism, betrayal, marriage,<br>witchcraft, incest, clash of Western and traditional cultures, landlords and tenants, widowhood, teenage<br>pregnancy, drug trafficking, campus life, tribal conflicts, religious conflicts, organized crime, murder, etc<br>(Akpabio, 2003:138-139).<br>Some other movies have themes solely based on Christianity and the evils that go on in churches and among<br>pastors, such as those produced by Mount Zion Ministries, for the purpose of spreading the gospel and pointing<br>out the ills that go on even in churches. Some examples include, “Busy but guilty”, “Blood on the altar”, “One<br>careless night”, etc. Many other movies could be educative and portray some Nigerian culture, while others<br>could also be in form of documentaries, showing the history of some Nigerian culture as well as how it has<br>evolved. An example of such documentary movies is “Towards a metaphysics”, produced in 2010. But<br>unfortunately, the most common themes evident in the majority of Nigerian movies includes violence, which<br>umbrellas cultism, murder, rape, aggressive fights, etc, and Romance, which covers sex, nudity and vulgarity or<br>the use of strong language, etc. Another common theme is that of rituals and the use of traditional medicine.<br>Most of these are evidently negative themes and are therefore malevolent to the development of personality and<br>behavior of its audience members in our contemporary society, especially the youth and children who are still at<br>the primary and secondary stage of their socialization or learning process, and are vulnerable or prone to picking<br>up or adopting attitudes and behaviors from what they observe in the movies.<br>The portrayal of negative themes has been the base of Nigerian film industry, probably because of the gains<br>gotten from constant patronage from its audience as well as the interest the audience members have in<br>pornography, nudity, violence and the likes. The industry was accused of over-emphasizing negative themes.<br>The National Film and Video Censors Board, (the industry regulatory body), in its guidelines for motion picture<br>producers, called for production to be above board in portrayal of violence, crimes, sex, pornography, vulgarity,<br>obscenity and other sensitive subjects (NFVBC, 2000:107-111).<br>Today, the nature of most Nigerian movies have grown or evolved from bad to worse, especially on the part of<br>those that portray sex, pornography and vulgarity. From experience, a comparison of older films such as<br>“Outcast 1 &amp; 2” and “Night Out (Girls for sale)” produced between 1999 and 2000 and more recent ones such as<br>“Dirty Secret” and “Men in Love” produced between 2010 and 2011, has proven that the level of the portrayal of<br>nudity, pornography and sex has become worse than before, the actors and actresses are now more comfortable<br>with being nude, while acting.<br>This is definitely malevolent to some audience members who will develop more interest in pornography and<br>may eventually become addicts. This will not only increase the number of rape reports, but will also give rise to<br>more and more cases of teenage pregnancies, abortion, as well as abandonment of unwanted babies which<br>increases the number of children to be cared for at motherless babies homes.<br>Another issue is the constant production and distribution of these movies, which goes to show that people<br>actually patronize them by buying the movies for either personal viewing or to rent to people in video shops, in<br>spite of the nature of most of these movies.<br>Therefore, in trying to find out how home videos can pose as malevolent to our contemporary society, it is also<br>important to find out what the members of the audience think about the nature of some of the themes portrayed<br>in home videos, as well as what their attitudes towards such movies are, since it directly affect them.</p><p><strong>1.2 Statement of the Problem</strong><br>If an investigation or a study is carried out on the category of people that make up the majority of the audience<br>members of Nigerian movies, the result will definitely prove that it is children, adolescents and the youth. The<br>minority will be older people because of the responsibilities of going to work, earning a living and planning a<br>home, which they are faced with. As the youth grow and mature into adulthood, they gradually lose interest in<br>watching movies because they begin to prioritize some things over others and also develop a sense of<br>responsibility (Daramola, 2005).<br>A study by Liebert and Poulson (1972), cited by Hess at al (1988), reveals that children in Canada begin to<br>watch television before they are three years old. By the age of eighteen, a child will have spent more time in<br>front of the television than anywhere else, including school. In the United States of America, children watch<br>over three hours of television per day.<br>Schaefer and Lamm (1997) study, also reveal that apart from sleeping, watching television is the most timeconsuming<br>activity of young people. The same trend is going on in the Nigerian contemporary society,<br>particularly in the urban cities. It is very common to find children watching movies and videos every day.<br>Since members of the audience of Nigerian movies also constitute members of the society, and the media,<br>especially television, is also capable of influencing an individual’s behavior, the negative effects of these videos<br>will also indirectly affect the society at large. That is to say that if people adopt some certain behavior as a result<br>of these movies, it could indirectly affect the society by creating social problems such as, increase in rape<br>reports, abortion, over-crowding of motherless babies homes due to unwanted babies, violence, increased crime<br>rates and juvenile delinquencies, e t c.<br>Therefore, this study seeks to look at the extent of malevolence of Nigerian movies in our contemporary society,<br>by looking at the nature and content of these movies and why it is still being patronized by audience members<br>despite its malevolent nature.</p><p><strong>1.3 Objectives of the Study</strong><br>The major objectives of this study, is to ascertain the impact of Nigerian movies on the general society.<br>The specific objectives of the study are as follows:-<br>1. To ascertain if there is an over-emphasis of negative themes in Nigerian movies.<br>2. To identify the negative effects or disadvantages associated with watching Nigerian movies.<br>3. To find out how Nigerian movies can affect the society indirectly.<br>To suggest ways to prevent or reduce the negative effects or malevolence caused by Nigerian movies in our<br>contemporary society.</p><p><strong>1.4 Research Questions</strong><br>This study will seek answers to questions such as:<br>1. Is there an over-emphasis of negative themes in Nigerian movies?<br>2. What are the negative effects or disadvantages associated with watching Nigerian movies?<br>3. How can Nigerian movies affect the society indirectly?</p><p><strong>1.5 Research Hypotheses</strong><br>Hypothesis 1<br>Ho: There is no significant relationship between Nigerian video films and criminality.<br>Hi:There is a significant relationship between Nigerian video films and criminality.<br>Hypothesis 2<br>Ho: There are no negative effects or disadvantages associated with watching Nigerian movies.<br>Hi: There arenegative effects or disadvantages associated with watching Nigerian movies</p><p><strong>1.6 Significance of the Study</strong><br>It is obvious that Nollywood to a very large extent contributes to violence in Nigeria. A worrisome aspect of<br>these films is that none of the film-makersactively canvasses for the discouragement of the negative tendencies<br>acted out on the screen. And the failure by movie producers to make any strong comment against social ills is a<br>short coming of the films that use violence in their messages. The implication is that such films rather than<br>amelioring violent acts in the society tend to aggravate them, Folarin, [1999].<br>The study looks at the malevolence of Nigerian movies in our contemporary society. The study does not dispute<br>the fact that the television which is one aspect of the media, is also very beneficial to learning and development<br>processes, and as a matter of fact, goes a long way in socializing individuals by helping them blend more easily<br>into the society due to the amount of information passed on to the audience through well-coordinated motion<br>pictures with various contents and storylines.<br>As a medium of communication, the home videos are influential media and have the capacity of sending a<br>wrong message or impression to the viewing audience especially young people in their vulnerable stages of<br>growth. Moreover, such impression could spell a big problem to the entire society owing to the fact that the<br>youth learn more easily from what they see or observe than from what they hear.<br>However, as every research work is expected to add to the existing knowledge, this study should serve as a<br>referencing material to students and other researchers who will be carrying out research on related studies.<br>Also Nigerian film makers will benefit from the information contained here as a yard stick to measure the level<br>of their weaknesses and compare it with the strengths they have which could serve as a guide to correcting their<br>weak points for a better future of their products and the society at large.<br>This study’s significance is also justifiable on the grounds that it will contribute largely to the understanding of<br>the negative effects of home videos or the malevolent nature of some home videos towards our contemporary<br>society, which would spur film makers to improve on the quality and the contents of the movies produced.<br>Parents will also become aware or be exposed to the negative effects of movies and how they can influence their<br>children’s behavior both on the long and short run. This would cause them to seek means of controlling their<br>children’s viewing habits and be conscious of what they watch and the themes embedded in these movies.<br>Resultantly, this would reduce the negative impacts, as well as the level of malevolence caused by movie<br>watching in our contemporary society.<br>Based on various theories, or rather as a result of these theories, film makers will then try to adhere to National<br>Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) laws by differentiating the age ratings for various movies, while the Nigerian<br>Broadcasting Corporation will also try to review and censor the movies before they get into circulation. And the<br>parents on the other hand will ensure that children watch only the movies specified for their various ages.<br>To conclude, this study is significant because it seeks to investigate these issues of negativity in movie themes<br>and its effects on people and the society at large, as well as identify and proffer possible solutions to curb the<br>problem, by finding out the roots of these problems. Although it may be impossible to completely erase them,<br>the study seeks to discover how the problem can be reduced and controlled.</p><p><strong>1.7 Scope/Limitations of the Study</strong><br>This study on the influence of Nigerian Home video films on criminality.<br><strong>Limitations of Study</strong><br>1. 1. Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing<br>for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet,<br>questionnaire and interview).<br>2. 2. Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic<br>work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.</p><p><strong>1.8 Definition of terms</strong><br><strong>1.Malevolence:-</strong><br>According to ‘Merriam- Webster’s dictionary’, this can be defined as the quality or state of being productive of<br>harm or evil. The Webster’s nu world collgate Dictionary defines it as, “wishing harm or evil, and showing or<br>having ill will”. That is, the state of causing harm or evil.<br>In this study, it means the harm caused by Nigerian movies. Malevolence here refers to the ability of Nigerian<br>movies to be harmful to our society, or the harm caused by Nigerian movies in our contemporary society.<br><strong>1. 2. Movie:-</strong><br>This is defined as “the showing of motion pictures or the motion picture medium”, by Merriam Webster’s<br>Dictionary”.<br><strong>1. 3. Nigerian Movie:-</strong><br>This refers to the Nigerian motion picture medium, or the showing of Nigerian motion-picture.<br><strong>1. 4. Contemporary:-</strong><br>According to the same source, contemporary is marked by characteristics of the present period. It is also seen as,<br>“happening, existing, living or coming into being during the same period of time”.<br>In this study, contemporary means, “this present day society, which we exist or live in”.<br><strong>1. 5. Delinquency:-</strong><br>According to the Oxford Advanced learner’s dictionary, delinquency can be defined as bad or criminal behavior,<br>usually of young people.<br>Therefore delinquency is seen in this study as the criminal or bad behavior of Nigerian movie audience, as a<br>result of watching movies especially the younger audience members.</p> <br><p></p>