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 sanitising 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 unclothedness. 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 behaviours;
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 unclothedness, half unclothedness 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”.
source: leadership.ng/entertainment/441949/immorality-in-movies-and-effects-on-youth