In the good old days of Nollywood (Nigerian movie industry), movies were directed towards societal norms and ethics of African culture and tradition.
Pornography was terribly perceived as an abominable display, that assaults the senses of sights and reasoning. Back then, such materials from were viewed in secluded places with low patronage.
Presently, film producers, directors and actors are expressing gross lack of cultural values and discipline in their artistic creations and representations.
Investigations have proved that the availability of sophisticated equipment and materials in this 21st century, the introduction of Information Communication Technology(ICT) and the quest for stardom by some artists have immensely contributed to the production, distribution and viewing of these destructive contents.
Movies have great influence on the moral behavior of the society, especially on the youths. Therefore, Nigerian movie practitioners should not feign ignorance of the fact that they are empowered to set agenda that will help shape the thought pattern of the public.
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| Some Nollywood Actresses |
The word pornography stems from Greek words, 'porne' which means a harlot or whore, and 'graphos', which means a writing or depiction. The combination of these two words give the meaning as 'a depiction or description of the activities of whores or harlots'.
For the purpose of this article, pornography can best be described as sexually explicit materials intended to create unnecessary sexual arousal, capable of misdirecting and undermining the value of sex to the viewers.
Pornography create the impression of a man and woman that want to gain sexual gratification, thus throwing themselves so carelessly at each other, without caution.
This wild display is devoid of any emotional attachment, and holds no hope for a continuation after they must have satisfied their uncontrollable libidos. It is characterized by illicit sexual practices with nude images of the parties involved.
Pornography has in no small measures trivialized rape and child abuse as criminal offences and promoted man’s insensitivity towards victims.
Studies have shown causal link between pornography and social crimes, as most sex and violent crime offenders are proven to have had high exposure to pornography at their adolescent stages of life.
Nollywood has in recent times tilted their themes towards pornography. Decent individuals have withdrawn from its patronage, leaving the movies at the mercies of adolescents who are the greatest consumers of the media.
Pornography is a poor sex educator; it is mostly explicit for younger children, who out of mental immaturity could adopt such behaviours to the detriment of the society. For children to be taught by these media, that sex is public, commercial and divorced from any degree of affection, love and commitment, is injurious to their morals.
You can seldomly find a Nollywood movie that does not contain explicit sexual affairs of varying degrees and nature. The level at which amorous scenes, indecent dressing and vulgarity has dominated the industry is an issue of great concern.
Obscenity is now a virtue and well celebrated; sex sells. Some of the actresses are seen juggling and hawking their cleavages shamelessly before the camera, and equally denigrate their womanhood by exposing their organs to the full view of the public.
These notorious actresses are stereotyped into indecent roles where skimpy, transparent and other sexual arousing costumes are richly propagated. They willfully show their breasts, hips, thighs, and other sensitive parts of their bodies, to the detriment of the young ones who look up to them as role models.
Factors that spur the production of pornography include (but not limited to), the lucrative nature of pornography, the inordinate love for money by actors, script writers, producers, directors and marketers, free access to internet and most importantly, the institutional weakness and corrupt practices of the censor board and other regulatory bodies attached to the industry.
The competence of the censor board (an institution charged with the responsibility of ensuring that obscene movies are regulated in Nigeria) should be questioned.
If one of the policies of the censor board is to ensure that video contents are not blasphemous or denigrate the dignity of womanhood, then the leadership of the board leaves much to be desired.
The emergence of nudity in Nollywood movies suggest a sinister and an unpleasant future for the young ones. The trends of immoral representation in Nollywood are evident in movies such as, Black Berry Girls, Room 027, Bedroom Assassins, Dangerous Games 1 & 2, Computer Girls, Abuja Big Girls, etc.
In these movies, there are gross abuses of human bodies, with languages that promote obscenity. For instance, Cleo’s private part was referred to as a 'borehole' in Abuja Big Girls. Indeed, this is an indecent manner of communicating to the public, creating gaps for a wild imagination.
The movie titled White Hunters is a story of young and beautiful girls who believed that they can only attain sophistication by dressing half-nudely, in order to attract foreign men with a lot of money to shower on them.
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| A Scene In White Hunters |
In a bid to succeed in attracting these men, sex appealing costumes that reveal their anatomy was worn by these characters. White Hunters featured lni Edo, Mercy Johnson, Funke Akindele, Halima Abubakar, etc. Mercy Johnson and Ini Edo were top contenders who went bizarre in seductive dressing and sexual acts to beat each other in the game.
Black Berry Girls is yet another immodest movie where the characters such as Oge Okoye and Tonto Dike were contesting on who will use the latest black berry mobile because, the latest blackberry mobile happens to be the parameter to judge ones' sophistication.
In order to attract their 'mugus', they wore costumes that exposed their breasts, thighs, and generally transparent dresses to enhance their personalities. They equally submitted themselves to sexual overtures to accomplish their missions.
Destructive Instinct by Nigerian-born American actress, Judith Opara, popularly known as, Afro Candy, is the greatest shock Nollywood fans have received so far from the industry. In the movie, Afro candy played the role of a seductive mistress and was seen in one of the scenes in a steamy, hot sex with a male actor fondling her breasts and bare buttocks, to the full view of the public. In one of the scenes, Judith was also seen completely naked on top of her lover boy.
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| A Scene In Destructive Instinct |
This display of gross lack of decency and value for our culture before the camera is not a true representation of Africans. Tonto Dike starred in a movie titled Strippers in Love. She kissed another female cast, almost going nude, in one of the scenes. Tonto also featured in another movie, titled Dirty Secret, where she went nude while in a hot romance with her two male lovers (threesome).
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| A Scene In Dirty Secret |
The analysis of these movies are not just a make-belief kind of scenes as it were, but true life situations that send shivers to the spines as to what these actors are set to achieve with their devilish acts.
It is imperative to unequivocally state that, Nollywood film makers have done more harm than good in portraying the image of women negatively.
Some of their movies have always concentrated in projecting the women folk as gossips, cheats, drug pushers, cheap sex merchants and a host of other criminal obsessions.
It is quite disgusting that movies which should be an effective medium of behavioural change, has been turned to an abode of immorality, and the ideas of women being used as culprits to perpetuate these vices is equally a very serious issue to be broached.
The greatest harm Nollywood has done, is on the image of women in Nigerian society. This can be substantiated from the fact that cameras are being focused mainly on female genitals more than their male counterparts.
For example, in Destructive Instinct, Afro Candy’s body was so revealing in the sex scenes, while the face of her male counterpart could not be clearly identified.
Generally, in every sex scene in Nollywood movies, emphasis must be on the woman who happens not to be the only culprit. Women have been obscenely portrayed as objects of gaze and consumption by men; their bodies are objectified as spaces for acts of sexual pleasure or objects of abuse.
Pornography shows significant positive association with attitudes that support violence against women. Women should not be made to appear as sex toys that can be manipulated without bounds.
A previous research posits that Nollywood should rather present women as being ideal in tradition, devoted wives, mothers of children and the epitome of enigmatic beauty full of feminine attributes.
Womanhood should be that which accepts other people as human beings. The portrayal of women in the extreme as pimps, prostitutes, murderers, power mongers must give way to the positive roles women play to advancethe country and the world.
Women have suffered certain dehumanizing situations in the past and even at the moment as a result of cultural orientations of Africans.
In this era of modernity, the stereotypical images of women as weak, docile and object of sexual satisfaction should not be the pre-occupation of Nollywood themes in order not to perpetuate the impressions.
Nollywood should function as a channel of communication through which the positive views and desires of Nigerian women are properly articulated.
Nollywood is a powerful medium, which has the capability of stimulating social change and development. Thus, it should capitalize on its strength to project and chant a positive course for women who have contributed immensely to development of families, societies and nations.
About The Author
Abasi-akan Victor is a prolific writer with a vision of transforming the society. He is based in Lagos, Nigeria. You can connect with Abasi-akan Victor on Facebook or BBM: 5939652.
Abasi-akan Victor is a prolific writer with a vision of transforming the society. He is based in Lagos, Nigeria. You can connect with Abasi-akan Victor on Facebook or BBM: 5939652.
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