CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background Of The Study

The Nigerian home video industry, without doubts, has become a phenomena in Nigeria. Home films, widely known as Nollywood, have become household fixtures in social contexts(Haynes, & Okome, O. 2000). Many broadcast stations now show them as part of their entertainment repertoire, thereby sustaining their potential for socializing impacts and boosting the expansion of the sector.  In unraveling the development strategy of the industry, Uduakobong(2013), asserted that the themes and concentration among others makes the Nigerian video thrive. However, the presentation of the themes and subject matter in Nigerian home videos has been the most contentious of the concerns brought up by the sector. The principal point of the criticism has been that the films are clearly a glorification of violence, covert hooliganism, and a high degree of ritualism. This encompasses not just the worship exercises and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also rites of passage, atonement and purification rites, vows of allegiance, bloody dedication ceremonies, and many more ritualistic activities.  According to Akpabio (2012), the Nigerian home-videos convey a dramatic tale containing a conflict between good and evil, which typically encompasses the supernatural as well as the plots, schemes, and machinations of people who desire to obtain wealth and to live a luxurious lifestyle.  Even when the home video films seek to teach a lesson, the sordidness of the storyline and characterisation as reflected in odd rituals, sexual orgy, debauchery, and esoteric scenes may induce terror, panic, and moral irresponsibility.  So much intricacy is weaved around the storyline such that the scenes are mostly ritualistic. Plots of some getting wealthy by diabolic methods and others reinforcing themselves through fetish interaction maintained sway(Kumwenda, 2008).

Unfortunately, even in modern culture, most home-videos thrive on what is now the familiar terrain of the presentation of ritualized acts. These feature grotesque portrayals of spirits or else human beings whose usual activity has been altered. The prominent motif in these films is the exploitation of rituals and grotesque characters to establish circumstances in which luxury and riches transfer the actors from a regular reality to a realm of fantasy(Okeckukwu, 2016).  Although this road to the imaginary realm of wealth is frequently riddled with terrible acts and individuals, however, within the story, it is their existence and practice that delivers "success".  In fact, success frequently turns out to be fleeting and may be more in the form of an aberration of reality than the construction of a new permanent reality. The implication of these practices in home movies cannot be overstated, as youths are continuously seeking ways out of the hardships in Nigeria. This study is therefore focused on ascertaining the impact of excessive ritual themes in Nigerian home videos.

1.2 Statement Of The Problem

There is a booming Nigerian home-video sector, induced by the fall in celluloid filmmaking and the growth in the availability of video technology and hardware. The advent of the Igbo people of the south-eastern region of the nation into the sector in the early nineties affected the structure of the industry(Nwogu, 2007). Hence, t he rate at which the "films" (as they are often known in Nigeria) are cranked out, notably by the Igbos, greatly surpasses their usefulness in the development of the public good.  The prominent motif in these films is the employment of rituals of sacrifice to establish settings in which wealth and riches take the actors from a regular reality to a realm of fantasy(Okon, 2015).  The ritual sacrifices necessary to accomplish this "success" are nearly usually humans. however, t he trip to this ideal world of wealth, albeit frequently horrible, looks to deliver "success". This success, however, frequently turns out to be temporary, an aberration of reality rather than a new reality(Kumwenda, 2008). The claimed moral goal of the films is to portray a kind of evil conduct in order to deter others from indulging in it. Yet more than anything else, the video-films support the efficiency of rituals in the form and manner in which the people in the recorded "rituals" are portrayed: fantastically affluent and successful(Akpabio 2012).  Far from functioning as a deterrent, however, the selective scapegoatism of failure, which leaves most of them not only unpunished but in fact "rewarded", reinforces the belief and perhaps drives the urge to perform and complete such rituals as a fast and simple path to prosperity.

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