Naija Movies Are Too Dumb For My Liking - Nigerian Movies & Nollywood on Naijarules.com

vince · #1 (**permalink**) 01-01-2004, 07:32 AM

So says a webboard member of a popular website in an interview when he/she was asked what the most fav naija movie was.
So my question is to you peeps here is this,"are naija movies "DUMB"?
Why would anybody think that they are dumb?What makes them dumb?
What about we that love to watch them,are we dumb too?
Let's discuss.

Sola · #2 (**permalink**) 01-01-2004, 09:57 AM

People who don't think say that. You have to see beyond your nose. There are many things to consider to put the state of Nigerian movies in perspective.

vince · #3 (**permalink**) 01-01-2004, 01:05 PM

I don't know if one should dismiss the statement like that,Sola.A lot of people think this way.They believe that the movies are intellectually substandard as far as the stroylines go.They are hardly intellectually stimulating,but overplays the melodrama.I asked one particular person here in austria who has this same opinion and he said that the storilines are much too simplistic and lack sophistication and depth.
I personally have to say that save for precious few,this is very accurate.
One person on this particular webboard where the interview was taken,once said that and i quote "they are illiterate movies and not worth the time",unquote.

Sola · #4 (**permalink**) 01-01-2004, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vince
I personally have to say that save for precious few,this is very accurate.

You just agreed with me there. The members of that board function from a limited perspective. People like that watch a couple of stupid movies and write off everybody. That is not an analytical position. Anyone that knows anything will never generalize, no matter how crappy the lot are - because they have not seen everything out there. They alsod do not know the people behind the scene working on these things.

Finally, I will post here what I posted on a Yahoo group I belong to called Krazitivity:

Quote:

Gross generalizations like you have below ought to be balanced by all
the wonderful things the home video industry is currently doing for
Nigeria at home and abroad. Sit and assess its impact on the economy
at home and the economies of the video entrepreneurs abroad.

Is it doing more harm than? Absolutely not. Has it changed any since
1994? Of course it grows and gets better daily. There are many
shortcomings, but if you know your history, nothing good starts at
the level of "good". It matures to get there. And that includes the
Hollywood that many tout so stoutly.

This is the teething stage, the school of experience. And even at
this stage, it is already earning close to 10b, quoting reliable
sources. Is it exportable? It already is, notwithstanding the fact
that the government has helped in no credible way either via policy
or investment. This business and its allied dependencies currently
provide jobs for a vast army of Nigerians who would have been walking
the streets. And it provides a training school for the next
generation of movie-makers.

Do you think Spielberg or Cameron or even Hitchcock were/were first
generation Hollywood producer/directors? Well, these boys are first
generation (for video). Go and look at the history of Hollywood and
you will see the crap they shot while starting out more than a 100
years ago.

Only a miniscule number of people in the world are interested in the
kind of 'intelligent chatter' that goes on here. Most people don't
need this sort of exchange to live. How many people read newspapers?
Home movies are pop items, not intellectual ballroom dancing. The
francophone countries with all the support from all over
producing "art" films still have no mass audience. They produce for
film festivals and universities abroad. That is not where a
country's "answer to Hollywood" lies.

Tell the snobs to go and study their history, the history of any good industry, any solid entertainment industry... It is usually soaked in crap like we have now. Let them give the boys a break and support them during the teething stage. That is what the Japanese did for their car and electronics manufacturing industry years ago when the whole world laughed at them. Today, they lead a world of innovation. Look at the early days of the Internet and the crappy websites and content that filled the place. The shaking has discarded the crap. Everything has a beginning. The danger is that it either survives or it bursts.

Let them take a hike Vince. They speak thru some dark hole in their behind.

khamileon · #5 (**permalink**) 01-03-2004, 03:50 PM

BLESS U SOLA, FOR UR RESPONCE!

IT IS SICKENING TO HEAR PEOPLE TALK LIKE THAT. NIGERIAN MOVIES ARE DUMB, THEY DON’T LISTEN TO NIGERIAN MUSIC…SOME OF THESE PEOPLE JUST CAME TO THE WEST LAST YEAR AND TO BELONG THEY HAVE TO PUT EVERYTHING NIGERIAN DOWN. THEY SEE EVERYTHING IN THE LIGHT OF AMERICA..HOLLYWOOD. IF IT DOESN’T MEET THAT STANDARD, THEN IT’S RUBBISH. YET THEY HAVE AND WILL NEVER CONTRIBUTE A DIME TO UPLIFT THAT THING THEY COMPLAIN ABOUT. I HAVE ASKED A MILLION TIMES, WHY WILL NIGERIAN MOVIES BE SEEN IN THE LIGHT OF HOLLYWOOD. IF ANY OF THESE SELF-MADE CRITICS WANT TO KNOW IF WE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE AN OSCAR MOVIE, I SAY PUT DOWN $300,000 FOR THEM TO SHOOT A MOVIE. IGODO, ODUDUWA, SHANGO, NONE OF THESE MOVIES COST $100,000 TO SHOOT. SHOW THESE TO HOLLYWOOD AND TELL THEM THE COST AND WATCH THEIR MOUTH DROP IN DISBELIEF, BECAUSE THEY KNOW IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE WITH SUCH A TIGHT BUDGET. I WILL SAY IT LOUD AND CLEAR APART FROM FOOTBALL, NAIJA MOVIE IS ONE OF THE VERY FEW POSITIVE THING COMING OUT OF NIGERIA. IT NEEDS ALL ENCOURAGEMENT

vince · #6 (**permalink**) 01-04-2004, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by khamileon
BLESS U SOLA, FOR UR RESPONCE!

IT IS SICKENING TO HEAR PEOPLE TALK LIKE THAT. NIGERIAN MOVIES ARE DUMB, THEY DON’T LISTEN TO NIGERIAN MUSIC…SOME OF THESE PEOPLE JUST CAME TO THE WEST LAST YEAR AND TO BELONG THEY HAVE TO PUT EVERYTHING NIGERIAN DOWN. THEY SEE EVERYTHING IN THE LIGHT OF AMERICA..HOLLYWOOD. IF IT DOESN’T MEET THAT STANDARD, THEN IT’S RUBBISH. YET THEY HAVE AND WILL NEVER CONTRIBUTE A DIME TO UPLIFT THAT THING THEY COMPLAIN ABOUT. I HAVE ASKED A MILLION TIMES, WHY WILL NIGERIAN MOVIES BE SEEN IN THE LIGHT OF HOLLYWOOD. IF ANY OF THESE SELF-MADE CRITICS WANT TO KNOW IF WE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE AN OSCAR MOVIE, I SAY PUT DOWN $300,000 FOR THEM TO SHOOT A MOVIE. IGODO, ODUDUWA, SHANGO, NONE OF THESE MOVIES COST $100,000 TO SHOOT. SHOW THESE TO HOLLYWOOD AND TELL THEM THE COST AND WATCH THEIR MOUTH DROP IN DISBELIEF, BECAUSE THEY KNOW IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE WITH SUCH A TIGHT BUDGET. I WILL SAY IT LOUD AND CLEAR APART FROM FOOTBALL, NAIJA MOVIE IS ONE OF THE VERY FEW POSITIVE THING COMING OUT OF NIGERIA. IT NEEDS ALL ENCOURAGEMENT

Khamil,the interview i was talking about was these ones they are doing on NE.
Maybe you know the person i'm talking about.

khamileon · #7 (**permalink**) 01-04-2004, 12:16 PM

Thats why I wrote dem lines above...