CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
There is an increasing concern nowadays as to the role which films can play in the life of an average Nigerian youth especially students. The pattern of film broadcast in recent times is unarguably better than that of 10 years ago and the rate at which Nigerians sit glued to their television sets when watching films these days is high compared to that of some years ago.
About a decade ago, nobody seemed to realize the effort of Nigerian English Language Films but reverse is the case these days as Nigerian English Language films have now taken over the film industry. The industry which came up not long ago has actually achieved a lot during its little period of existence. Since Nigerian English Language films came, there have been a lot of developments and most of these actors and actresses used in these, started with featuring soap operas on Nigerian Television station. Before they actually came into lime light. Earlier actors had to start their career in film production with stage drama which is usually shown in the cinema houses. They engage in this stage drama for a number of years before they started with the production of home video. During the mid Nineties, English Language films (Nigerian) that made waves could be seen in so many houses, films such as true confession, Glamour Girls, Domitila and so many others. But nowadays, Nigerian English Language films have been taken on a new dimension as films have now dominated the market scenes.
This study seeks to identify the disposition of the audience towards Nigerian English Language film and to ascertain their reactions towards these films. It will also be helpful a lot in the sense that it will be of help in folding the diverse attitude of audience. If the submission of the students of the Osun State Polytechnic, Iree could be an effective representation of the aggregated views of Nigerians
The value of films, particularly home video films as medium of mass communication is fast assuming a highly important position through out the world. All over Nigeria today according to Tell magazine publication of June 1994 there are over thirty million people watching Nigerian English Language Films.
During the general conference of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held in Nairobi Kenya in 1976, the world body was almost turn apart by threats and counter threats that have the deficiencies and imbalance in the global world that has it communication corrected films in all forms, particularly video films was one of the areas in which this imbalance exists and also a vehicle for the perpetual of cultural alien nation.
In the modern world, much of what people know about their countries culture is learned from films that are viewed on video tapes, this is not learned through personal channels as the case may be, film experts suggest that the influence of the media on our social realities correlates with the extent of our dependence on the media for information, the impact of film will be high when dependence on the media is high. Many years ago, Walter Lipman (134) explained how we formed “the picture in our head” people could not possibly experience most events of the real world. Hence, people derived their knowledge of the world through these films.
Several theoretical formation support the view that the impact of films in a society will correspond closely images of the world portrayed in these films will be internalized and accepted to be accurate. In Ifedayo Daramola 2004 (INRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION) explained learning theory as how people learn different behavior values and stereotypes from observation made. It also shows how some people react after watching some films on video tape or in the cinema houses.