Nollywood: A Contextual Embassy

Abstract

Films function in a number of ways. Different peoples, organisations, and nations use the film medium to achieve many purposes. Film has been seen by several governments to be very important for the purposes of inculcating morel and for propaganda. The films of a nation are the nation's embassies to all countries of the world and the actors and actresses their ambassadors. As embassies and ambassadors, their representation of the country should be such that the country can compete favourably with other countries in the international scene without any form of prejudice.

The research sets out to examine what Nollywood tells the world about Nigeria and Nigerians in their representations. The research justifies or queries the kind of image projected of Nigeria and Nigerians to the rest of the world. Robert Merton's theory of functionalism and the social learning theory of Albert Bandura provide fulcrums for the work. The method is critical analysis and three movies are read.

Findings reveal that the image Nollywood portrays about Nigeria fails to fit into the theories of functionalism and social learning in which Nollywood is to maintain a social order and social structure as well as create models for people to imitate respectively through the image it portrays of the nation. Hence, the moviemakers need re-orientation and training so that the audience can perceive professionalism in their art. The stereotypes Nollywood makes of its citizens determine their worth. Therefore, moviemakers as ambassadors owe the nation a great deal on image formation and projection which will enhance a better perception