SOURCE:

Faculty: Social Sciences
Department: Mass Communication

CONTRIBUTORS:

OBIORA, A.V
Dunu, I.V

ABSTRACT:

Traditional monarchy still plays a visible role in the cultural and political life of communities in today’s Nigeria. Over the years, this institution has featured prominently in Nollywood films, which as a leading source of entertainment in the country, may thus influence how people view this institution. Therefore, this study focused on the pattern of representation of Igbo monarchy in Nollywood films within a period of twenty years (1996 - 2015). Situated within the framework of Social Representation theory, the study adopted content analysis, critical discourse analysis (CDA) and key informant interview (KII) as the design. A total of 20 Igbo monarchy films were randomly selected across the years of study, while six key informants were interviewed. Analysis was both quantitative and qualitative. Findings revealed that Nollywood films have constructed Igbo monarchy as an important aspect of Igbo cultural setup, portraying royals as playing vital leadership role – political and religious – in their respective communities. The qualities portrayed of Igbo monarchy in Nollywood films included physical power, valour, divine connection, wisdom, and wealth. Further, the emerging themes in Nollywood Igbo monarchy films were war, valour, mystery, love, marriage, wealth and class conflict. Factors that have shaped portrayal of Igbo monarchy in Nollywood mainly included cultural pride and commercial considerations. It was found that sources of ideas of Nollywood film producers in their construction of Igbo monarchy mainly included personal observation of Igbo cultural realities and Igbo oral and written literature. It was concluded that representation of Igbo monarchy in Nollywood films tended to reflect some dominant discourses of power, class and gender in Nigeria. It was recommended that filmmakers should do more in the area of research towards better portrayal of Igbo culture in their works.