The home video through its offering plays pivotal roles of information, education and entertainment. It has provided knowledge to the viewing audience and directs their attention to issues to think about and/or learn....The home video through its offering plays pivotal roles of information, education and entertainment. It has provided knowledge to the viewing audience and directs their attention to issues to think about and/or learn. Popularly called Nollywood, the home video industry has brought scholars, reporters, reviewer, journalists, investors, and different kinds of people to the country; to investigate, invest, and observe the industry or network with people. Through the portrayals and representations of Nigeria and its people, a lot of people, especially foreigners and Nigerians in the Diaspora have come to understand the socio-economic and political terrain of the nation based on the home videos offerings; thus the need to x-ray the depictions in the Nigerian home video films to ascertain the reality of their Nigerian image from the perspectives. The study was undertaken through content analysis of 50 video films which were televised as programmes on television stations in Lagos and Africa Magic （a cable network station）, within the framework of agenda-setting and cultivation theories. The results reveal that while the home video producers have effectively revealed Nigerians as religious and traditional people, very little has been done to portray the economic and investment potentials of the nation; the nation＇s symbols like flags, coat of arm, currencies amongst others are barely revealed; negative attitudes of get-rich-quick, get-rich-at-all-cost, witchcraft, and fetish practices as well as violence, hooliganism, and ritualism amongst other things are often exaggerated in the films. Following the home video portrayals and representations, it could be imagined that the Nigerian urban environment is as beautiful and rich with predominantly affluent and flamboyant people as are depicted in the home videos. The misrepresentations, overrepresentations, and under-presentations of the nation＇s image in the home video can be very detrimental to the nation＇s socio-economic development especially as the nation＇s destiny is indirectly related to its image. They can further pose challenges to the attitudes and responses of people from other nations to the Nigerian citizens within and outside the country. Furthermore, some Nigerian citizens, especially the youths could aspire to and learn certain lifestyles and attitudes projected in the home videos as acceptable.展开更多
文摘The home video through its offering plays pivotal roles of information, education and entertainment. It has provided knowledge to the viewing audience and directs their attention to issues to think about and/or learn. Popularly called Nollywood, the home video industry has brought scholars, reporters, reviewer, journalists, investors, and different kinds of people to the country; to investigate, invest, and observe the industry or network with people. Through the portrayals and representations of Nigeria and its people, a lot of people, especially foreigners and Nigerians in the Diaspora have come to understand the socio-economic and political terrain of the nation based on the home videos offerings; thus the need to x-ray the depictions in the Nigerian home video films to ascertain the reality of their Nigerian image from the perspectives. The study was undertaken through content analysis of 50 video films which were televised as programmes on television stations in Lagos and Africa Magic （a cable network station）, within the framework of agenda-setting and cultivation theories. The results reveal that while the home video producers have effectively revealed Nigerians as religious and traditional people, very little has been done to portray the economic and investment potentials of the nation; the nation＇s symbols like flags, coat of arm, currencies amongst others are barely revealed; negative attitudes of get-rich-quick, get-rich-at-all-cost, witchcraft, and fetish practices as well as violence, hooliganism, and ritualism amongst other things are often exaggerated in the films. Following the home video portrayals and representations, it could be imagined that the Nigerian urban environment is as beautiful and rich with predominantly affluent and flamboyant people as are depicted in the home videos. The misrepresentations, overrepresentations, and under-presentations of the nation＇s image in the home video can be very detrimental to the nation＇s socio-economic development especially as the nation＇s destiny is indirectly related to its image. They can further pose challenges to the attitudes and responses of people from other nations to the Nigerian citizens within and outside the country. Furthermore, some Nigerian citizens, especially the youths could aspire to and learn certain lifestyles and attitudes projected in the home videos as acceptable.
