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THE SCREEN ACTOR AND CULTURAL IDENTITY. A CASE STUDY OF IGODO.
TABLE OF CONTENT
CONTENT PAGE
DEDICATION
CERTIFICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
PURPOSE OF STUDY
SCOPE OF STUDY
JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.0 DEFINITION OF TERMS
1.1 SYNOPSIS OF IGBODO
1.2 SETTING OF IGODO
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 PLOT/ STRUCTURE OF IGODO
3.1 LANGUAGE/STYLE/ TECHNIQUES OF IGODO
3.2 THEMATIC STRUCTURE OF IGODO
3.3 CHARACTER/CHARACTERIZATION IN IGODO
3.4 SUMMARY
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 CULTURAL IDENTITY IN IGODO
4.1 SCREEN ACTOR AND CULTURAL IDENTITY IN IGODO
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 SUMMARY
5.1 FINDINGS
5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABSTRACT
This project is a direct statement on the use of the screen actor to expose the cultural Heritage of the ‘’Ndi igbo’’ (Igbo people) with a critical study of the actors in Igodo. This study is intended to make you identify with a particular culture through the actors that we see on screen.
This project is contained in five chapters. The first chapter functions as an introductory chapter to this study. It is in chapter two that literates that are relevant to the subject of this study are reviewed. Chapter three carries out an analysis of the film, Igodo with emphasis on the cultural elements. The body of the work is in chapter four where the screen actors are reconciled with cultural identity. This study is concluded in the fifth and consequently, the last chapter.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Because of the nature of the subject under study, the research wishes to adopt the literary methodology of research. This method is also called the analytical methodology. According to Sam Ukala (2000) the literary methodology is available to researchers of subjects, about which or whom much has already been written and whom the reasearcher is unable to observe or make physical contact with (p.3).
The primary source materials for this research shall revolve around some carefully chosen Nigerian video films especially Igodo. And as is’s the nature of the literary methodology of research, the researcher has also designed the secondary source materials to include textbooks, play texts, articles, newsletters, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, terms papers etc.
It is also the wish of the researcher to include her personal observation and experience as sources of data collection for this research. This is because the researcher’s own analysis or interpretation may lead to a new insight or prove superiority of a neglected opinion over those that have held sway for long.
PURPOSE OF STUDY
People consume theatre products for different reasons personal to them. Some watch theatre productions because of the spectacle achieved through rich costumes and make-up, others watch stage/screen productions because of leisure while so many persons visit the theatre because of the excitement of watching some super stars performs either on screen or stage. But the truth remains that apart from the purpose of spectacle, leisure and stardom, most theatre produces like stage productions, play texts and home video films are research materials for students of history and of culture.
It is therefore the researcher’s purpose that this study should present a screen actor as not just a source of spectacle or entertainment; but as an instrument for the identification of one’s culture.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
According to V. O. Ajala (199) ‘Beginners should plan to investigate a problem of manageable size and reserve other variables for later studies. From this reason. The researcher has designed this study to be restricted only to the screen actor and the concept of cultural identity. The major interest of the researcher is to attempt a critical analysis of the key characters in Igodo with the aim of exposing how these characters aid us to identify the culture of a people.
As earlier stated in the proposal, this study is designed to be contained in five chapters. The first and second chapters shall border on the introduction and the literature review. It is also proper to note at this juncture that the literature to be reviewed shall centre only on theatre and culture. However, the real subject for this study shall be explored in the third and fourth chapters while the fifth chapter is fashioned to contain the findings, recommendations that are bound to arise from this study. Ti is also the fifth chapter that is designed to conclude this study.
JUSTIFICAITON OF STUDY
According to I. C. Krama 92000), African theatre expresses all aspects of the traditional culture and gives meaning to social, political, economic institutions and religious activities. Yemi Ogunbiyi (ed. 1981) also added that ‘’for, as an expression of the relationship between man, society and nature, drama arose out of fundamental human needs in the dawn of human civilization and has continued to express those needs ever since. (p.1)
Drawing from the above, it becomes pertinent to justify this study especially as the study revolves around the relationship that exists between an actor and cultural identity.
Over the years, students of the humanities are always faced with the task of reconciling the relationship that exists between acting and culture but only the studious ones are able to overcome such task. It is the same task that the researcher of this study has decided to overcome too.
Obviously, this study draws its justification from the study’s ability to refer to the screen actor as a medium for cultural identity. The study’s ability to explore the characterization details of a Nigerian video film, Igodo, is a deliberate attempt by the researcher to justify this study.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Since 1979, when the Nigerian National Council for Arts and culture organized a seminar on the film and cultural development, the Nigerian film culture has witnessed a lot of changes. Against this background therefore, I have set for myself, the task of researching on how a screen actor assists in the upliftment of cultural identity.
With a special study on Igodo, a Nigerian epic film, I shall explain in detail how the actors in the said film contributes to the identification of the culture of the society of the film. However, the film Igodo is a product of O. J. productions, directed by Andy Amenechi and Don Pedro Obaseki. It is set in a typical Igbo society of the 16th century.
Igodo tells the story of how seven warriors were sent to the evil forest, the land of the living dead, in search of the mysterious matcher which alone can cut down the evil tree of Amadioha that is responsible for random death in Umuigodo.
However, what the researcher enjoy most in the film is the choice of locations and the film’s use of natural costumes. As we see the costumes, we easily identify with the rich cultural heritage of the primitive Igbo society. Also, the caves, hills and mountains exposed in most of the locations also foster the identification of the typical Igbo environment. They also boost the entire spectacle of the film. These are the elements that I enjoy so much in the film.
Video is the process of recording, reproducing or broadcasting films on magnetic tape, using a special camera and a television. Professionally, there are two basic principles that underly film/video production. They are the principles of persistehnce of vision and the phi-phenomenon. The principle of persistence of vision was discovered in 1824 by Peter Roget. It states that the retina of the eye retains an image for a fraction of a second after the image is removed or changed. It is this principle that enables our eyes to be fooled into believing a succession of separate and slightly different images to be actually one moving image. In the same vein, the principle of phi-phenomenon also allows us to see a succession of static images as a single unbroken movement and it is one of the principles upon which the illusion of continuous motion is built. This principle was discovered in 1912 by Max Wertheimer.
According to L.O Bamidele 92000), at the early development of the television/video medium in Nigeria, the television play experienced a restricted technical potentials because such plays were not specifically written for the television medium rather they designed for the stage. Such plays, according to him, include; Duro Ladipo’s Oba Koso, Rotimi’s Kurunmi etc. history also has it that the first Nigerian experience of home video started with Kenneth Nnebue’s (Nek Video) production of Living in Bondage in the early 1990’s. This era marked the beginning of indigenous Nigerian come video that could aid us in the identification of our cultures.
On the other hand, the term culture has been variously defined. But for the purpose of this study, we shall restricted ourselves to the definition by Sanderson (1988) which states that ‘’culture is the total life-ways characteristics of the members of a society, including tools, knowledge, and patterned ways of thinking and acting, that are learned and shared are not the direct product of biological inheritance’ (p.13).
1.0 DEFINITION OF TERMS.
In the introduction of this chapter, the researcher made a bold attempt at defining ‘video’ and ‘culture’ respectively. But in order to aid a further understanding of this study, the researcher has deemed it fit and necessary to briefly define the terms screen actor and ‘cultural identity’. The coinage screen actor in the researcher’s sense means a human agent that is professionally designed by an artistic director to interpret a role of any kind or magnitude on television. It involves the wide range of actors that lecture on either television dramas, home videos or movies. On the other hand what the researcher means by the term Cultural Identity is the ability or reckoning or affiliating with a particular culture based on the availability of some cultural traits which are believed to be unique to that culture. It is the concept of cultural identity that enables us to distinguish a Hausa culture from that of the Yorubas or an Igbo culture from a typical Benin culture.
1.1 SYNOPSIS OF IGODO
Set in a primitive south eastern Nigeria, Igodo x-rays the tragedy that envelops the then Umuoka as a result of the villagers conspiracy against an innocent boy, Iheukumere, the favourite of Amadioha (the god of tunder).
Death hovers around Umuoka as the villagers die in their numbers. The only solution becomes the cutting down of the Amadioha tree with a machete fro mteh land of the living dead. Because the conspiracy against Iheukumere was hatched by seven villagers and executed by the entire village, Amadioha also insists that seven warriors in Umuoka embark on a Journey to the evil groove in search of the mysterious matchet. The seven warriors are named, equipped and sent forth in search of the amadioha matchet. But as they approach the land of the living dead, mysterious forces threaten their search as they all die mysteriously, except Igodo, who survives back home with the matchet and the name Umuoka was changed to umuigodo as a mark of honour to the only survivor, he in turn brings peace to the village.
1.2 SETTING OF IGODO
Igodo is set in the antiquity of a village in the south-eastern part of Nigeria. As at when the tragedy in the play took place, the villagers were not exposed to modern dresses. This is indicative in their preference for sack clothes.
However, the locales include: Igwe’s palace, a thick forest, bush tracks, village square, farmlands and a typical African village surrounding.
WORK CITED
Ajala, V. O. Scholarly Writing Guide for Researchers Ibadan: Maybest Publishers, 1996.
Bamidele, C. O. Literature and sociology. Ibadan; Stirling-Horden Publishers (Nig.) Ltd, 2000.
Krama, I. C. African Traditional Theatre and Drama Themes and Perspectives, Uniport: akpokem International, 2001.
Ogunbiyi, Yemi, Drama and theatre in Nigeria: a critical sources book. Lagos Nigeria Magazine, (ed) 1981.
Sanderson, S. K. Marcrosociology: An introduction to Human societies. New York: Harper and row, 1988.
Ukala, Sam. Manual of research and of thesis writing in Theatre Arts Agbor: Oris press, 2000.
THE SCREEN ACTOR AND CULTURAL IDENTITY. A CASE STUDY OF IGODO.
