Young Theatre Practitioner Speaks on Failure of Nollywood to Promote Nigerian Cultural Heritage
Filmmaking isn't just a medium to engage, entertain and educate an audience, it is also a means of showcasing a society's rich cultural heritage, imbibe its admirable norms and values, as well as the ways of life of its people from generation to generation.
While Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry and the second largest in the world has succeeded in the first three, it has recorded little or no success in the last. This is a clear deviation from the dreams of founding fathers.
Recur that only recently, *Lionheart* , a film by Nollywood actress Genevieve Nnaji, which was Nigeria's first-ever submission to the Oscar, the highest global Film Awarding body, for the International feature film Oscar category was disqualified for failing to be totally Nigerian.
According to the Academy;
"LionHeart has just under 12 minutes of dialogue that is in the Igbo language native to Southeastern Nigeria, while the remaining 94-minutes is in English.
This evidently portrays the neglect of showcasing Nigerian cultural heritage to showcasing Western culture and values by the Nollywood Film Industry. In hope for a cultural rejuvenation however, Olaide Oyewole, a theatre practitioner, journalist, Nollywood enthusiast and CEO of DODO Creations has written a very brilliant piece imperative for all Nollywood Filmmakers and Nigerians to see.
Read article as earlier published by opera.com below 👇🏼
Nollywood Industry and how it has failed to promote the Nigerian cultural Heritage
Nollywood Industry and how it has failed to promote the Nigerian cultural Heritage
Just as the richness and wealth of the English theatre and drama has parts of its roots and growth in the renaissance theatre, the Nigerian Nollywood industry especially the Yoruba modern theatre can also be said to owe its immense success to the old Yoruba classical theatre.
The English theatre produced such legendary playwrights as William Shakespeare, Christopher Malowe, John Webster, Ben Johnson, to mention but a few. In like manner, the Nigerian film industry also produced great dramatic and artistic lords such as Hubert Ogunde, Ola Balogun, Adeyemi Afolayan (Ade Love), Moses Olaiya (Baba Sala), Jimoh Aliu, Duro Ladipo and others who made significant contributions to the industry.
The travelling theatre pioneered by Hubert Ogunde in 1944 can be suggested to be an offshoot of his Alarinjo Theatre, a theatre band whose acting was majorly on stage. They had a conventional acting style which included the use of songs, dances and chants. They didn’t just act, they performed to suit the social, political, economic and cultural situations of those moments. For instance, the “Alarinjo” Theatre’s “Yoruba Ronu” was staged in 1965 to depict the political rift between the then leader of the western region in Nigeria Obafemi Awolowo and his deputy, Samuel Ladoke Akintola.
However, in a bid to meet a taste of time, Ogunde joined his other counterparts in 1978 and transited from the stage to films production. Movies like Ola Balogun’s Ajani Ogun, Ogunde’s Aye, and Baba Sala’s Orun Moru were the other of the day. These movies were produced using typical indigenous style of dialogue. Their titles alone carried cultural sense of belonging. Their lines were sung and rendered in the Yoruba language.
Similarly, another generation of artistic guru, Tunde Kelani came on board in the early 90s and complemented the works of the veterans who were already in the game. He produced a number of excellent screenplays which were rich in cultural values. Koseegbe, a movie which was produced in 1995 had no dilution of any form of English Language, despite being a contemporary movie of that time.
Other films produced by him were Oleku, Saworoide, Agogo Ewo and Tioluwa Nile. They were rich in African values and norms like songs, folktales, proverbs, oral literature and so on. These movies helped us understand the power of Africanization especially through proverbs and songs.
Likewise, in1992 Living in Bondage a movie which was directed by Chris Obi and starred Kenneth Okonkwo was produced and had all dialogues rendered and spoken in the Igbo language. These movies despite having their segregated audience still made serious impacts on the industry and their audience during those times.
However, in recent times, the hegemonic influence of the Hollywood industry has taken over from what used to be a display and depiction of our cultural pride. We now have just few movies that contain our traditional and cultural features. Contemporary film producers no longer focus the themes of their movies on what the African traditional heritage is all about. We barely have screenplays without a dilution of the western culture or language.
Consequently, this is telling seriously on us (Nigerians), as we no longer pass the cultural heritage which was left behind by our fathers to the coming generations either orally or otherwise. Meanwhile, it is very difficult to find an American movie mixed with other foreign languages, despite having a very large audience who subscribe to their movies. Also, the Chinese movie industry has a way of promoting their language and culture through their movies and not letting any foreign traditions supersede theirs.
Interestingly, the classical Nigerian Dramatists like Ogunde and his contemporaries took theater beyond the shores of Africa without mixing it with any form of westernization. They were able to pass their messages across, ranging from our language, norms and traditions.
It is high time the Nigerian movie industry had a rethink and utilize the sector to build our cultural values. This will not only promote our way of life, it would also give the generations to come a sense of belonging as well as make them proud of themselves amongst their counterparts across the globe. Through this also, our cultural heritage would be preserved and passed from one generation to the other. The father of Nigerian theatre Hubert Ogunde once said, “The Yoruba Theatre is not dead, it is sleeping”. We just hope it is not dead as he has said.
Olaide Oyewole is a Journalist and a Content writer 08130239020 (oyewoleemmanuel20@gmail.com)
While Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry and the second largest in the world has succeeded in the first three, it has recorded little or no success in the last. This is a clear deviation from the dreams of founding fathers.
Recur that only recently, *Lionheart* , a film by Nollywood actress Genevieve Nnaji, which was Nigeria's first-ever submission to the Oscar, the highest global Film Awarding body, for the International feature film Oscar category was disqualified for failing to be totally Nigerian.
According to the Academy;
"LionHeart has just under 12 minutes of dialogue that is in the Igbo language native to Southeastern Nigeria, while the remaining 94-minutes is in English.
This evidently portrays the neglect of showcasing Nigerian cultural heritage to showcasing Western culture and values by the Nollywood Film Industry. In hope for a cultural rejuvenation however, Olaide Oyewole, a theatre practitioner, journalist, Nollywood enthusiast and CEO of DODO Creations has written a very brilliant piece imperative for all Nollywood Filmmakers and Nigerians to see.
Read article as earlier published by opera.com below 👇🏼
Nollywood Industry and how it has failed to promote the Nigerian cultural Heritage
Nollywood Industry and how it has failed to promote the Nigerian cultural Heritage
Just as the richness and wealth of the English theatre and drama has parts of its roots and growth in the renaissance theatre, the Nigerian Nollywood industry especially the Yoruba modern theatre can also be said to owe its immense success to the old Yoruba classical theatre.
The English theatre produced such legendary playwrights as William Shakespeare, Christopher Malowe, John Webster, Ben Johnson, to mention but a few. In like manner, the Nigerian film industry also produced great dramatic and artistic lords such as Hubert Ogunde, Ola Balogun, Adeyemi Afolayan (Ade Love), Moses Olaiya (Baba Sala), Jimoh Aliu, Duro Ladipo and others who made significant contributions to the industry.
The travelling theatre pioneered by Hubert Ogunde in 1944 can be suggested to be an offshoot of his Alarinjo Theatre, a theatre band whose acting was majorly on stage. They had a conventional acting style which included the use of songs, dances and chants. They didn’t just act, they performed to suit the social, political, economic and cultural situations of those moments. For instance, the “Alarinjo” Theatre’s “Yoruba Ronu” was staged in 1965 to depict the political rift between the then leader of the western region in Nigeria Obafemi Awolowo and his deputy, Samuel Ladoke Akintola.
However, in a bid to meet a taste of time, Ogunde joined his other counterparts in 1978 and transited from the stage to films production. Movies like Ola Balogun’s Ajani Ogun, Ogunde’s Aye, and Baba Sala’s Orun Moru were the other of the day. These movies were produced using typical indigenous style of dialogue. Their titles alone carried cultural sense of belonging. Their lines were sung and rendered in the Yoruba language.
Similarly, another generation of artistic guru, Tunde Kelani came on board in the early 90s and complemented the works of the veterans who were already in the game. He produced a number of excellent screenplays which were rich in cultural values. Koseegbe, a movie which was produced in 1995 had no dilution of any form of English Language, despite being a contemporary movie of that time.
Other films produced by him were Oleku, Saworoide, Agogo Ewo and Tioluwa Nile. They were rich in African values and norms like songs, folktales, proverbs, oral literature and so on. These movies helped us understand the power of Africanization especially through proverbs and songs.
Likewise, in1992 Living in Bondage a movie which was directed by Chris Obi and starred Kenneth Okonkwo was produced and had all dialogues rendered and spoken in the Igbo language. These movies despite having their segregated audience still made serious impacts on the industry and their audience during those times.
However, in recent times, the hegemonic influence of the Hollywood industry has taken over from what used to be a display and depiction of our cultural pride. We now have just few movies that contain our traditional and cultural features. Contemporary film producers no longer focus the themes of their movies on what the African traditional heritage is all about. We barely have screenplays without a dilution of the western culture or language.
Consequently, this is telling seriously on us (Nigerians), as we no longer pass the cultural heritage which was left behind by our fathers to the coming generations either orally or otherwise. Meanwhile, it is very difficult to find an American movie mixed with other foreign languages, despite having a very large audience who subscribe to their movies. Also, the Chinese movie industry has a way of promoting their language and culture through their movies and not letting any foreign traditions supersede theirs.
Interestingly, the classical Nigerian Dramatists like Ogunde and his contemporaries took theater beyond the shores of Africa without mixing it with any form of westernization. They were able to pass their messages across, ranging from our language, norms and traditions.
It is high time the Nigerian movie industry had a rethink and utilize the sector to build our cultural values. This will not only promote our way of life, it would also give the generations to come a sense of belonging as well as make them proud of themselves amongst their counterparts across the globe. Through this also, our cultural heritage would be preserved and passed from one generation to the other. The father of Nigerian theatre Hubert Ogunde once said, “The Yoruba Theatre is not dead, it is sleeping”. We just hope it is not dead as he has said.
Olaide Oyewole is a Journalist and a Content writer 08130239020 (oyewoleemmanuel20@gmail.com)
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