Beyond Hollywood Formulas: Evolvıng Indigenous Yoruba Film Aesthetics

Abiodun Olayiwola

Abstract


Home video scholarship is an emerging aspect of theatre studies in Nigeria. While previous studies have been merely critical of Nigerian film practitioners’ inability to evolve an indigenous form, they have failed in prescribing necessary strategies for achieving this. This study, therefore, fills this gap by proposing devices for evolving an indigenous meta-language for the Nigerian film industry. It concludes, amongst others, that Nigerian film industry should evolve an indigenous film language through a fusion of traditional story telling forms and conventional film codes.
Key words: Film; Indigenization; Yoruba video film; Aesthetics

Resumé: La bourse du Home vidéo est un aspect émergent des études théatrales au Nigéria. Les études précédentes ont été simplement des critiques de l'incapacité des praticiens du cinéma nigérian d’élaborer une forme indigène, et elles ont échoué dans la prescription des stratégies nécessaires pour atteindre cet objectif. Cette étude, par contre, comble cette lacune en proposant des dispositifs pour une évolution de métalangage indigène pour l'industrie cinématographique nigérienne. Il conclut, entre autres, que l'industrie cinématographique nigérienne devrait trouver un langage cinématographique autochtone via une fusion entre les formes de récit d'histoire traditionnellse et des codes cinématographiques conventionnels.
Mots-clés: Film; Indigénisation; Film Vidéo En Yoruba; Esthétiques

Keywords


Film; Indigenization; Yoruba video film; Aesthetics ;Film; Indigénisation; Film Vidéo En Yoruba; Esthétiques

References


Abimbola W .(1986). An appraisal of african systems of thought. The arts and civilization of black and African people, 2, 11-29.

Adedeji J. and Ekwuazi H. (1998) Nigerian theatre: Dynamics of a movement. Ibadan: Caltop Publications (Nigeria) Ltd.

Adeleke D.A. (2005). Culture art and film in African society: An evaluation. Nordic Journal of African Studies,12(1), 49-56.

Adesina F .(1992). Film content and moral rearmament in Nigeria (pp. 169-178), Operative principles of the film industry: towards a film policy for Nigeria. Jos: Nigeria Film Corporation.

Bare, R.(1971). The film director. New York: Collier Books.

Bindea V. (1977). Films and folk art. Romanian Review, I, 131 – 133.

Diawara M .(1988). Popular culture and oral tradition in African film. Film Quarterly, 41(3), 6-14.

Dosumu S.(1979). The shortcomings of film production in Nigeria, (pp. 61-72). A Opubor and O. Nwuneli (eds.) The development and growth of the film industry in Nigeria, Lagos: Third Press International.

Eagleton T. (1981). Marxism and literary criticism. London: Methuen and Co. Limited.

Ekwuazi H.(1991). Film in Nigeria (Second Edition). Jos: Nigeria Film Corporation.

Gbilekaa S .(1997). Radical theatre in Nigeria. Ibadan: Caltop Publications (Nig) Ltd.

Haynes J. & Okome O. (1996). Cinema and social change in West Africa. Nigeria: National Film Institute.

Horatio-Jones E. (1979). Historical review of cinema in West Africa. Opubor A. and Nwuneli O. 1979, (pp. 73-88). The development and growth of the film industry in Nigeria, Lagos: Third Press International.

Idegu E.U. (2003). Survival ethics, globalization and identity promotion: Which way for the Nigerian home video movie theatre industry?. Anyigba: Journal of Humanistic Studies, (8).

Kracauer, S. (1960). Theory of film. London: Oxford University Press.

Ladebo L. (1992). Film production and content: The Nigerian experience, (pp. 144-168), Ekwuazi H. and Nasidi Y. (eds), Operative principles of the film industry: Towards a film policy for Nigeria. Jos: Nigeria Film Corporation.

Maingard J. (1995). Trends in South Africa documentary film and video: Question of identity and subjectivity. Journal of South Africa Studies, 21(4), 657 – 657.

Mast, G. (1977). Film/Cinema/Movie: A theory of experience. New York. Harper and Row Publishers.

Murphy D. (2000). Africans filming Africa: Questioning theories of an authentic African cinema. Journal of African Cultural Studies,13( 2), 239-249.

Musburger, R. (1999). Single camera video production. Britain: Focal Press.

Ogunbiyi Y. (1981). Drama and theatre in Nigeria: A critical source book. Lagos: Nigerian Magazine.

Okpewho I. (1993). African oral literature. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana UP.

Olayiwola A. (2010). Yoruba filmmakers in search of a language”. Studies in Literature and Language, 1(8), 61-70.

Opubor A. and Nwuneli O. (1979). The development and growth of the film industry in Nigeria, Lagos: Third Press International.

Osofisan F. (1999). Cultural identity and the challenges of nigerian drama on the euro-american stage. A Paper Presented at IFRA Conference.

Oyewole O. (2004) . The problems of portraying african worldview in dramatic literature in european languages. The Pace Setter, 2(2), 77-90.

Perry G.M., McGilligan P. & Sembene O. (1973). Ousmane sembene: An interview. Film Quarterly ,26(3), 36-42.

Shehu B. (1992). Content of the Nigerian film: A critical appraisal for policy making. Operative principles of the film industry:towards a film policy in Nigeria. Jos: Nigerian Film Corporation.

Ukadike F. (2000). Image of the ‘reel’ thing: African video-films and the emergence of a new cultural Art. Social Identities, 6(3), 243-261.

Ukadike F. and Ugbomah E.(1994). Towards an African cinema. Transition, (63), 150-163.

Walker E.P. (1983). Traditional African theatre. Arts and Humanities, 5,14.

Willemen P. (1971). Distanciation and Douglas Sirk. Screen,12(2), 63-67.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/j.ccc.1923670020110702.025

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2011 Abiodun Olayiwola

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


Share us to:   


Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author

  • Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.

2. Submission

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/ccc/submission/wizard

  • Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
  • We only use four mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

 Articles published in Cross-Cultural Communication are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION Editorial Office

Address: 1055 Rue Lucien-L'Allier, Unit #772, Montreal, QC H3G 3C4, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:[email protected]; [email protected]

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture