Violence, juju and robberies -the story of Nigerian films

Ghanaians have in recent times developed an insatiable appetite for Nigerian films to the detriment of our own film industry. The sophistication of Nigerian film production and frequency have combined to dwarf the film business in Ghana to the extent that patronage is at its lowest.

The hard fact is that Ghana had a commanding advantage in the 1950?s over Nigeria with classic productions like ?The Boy Kumasenu?, just to give one example. But gradually, the then Ghana Film Industry Corporation took a nosedive as its equipment became near obsolete and finances diminished, allowing Nigeria to upstage Ghana in the business.

It comes as no surprise at all, therefore, that Ghanaians now have focused greater attention to Nigerian films and even when they lack money for specific needs, would still expend their meager resources on these Nigerian films rather than buy themselves even food or decent clothing.

Some people are of the view that Ghanaian professional actors demand too much from the producers, who cannot afford to meet their demands and therefore invariably under paid, resulting in producers falling on untrained actors who perform dismally to the detriment of quality of production.

Others are of the view that since television is regarded as the most powerful tool in the media due to its influence on the public, films produced in Ghana should reveal what is going on in our own society, ? teaching good morals,? rather than portraying foreign patterns of behaviors.

For instance Nigerian films with the two famous actors popularly referred to as ?AKI & PORPO?, are usually films that teach people, especially kids, how to play tricks through dubious means, ? telling lies, bullying and sometimes total disrespect for the elderly in society. Such films, when shown on television, are mostly viewed by the youth and little kids, which eventually teach the young in society bad morals. Examples of such films are ?SHOW BOBO?(AMERICAN BOYS), AKI & PORPO, ?MR. IBU?, BABY POLICE, and GREEN SNAKE, just to mention a few.

Nigerian cultural values, however, are not only subordinated, but are further threatened by Western Cultural values. Western world use the media to promote its culture, which our youth today see as the ideal way of life and worthy of adaptation. Our youth do not only adopt foreign cultural values, but also absorb the norms, attitudes and behaviors which they come to accept as their own.

Apart from imposing Western values on the populace, it also distorts Nigerian culture and supplements it with Western values. It is an undeniable fact, that Africans in general are so much overwhelmed with Western culture that they eventually uphold its values and norms, thereby doing away with their indigenous traditional cultural values.

According to Birgit Meyer, a researcher, culture is an important aspect of living, therefore, it enjoins each group of people to adhere to a ?we? attitude. He added that this ?we? attitude has become a thing of the past, because our culture has been inundated drastically as a result of cultural and media imperialism.

He stressed further that media imperialism penetrates Nigeria television broadcast through Programme content; which has a heavy Western inclination. Even our daily transmission ends with a foreign film and almost all the television stations in the country devote most of their time on foreign programmes and foreign films, which in effect flood the Third World markets with Western entertainment, such as the satellite decoder leaving the vague minds of the youth wondering.

It should, however, be noted that childhood is fundamentally a period of information seeking and socialization, during which stage they learn a lot from their elders and peers, both in their immediate environment and on television sets.

Here, there is the tendency for children to be exposed to foreign films, which invariably sharpen their worldview, thus making them more alienated from their own environment and copying the lifestyle of the western world, especially smoking, drinking, wearing of skimpy dresses, popularly known and referred to as ?Acapulco, show your stomach, hold my legs and leave my thighs, bareback? etc., which our culture strongly frowns upon.

The video film industry, which emerged as a result of the liberalization and commercialization of the media, has been able to refashion stories circulating in the society by adopting a particular narrative form to convey idea and impart knowledge.

Basically, the difference between the two countries is that Nigerian films are so much focused on invisible spiritual realms such as ?mami water?, in addition to portraying scenes of occultism and crime. Ghanaian films, on the other hand, project more village setting, which maintain our cultural values and norms. Nigerian films are so fascinating to most Ghanaians because of the exhibitions of mansions, flashy cars and expensive outfits, while Ghanaians use dilapidated houses in slum areas in their films, thereby painting a picture of Ghana being a poor country in the sub-region.

An interview with a famous Ghanaian film actor (name withheld), disclosed that Nigerians produce about 52 films a week, and out of that number only two or three are good and therefore brought to Ghana. ?Even some of those which are considered good are full of rubbish like robberies, juju and killings? he pointed out.

He further noted that about 85% of films produced in Nigeria are not shown on their television sets due to the violence, juju, robberies etc, and wondered why they are shown on television stations in Ghana, especially GTV, a state-owned television station. He again pointed out that films normally portray a country?s culture, and that because Ghanaians are watching more Nigerian films than their own Ghanaian films, the Youth especially, are beginning to talk and behave like Nigerians.

Considering the above mentioned point, one would notice that the impact of some Nigerian films do not only teach bad morals but it also ?kill? the Ghanaian Film Industry, since the Nigerian films are mostly patronized, thereby leaving Ghanaian films unpatronised, with the end result creating low income for the industry which in effect digs the economic woes of the country.

It is, therefore, a good idea that the board of directors at the Ghana Film Industry, with effect from January, 2005, will suspend all Nigerian films and advertisements into the country for a period of time so as to revamp the Ghana Film Industry, in order inspire the industry to produce good quality films for Ghanaians to buy and also to serve as a source of employment for the redundant in the society. Perhaps this idea was considered against the background of the influx of Nigerian films onto the Ghanaian market and its impact on the society.