RITUAL KILLINGS: WE ARE ALL GUILTY!
Steven Anu’ Adesemoye
As this piece is being put together, Nigerians in hundreds are being killed for different rituals. Not because they deserve to die, but because our society has deteriorated to a high degree of a psychotic misnomer that is necessitated by clueless leadership, religious bigotry, and all-time high poverty, among other self-inflicted prognoses. If you think the figure is over-bloated and unscientific, visit the homicide section of any police station around you to unravel more outrageous figures or request the database of missing Nigerians from the government.
Therefore, it should not only be ridiculous but also antithetical that the arms of government heaped the blames for ritual killings on the film industry. This is not to say that the government is correct or incorrect. As a researcher, I will rather request empirical evidence of such a claim, because a situation of such magnitude goes beyond assumption or guesswork. Lives and livelihoods are involved; therefore, we don’t have to act on impulse or momentarily. Doing that will only amount to mere showmanship to attract attention and congratulations.
Kindly note, that the thrust of this piece is not to evaluate the content of Nollywood films, that could be another subject matter. What we are trying to test here is the hypothesis of the federal government on Nollywood as the harbinger of ritual killings. As much as I don’t want to undermine the uses and effects of media on individuals, I still strongly believe that many intervening variables must be put into consideration before drawing inference.
First, I don’t think there is any feature-length film produced in Nigeria that does not go through gatekeeping. I am not talking about skits or documentaries. The National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) vets and approves the contents of Nollywood films. So, the first query should go to the regulatory body if at all there is any need for that. That will raise the issues of parameters, incompetence, and integrity deficit on the part of regulators.
Second, I have seen a few Nigerian films in different languages, genres, and formats; none has glorified evil above good in its resolution. Evil is always punished and negatively portrayed. And I think that’s enough take away since we can hardly do away with evil acts in society. Suffice to say here that, filmmakers have helped to unveil the evils behind locked doors and prescribed regrettable endings for the villains.
Third, kindly try to understand the process, contrary to the ‘accusation’ against the filmmakers of polluting the society, I think the society is polluting the filmmakers. I may be wrong, but the fact remains that, filmmakers do not exist in a vacuum. Screenwriters combine places, spaces, and faces to make engaging stories. They do environmental scanning to access and process their stories. What they see, what they have heard, and what may happen are reflected in their stories. They equally analyze trends, predict consequences and turn them into stories. Just like Prof Walter of UCLA puts it, if you are writing a screenplay, you are writing your obituary. What you are writing is a reflection of what you know, who you are, as bestowed upon you by society. This is not without imagination and fantasies though. So, we should rather say that the government should contain and curtail the misnomers in the society that shapes the storyline of the filmmakers, and not the reverse. By the way, what is even good about Nigeria at the moment that is worth the 120 minutes of viewers’ precious time?
Fourth, new media is a big conveyor belt that amplifies most of these inordinate acts. The democratization of the internet gives room for little or no censorship and proliferation of content. The penetration and immersion are massive. The internet natives are larger and more vulnerable. So, the government may also be looking in that direction and other media platforms.
Fifth, ritual is part of us. It is an offshoot of African cosmology. We are naturally wired like that. Antiquity gave birth to paranormal phenomena through traditions, beliefs, stories, myths, and basic knowledge of anthropology. Overtly or covertly, we do rituals in churches, mosques, and shrines. Africans, just like other continents strongly believe in spirituality and supernatural beliefs. Research has proven this fact. We may have different degrees of belief and involvement, but it is what it is. We have two categories of believers; people that believe in the existence of spirituality or supernatural or paranormal phenomena and people that do not only believe in existence but are also involved in the activities.
The same spirituality has always been the major central dramatic problem of our stories since the days of Yoruba traveling theatres. Spiritualism gives birth to ritualism. Even when the likes of late Hubert Ogunde moved from street to screen, supernaturalism and paranormal activities were very much pronounced in his stories. How come the whole country didn’t adopt fetishism?
Fifth, talking scientifically, many scholars have established the fact that consumption of media has its effects on individuals, no doubt about that. We were made to understand that the reinforcement or repetition leads to penetration and probably adoption. Adoption of such ideas from the media gives a sense of realism and acceptability as the consensual reality.
We have also established that most human behaviours are learned through observation. Observing and imitating behaviour seen on TV and others.
It is equally believed that communication is transactional – the process that leads to the acceptability or otherwise is interconnected. The audience receives, negotiates, accepts or rejects, and applies or discards.
Kindly note, that the communication theories that I have tried to summarise from cultivation to social learning and reception have variables that must be considered before all the processes can take effect. This is the point we are all missing out on, especially the government on this issue of ritual killings and Nollywood.
No individual is exposed to media content with an empty mind. Nobody watches a film without having some background orientation. The validity or otherwise is what the media contents give. A film can only reinforce or debunk your existing belief. (To be continued).
