As much as Nigerians love Nollywood and their movies,
parents are becoming steadily wary of the prominence being given to immorality
through X-rated films lately. In this report, RUTH CHOJI examines the place of
regulating and censorship agencies in sanitizing the industry.
Having
become the second largest film industry in the world, most viewers are of the
opinion that Nollywood movies would have risen beyond a certain level of
immorality and barbarism that could be considered averagely above board. They are
daily descending into immorality that is polluting the mind of young audience
who are the majority viewers.
Nigeria,
nay Africa in general, value the issue of morality because it is embedded in
their socio-cultural lives and this includes norms, values, taboos and beliefs.
Juliet Chinasa, an actress who spoke with LEADERSHIP Sunday on immorality in
Nigerian movies, stated that, “the world has changed and people are more
interested in explicit content. They want to see beautiful women with beautiful
bodies. Ours is still better because we don’t make love in movies or parade our
nakedness. We just wear skimpy dresses and kiss once in a while. This does not
mean we are immoral. After all, these things actually happen in secret, even
the children know most of the things they see. It is up to parents to control
what their children watch, ours is to entertain.”
Another
aspiring actor who spoke with LEADERSHIP Sunday is Anita Daniel and she said, “Yes
I want to be a star but I won’t expose my body to make it in Nollywood. Those
who do it are desperadoes. It is against our beliefs and culture. In fact, my
father will kill me if he sees me parading naked in films. He doesn’t even like
Nigerian movies because of what he sees on TV. I won’t give him reason to ban me
from acting.”
Evangelist
Peter Ali, who has produced two Christian movies stated that, “immorality in
movies was what pushed me to the industry. I don’t like what I see in our
secular films and I feel this is one way I can propagate the word of God. The
youths need to know that you can watch a movie and enjoy it without learning
bad things. The power of television has brought a lot of changes, some for good
and some for bad and it is worse in the lives of the teenagers.
I don’t like it
when I see our movie actors’ act nude or half naked, smoke weed and also
portray some funny behaviors; children watch and pick these habits. A director
does not have to use such things to make his film sell. So, when you talk of
censorship, it must start with self; that is the director himself must know
what is right and wrong, what the society expects from him and what he will
like to see his children watch and learn.
There
must be a desire to do the right thing without debasing or lowering the taste
of the films. Movies to me are supposed to be channels of promoting societal
values and norms. Most of these directors allow such things because they want
to sell their movies. But it is not all about the money. If you notice, you
will see that young people now believe in getting rich quick or die trying
because that is what they see on TV. Another problem is that the actors
themselves love wearing such clothes. On most sets, the producer and director
don’t have a say over what the actors wear because theycdon’t have money to buy
the kind of clothes they would want them to wear and so, they overlook such
things.
What
I believe is that films are meant to educate, socialise and play a therapeutic
role in the lives of the audience. Unfortunately, that is not the norm today as
most of our movies are based on sex, violence, fetishism, occultism, voodoo,
prostitution, sibling rivalry, evils of polygamy, devilish spiritualism and
rituals or juju, black magic, sorcery, ritual murder, witchcraft, obscenity,
kidnapping and money worship. It is wrong and the producers must stop it.
They
have the final say because if they don’t produce movies, the actor won’t become
an actor. They should be the first censors before the actual censors board can
come to play.”
Also speaking on the issue, a lecturer of mass communication, Abdullahi Garba
also stated, “I am also worried over the content of our local movies.
What
these actors don’t understand is that some audiences hardly can differentiate
the disparity between “on-the-screen” character and “off-the screen” character.
Most times, they have the perception that the nude display in movies is the
natural behaviour of their favourite actors. So, naturally, they want to
emulate them. People in Africa attach much importance to dignity and respect in
our culture but some local home videos seem to be stereotypical of lack of
dignity for womanhood.
For a good producer who is concerned with the content of
his movies, he must know whether his movie has an educational or entertainment
value, apart from promoting Nigerian culture, unity or interest, he or she must
also ensure that the movie does not undermine national security, reinforce
corruption, does not glorify violence and will not promote African heritage to
ridicule. That the movie will not encourage illegal or criminal acts, religious
and ethnic discrimination, blasphemy or obscenity nor indecent, or likely to be
injurious to (public or private) morality or be filled with nakedness, half
nakedness or other acts of nudity that appeal to sexual desire of viewers.
When
movies like Domitilla, Glamour Girls, Room 027 where an actor grabbed the boobs
of the actress and the other actor was shown in scenes like making love to an
actress are few examples among many others. It tells you that we are getting it
wrong. Every producer must take into account the cultural disposition of our
society before producing their movies.
We must go back to the beginning where movies were
produced to teach the society lessons, not to corrupt them. Parents must also
restrict TV time and watch the movies before allowing their children to view
it. Parents must also turn off the TV in the night or select channels that
their children would watch even when they are not there.
A
cross-section of Nigerians opined that although the National Broadcasting
Commission (NBC) and the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) have been
mandated to issue out licenses, monitor, regulate and conduct research in
broadcasting in Nigeria, the rate at which producers churn out X-rated movies
that erode our values and beliefs have made their work more herculean. They are
of the view that the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) must rise to
the occasion and start enforcing laws while prosecuting those caught in the
act.
Pastor
Timothy Goyit, a psychologist and pastor with Living Light And Truth Assembly
in Masaka, Nasarawa State, contends that movies, whether Nigerian or foreign,
that contain excessive amount of violence watched by children, can make them
have less empathy; they will also want to use aggression to solve their
problems than dialogue. Such people become less sensitive to the pain and
suffering of others and may be harmful towards others. They are also more
likely to hit people who annoy them, argue, disobey rules and leave tasks
unfinished.
But Jesus said in the book of Matthew 15:10, ‘it is not what enters
into the mouth that defiles the man but what proceeds out of the mouth.’ On the
case of nudity in movies, God himself made clothes for Adam and Eve so that
they could be covered in (Gen. 3:21). So, why should we allow our actors and
actresses to be exposing themselves on TV? Christians must reject public
displays of nudity on television. The eye is the light of the body; so then if
your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye
watches bad things, your whole body will be affected (Matt. 6:22-23). St Paul
warns us that “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals’” (1 Cor.
15:33). When we watch nudity on TV, we expose ourselves to things that can make
us sin.”
Mallam
Abdulazia Yahaya, a Muslim cleric, also stated that, “television viewing
is sinful in Islam, it is believed that there is no film that does not have
music in it and Islam forbids listening to music. It is Kabirah (great) sin.
The female voice in Islam, is Satar, it is to be concealed and men are not
supposed to hear it. The Qur’an also states that, ‘and among mankind are those
who purchase idle tales so as to lead astray (others) from the Path of Allah.
And, they make a mockery of the Laws of Allah.’ Islam also forbids listening
and watching fiction that will not let people live in reality to gain Allah’s
Pleasure by fixing the gaze on the hereafter and not on the TV screen. Islam
demands the concealment of the female body. The Messenger of Allah (SAW)
further said that, ‘woman is an object of concealment, not an object of
immorality and immodesty, we all know that movies show immodesty and immorality
in them and The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: “Shamelessness (immodesty) is
vice, and vice will be in the fire”.
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