dc.description.abstract |
Much of the scholarship on Nollywood has focused on the films‘ preoccupation with
the occult, negative representation of women, shoddy plots, as well as generic
configurations. Also, there have been persistent propositions for Nollywood
filmmakers to adopt Nigerian literature as source material to ameliorate the
deficiencies noticeable in the contents of their films. The propositions, which remain
largely unheeded, came on the heels of the observation that filmmakers have paid
very little attention to literary texts in spite of Nigeria‘s enviable profile of written
literature. Scholarly attempts at providing explanations for filmmakers‘ apathy to
literary adaptations have rarely considered the production-related hurdles. This study
was, therefore, designed to undertake a deeper production-focused investigation to
provide industry-generated perspective to the often pondered question on the paucity
of literary adaptations in Nollywood.
Simon Murray‘s Adaptation Industry Theory was utilised while ethnography
was adopted as design. The respondents were selected through the purposive sampling
technique because they were stakeholders involved in film production in Nollywood.
Primary data were collected through fifteen (15) key informant interviews with
selected Nollywood filmmakers. Four in-depth interviews were conducted with
literary authors and three focus group discussions were held with undergraduate
students of Theatre and Film Studies at three federal universities in southern Nigeria,
namely: University of Lagos, Akoka, University of Ibadan, Ibadan and University of
Nigeria, Nsukka. The choice of the students for the discussions was informed by the
understanding that they belong to departments directly related to the industry. Data
were content-analysed.
The evolution of the industry from the market, inadequate professional
qualification of filmmakers, absence of a reading culture amongst filmmakers,
commitment to individual creativity, audience preferences, the fear of negative
reviews and budgetary constraints were identified as the reasons for Nollywood
filmmakers‘ apathy towards literary adaptations. The cumbersome process of film
rights acquisition, dearth of screenwriters, and financial implications of a longer
production duration, research, and reconstruction of the setting of literary texts are the
peculiar challenges of producing literary adaptations in Nollywood. Lack of a proper
distribution structure, piracy, cinema infrastructural deficit and taxes are factors that
deter filmmakers from venturing more readily into the production of literary
adaptations in Nollywood. Undergraduates of cognate departments showed mixed
impressions about Nollywood. While some saw remarkable improvement, others
thought there is still a lot to be desired. They revealed their indisposition to reading
literary texts outside the recommended materials and showed preference for regular
films of the comedy, epic and thriller genres over literary adaptations. Creative
storytelling, quality audio-visual output and originality of themes held more attraction
for them than the adaptation of literary texts. The undergraduates‘ attitude confirmed
filmmakers‘ assertion of audience preference as a significant factor that makes the
production of literary adaptations unpopular in Nollywood.
Producing literary adaptations, therefore, poses several challenges to
filmmakers. Thus, they are rarely produced because they are commercially
unprofitable within the Nollywood context of filmmaking. |
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