Gone are those days when Nigerians Movies used to have affirmative impact on our culture. Local movies are conferred with the prominence of teaching culture, propagating the rudiments therein and promoting cultural heritage.

During the era of the late Hubert Ogunde of blessed memory, it was well-known that culture is predominantly preached and the hidden is revealed to the novice about what Yoruba culture stands for. Also, the late theatre ICON used his movie power as a tool to castigate the wrong deed that was decaying the moral standard of the people in the western region.

Also, in the early 70s and 80s, Yoruba movies were prominent on local television and watched by large populace across the nation. These movies caught the heart of fans as it made them stayed glued to their television sets without any distractions as a result of their unique way of entertaining people with true passion and demonstration of raw talent.

At the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (Ogun Chapter) Annual Conference/Awards Ceremony held recently in Abeokuta, the Towuladel of Akinale Owu Kingdom Oba Femi Ogunleye expressed his concern at the rate at which Nigerians has sold their culture for foreign cultures.

"In every gathering we find ourselves we should not be afraid of feeel embarrased to speak our mother languages. It shows you were well cultured when you speak your language and promote the culture of your country", he added.


Now where is the ethics of the Yoruba movie? What does the movie industry in Yoruba land stands to propagate as far as our culture is concerned? How is the industry educating our upcoming youths and those in the Diasporas? What is really the stumbling stone that is actually responsible for the mess we are experiencing in the industry today? These are the questions that are being tabled before Yoruba Movie Editors, Story Writers and Producers...

Segun Ogungbe (a Yoruba Actor, Story Writer and Movie director) shared his views on the place of Yoruba film industry in propagating the Yoruba culture..

"Permit me to say this, customarily, the Yoruba movie suppose to be a medium of educating and entertaining people about our culture but unfortunately what we are witnessing today differs from the normal. Absolutely, there's no film these days that are really promoting our culture."

"And to some extent , the blames is not ours. Sometimes when we produce films that focus on the Yoruba culture, it ends up not selling in the market because our audience too are to be considered as well. Most of them see cultural films as an outdated films and in this case, who will want to spend money to produce a film that will lead to the state of insolvency? That is not all, you see my greatest pain about the Yoruba movie is that we cherish the foreign culture over our own culture. Unfortunately we end up producing Junks films, even with the preferred culture. Instead of coming back home to do the best in what we know and understand, we continue to molest ourselves in the name of civilization".

"However, our viewers sometimes determine what we produce. How many of them are really after the cultural issue? All they want to see is the star actors and actresses and also the beautiful locations with the attire they would like to mimic. And because no one is ready to loss at the end of a production, the culture is left behind."

" To bring things back to a better standard the viewers should encourage the works of the few of us that are still passionate about the promotion of our tradition and culture. Also the producers and actors should know that our movies travel far than we do. So many Nigerians in the Diaspora use Yoruba film to teach their children what they need to know about their fatherland. If we fail to know about this, definitely we want the Yoruba culture to become History." Ogungbe reiterated.


Source: http://gimmegist..com.ng/2016/05/yoruba-movies-blessing-or-curse-on-our.html

I really don't see sense in most yoruba movies(Nigerian movies to be precise). I watch some of the comic ones and that's it. But we have to be honest with ourselves. Is the yoruba culture that rich, such that every movie released should be made to appraise the culture?

There are over 1000 yoruba movies released annually, wouldn't people be bored if they are all about the same thing? Scriptwriters own movies. If i am writing a script about a situation that happened in the university, are we supposed to turn its head, make everybody speak ancient yoruba and dress in ofi, without shoes?

Most of these stories are written with modern mindsets. Would Jenifa be making grammatical blunders in Yoruba?
Would a story written about a well-educated, modern yoruba family not involve some foreign vibe to it?

Things evolve and people adapt. Even Indian movies dont do all that running around and dancing in the middle of the road that often anymore. If they find scriptwriters to write stories about the culture, they will and people will enjoy it.

The problem is beyond movies, it is with the people. People are more interested in foreign culture. Most people prefer that their kids speak english first, local language later. They dress them in jeans and foreign gowns. Things have changed and we have to live with it.

It depends on the story line and theme of the movie...movies are supposed to be means of passing a message.so far the right message is being passed I dnt think the language used should be a problem..so therefore,some yoruba movies are a blessing to yoruba culture and heritage,while some are a "DISGRACE "because of the morally polluted messages and images they portray..
N.B-same applies to some Nigerian English movies!.

Cc: Lalasticlala

Wu yoruba movie EPP

Yoruba movies are blessings.
There were many cultural films produced in the past.
The greatest obstacle confronting the industry is pirating of their films.
nigeria is a dysfunctional country so there is no hope that issue of piracy would be tackled.
If the issue of piracy is tackled any good film made will make money, even the cultural ones.

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Movies and stage (art, basically) are reflections of the dynamism of culture. We can't be watching Ogunde type movies regularly in 2017, especially with the far reaching influence of western norms on our youth.

Way too cheaply made and same story line. I hate to see every movie someone has to go to an Alfa, Pastor or babalawo ever time. Watch a movie for 10 minutes, you can predict the end. No suspense in most.