The Single Case Study Research Approach

Studies have been done on Nollywood films and the possible impact such films may have on children audience. In 2013, Ogochukwu Ekwenchi, Allen. Adum, and Chikezie. Uzuegbunam looked at the influence of Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme characters portrayals in Nollywood on Nigerian youths. They opine that:

Iheme and Ikedieze characters appear to have nothing much on their minds save scoring with as many women as possible, having cultivated a disposable culture of sex without commitment, endless succession of girlfriends with no strings attached, big ambitions with little appetite for hard-work. These dispositions and attitudes fly in the face of approved values. (174)

The writers were of the opinion that Nollywood film industry through its representations of youth is contributing to an ideological leaning of images that structures the way young people are perceived in the society and for this reason the youths’ characteristics are portrayed negatively in most Nollywood children films. The actors’ character portrayals could be misleading to the young children who see them and accept them as people within the scope of their age range. The researchers conclude their study by saying that:

The characters they depicted appear not to deviate much from the fraudulent, lazy, disrespectful to adults, unreliable, sex addicts… Being among the most popular kid-like characters in Nollywood, the frequent portrayal of delinquent behaviour by these actors in most of their films is giving the youth a different persona in our own cultural milieu. (177) The researchers’ conclusion fails to add or notice the dichotomies of characterization these actors play in Nollywood. The actors’ characters portrayals in Nollywood films are in two phases, which are adult role portrayals and children role portrayals. This duality is often misconstrued by some researchers who evaluate the characterization of Chinedu Ihedieze and Osita Iheme. Merging the adult roles and children roles they play in analysing the content of films they featured in may not been seen as a holistic approach in evaluating their impact on youths’ behaviours. This study while

looking at the two actors’ characters portrayals in Nollywood films carefully distinguishes the content where they played children roles from the content where they played adult roles and thus classified the former as children films.

J. O. Nnabuko and Tina Anatsui in their study entitled “Nollywood Movies and Nigerian Youths-An Evaluation” express concern on the contrary focus on the negative themes and its negative impact on youth behaviour and the image of Nigeria, the impact they believe lead the youths to different social vices such as organized crimes, prostitutions, Stealing, Unlawful possession, Forgery and altering etc. An analysis of their selected movies reveals that Nollywood movies for the youth highlight issues such as “violent robbery, ritual performances, rivalry, conflicts, sexual violence, organized crime, prostitution, murder, greed, avarice, impatience, jealously, envy, pride, arrogance, infidelity, treachery, occultism, etc.” (215) one may argue that the above themes if constantly presented to children/youth may create a different world view for them. But the problem is having utilized the above themes in movie making, most movie producers fail to establish commensurate measure to deter the youths from imitating the negative aspects of the characters as portrayed in the films. The researchers conclude their findings on the grounds that “The youths being what they are, looking out for flashy things, exercise of power, quick riches etc, so a forum is created [Nollywood movies] in indoctrinating and or a training ground for these youths” (221).

The above position sees Nollywood films as having negative influence on the youths, indoctrinating the youths into a definite world of ‘mischiefs’. However, their study focused on the youths between the ages of 13 to 40, this range is too wide that one may not decipher the particular age that is most likely to be influenced negatively by their selected films (Land of Tears, 2001.

Abuja Connection, 2003.fyawa Alhaji, 2001.Dead of the Night, 2002) The above films are movies with adult content and may not be advisable for viewers younger than 18, for example,

Ezeanyaeche’s Abuja Connection deals on a high level of prostitution that exposes nudity, amoral behaviours, crimes and so on and so forth.

Perhaps, the most recent study on the impact of Nollywood films on Nigerian children is a study entitled “Impact of Nollywood Films on Children’s Behaviour in Ekpoma Nigeria” carried out by Osakue, Stevenson Omoera, John Okhatie Edemode, and Peter Aihevba. The researchers examined the audience perception and the impact of Nollywood films on children behaviour in Ekpoma. They queried Nollywood films such as Aki and Popo (2000), Issakaba (2001), Ultimate Warrior (2006), Yahoo Boys (2015), Crazy Twins 1 (2016) among others and their impact on children behaviour. From the respondents’ point of view, the aforementioned films have negative impact on the children. Therefore, the researchers deduce that:

Children have not been well represented in Nollywood films, it recognises that video-films could be used in developing or shaping the behaviour and attitude of children. It also finds that Nollywood videos tend to influence children negatively as a majority of the sampled population agrees that it learned much un-African behaviour such as the use of abusive slang, violent acts, and sexually provocative words from them. (370)

In appraising the wonderful efforts carried out in the above study, it is important to note some of the observations which may be subjective. Inasmuch as the researchers examined the impact of the above films on children in Ekpoma, they fail to recognize that most of the films they used are movies with adult themes and content, and should not be recommended for children in any part of the world, for example, Issakaba was banned by the Nigerian Video and Censorship Board, Yahoo Boys details the get-rich at all-cost syndrome that is ravaging the Nigerian society. As such, the two films if seen by children would blur their view of the real world situation. Then again, the age range of children involved in the study is 7– 11 and 12–17, one could agree with the researchers that children within the selected ages are impressionable when it comes to imitation of dubious

behaviours. However, some of the selected films as pointed out earlier are not suitable for children viewership. In their recommendations, they posit that:

…among other things, Nollywood content creators should begin to place emphasis on a range of culturally enlivening, entertaining, and character building narratives in scripting and shooting of movies. (370)

The recommendation above one could say does not address the place of Nigerian children in Nollywood films as one of the questions the researchers raised in their research question. Thus children need a film content that should talk about them, educate them, and address their emotional, physical and psychological needs. As Bolu Folayan puts it:

The above gap is what this study tries to fill. Nigerian children are not obligated or should not be compared to watch adult Nollywood films and the researchers determining the impact of such films (Adult films) on their character formation is questionable. From relevant studies, it is evident that children learn from film content, so creating a content that would put Nigerian children away from Nollywood adult films would be an ideal endeavour, hence Between Fantasy and Reality, the children filmic genre should advance their learning abilities and help inculcate good manners in the lives of teeming Nigerian children.

Having looked at the above studies by scholars on Nollywood and children, this research is unique in the sense that it deviates attention to what others have done by grouping films that have children content/themes, selecting three films purposively from the group and conducting a screening of the films to a selected group of primary school children within Awka Metropolis, observing their

reactions to the films, and thereafter administered questionnaire to document the results between films with fantasy genre and reality genre. The utilization of Fantasy-reality genre could provide the needed attention to Nigerian children in the Nollywood Film Industry.