My childhood was awesome, thanks to many beautiful sceneries of nature which I was exposed to in the hinterland community which I grew up. However, several other factors added to the glitz and glamour with which my childhood was enamoured, one of which were the Yoruba movies we watched back then. Numerous Yoruba movies came from stables of hard-working producers as presented by their makers then.

Up till this present moment, I remember with nostalgia; those emotional scenes in Yoruba movies, those didactic story lines in movies, the captivating suspense in Yoruba films, and to cap it all, the display of professionalism by the crew.

What I perceive in the actors of those days was commitment and rare display of hardwork in them, while they may be out to make money, they were also there to satisfy their audience to the best of their ability. They promoted our cultural values too.

Sadly, those good qualities and features that made Yoruba movie industry outshined every other bloc of Nollywood are no longer seen in their story-writing, film-casting and professional duty any more. Alas! What has become of Yoruba film industry? Mediocrity is now the order of the day. A movie maker’s major concern is to make money, not mindful of the criticisms and scrutiny from audience and movie experts out there. No element of suspense, diction, and some other attractive features.

Apart from what some people termed “soft porn” which Nollywood has been selling out to the public, Yoruba movie industry has even sank deep into the of abyss of teaching the young ones bad character. This latest trend has further worsened the already bad situation. Nollywood has joined the band of series of factors that have influenced the entrenchment of immorality in our society.

The current trend is the abuse of beautifully crafted religious names, and the portrayal of bad characters through such names. Names like Sunday, Kudirat, Aminat, Monday, Jonathan, Munir, Jeleel have been corrupted by Yoruba film makers under the portrayal of different ridiculous and debilitating characters. Characters under most of these names are depicted through many social vices ranging from hooliganism, armed robbery, prostitution, drug abuse hence, further compounding the woes of a morally bankrupt society which we find ourselves. They often portray characters of criminals with these sacred names which mostly have their roots in the Holy Books. But our movie makers care less about this in as much as they are smiling to the bank. All in the name of entertainment, they have neglected the sacredness of religion as peculiar to the Nigerian society.

The pioneers of acting and movie making profession; dead and alive never had the aim of turning religious tenets to laughing stock neither did they have the intention to swindle their audience by producing movies unworthy of the Nigerian society. As much as they were out to entertain, they also sought to educate their audience. But what do we have today, mockery of religious values under the guise of acting comedies. When current set of movie-makers are supposed to look into the mistakes of their predecessors and improve upon them while availing themselves of the opportunity of modern technology in promoting their work, they are shamelessly retrogressing. This retrogression and lack of professionalism is manifestly developing into a malignant cankerworm which if not checked, it may pose a dangerous threat to the development of movie industry. Already, most kids of today are becoming big fans of foreign movies because they see Nigerian films as lacking those captivating scenes.

Summarily, this piece is a passionate appeal from a fan of Yoruba movie industry that all stakeholders heed the popular call and make amends where necessary. I am sure I have spoken the mind of many fans who do not know where to direct their complaint. I emphatically call on Nollywood stakeholders and Yoruba movie-makers in particular, to please take necessary steps to arrest the ugly trend. I believe with this, Yoruba movie industry can rub shoulders with any industry in the world as it gets back on track. They should help in building our society and not further worsening the societal maladies through their movies.


Quadri Tunbosun Ganiyu is reachable on Twitter via @Tunbolity

Faculty of Law,O.A.U,
Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Read more: http://-omoooduarere..com/2013/11/yoruba-movie-industry-is-getting-it.html#ixzz2lAsk3KYF

You forgot to add the over riding diabolic activities and ritualistic tendencies which seem to have gained dominion over common good as projected by most yoruba movies. The plots seem to be centred around 'juju', witchcrafts and occultic practices and even most of these movies,they are even made to triumph over christianity and common good thereby making it appear like a norm to a young mind.

Wow! That is a salient observation that escaped my mind but your contribution is immensely appreciated.

Nice write up.

cc:lalasticlala can you please move this piece? It has been idle since 2013 but still relevant in 2019

Yoruba and Demons na 5&6

Nice write up

Hmm

They can't give what they don't have.

Very good write up

Nice write up.

Is it only that? You are not even touching on the real/cogent points.

How about their horrible code-mixing between 60% English and 40% Half baked Yoruba that they call discussions in Yoruba?

They may think that it makes them sound "posh", but seriously, it is disgusting!

Why would I go the length of watching a movie in Yoruba only to hear them speaking English half the time when english nollywood or even America's hollywood is there for me to watch if I wanted 'spren spren' English grammar?
Yoruba actors of the 90s and early 2000's to mid 2010s were waay better in their Yoruba language diction and knowledge including in mannerisms and traditions. What we have these days are just mass produced trash that do not last 1 month in popularity before fading out into oblivion.

When was the last time the Yoruba movie industry produced a movie the quality of Saworo-Ide, Maami, Oleku, Ti Oluwa n'ile, Sango, Magun, Efunsetan Aniwura, Eku Ida, Ayo ni mo fe, Ogbori Elemosho, Agogo Eewo, Kodun kopo Kope (KKK), Irapada; and those old Yoruba movies with epic village settings, 100% indigenous costumes and beautiful sounding Yoruba.

Everything in this generation just seems to be going downhill. Even the movies. Don't even go to music. .. Like seriously, how hard can it be?

OMG did Nairaland just crash for 10 minutes? couldn't post for more than 15 minutes straight, smh.

2013?!

Since 2013.
Blessing can locate you at an unexpected moment

If you watched 'ORI, IRU ESIN, OGO OSUPA, OLOLADE MR MONEY, SAWORO IDE and the likes.....
Say Hi

Yoruba demons is a name that really fits them

Make your own films simple. Take a loan from the bank . Mtcheeew

Good observations

Was the site having issue?

That was 2013 you put this up. Is it better now or worse? Dont really understand your point about the names? The primary motive of any film production house is profit, whether it be in Nigeria or the USA. Its the government ,educational and religious institutions etc that might have more altruistic motives. And these producers cater to the mentality of their audience, which is why 99% of Nigerian movies can not sell to a non African audience.
Mainframe movies are one exemption and the old movies by Ogunde and the Benin guy that did movies like "Death of a Black President ".
The average Nigeria believes in spiritual and diabolical things and believes they affect his daily life, thats why many movies focus on that.
With the overwhelming prevalence of piracy, this wont change anytime soon. When somebody invests 5 million in a movie and knows it will be pirated within days, even before release; he wont really be bothered about taking the time to make corrections, research, and professionalism.

Forget the deceptive headline.
The OP is either a religious extremist masquerading as a concerned fan or suffering from inferiority complex.
All over the world, movies are acted using real names of people but this
OP does not want Kudirat, Jeleel, Jonathan and others to be used by people who commit crimes
or immorality in movies because the name is "holy" but he doesn't mind if Yoruba names like Kola or Tunde.

Is he telling us that criminals in real life don't use Muslim, Christian or foreign names?
Are the people with "holy" names holy in real life?
Just go through the crime section and you will see that most of the suspects have an
holy name.

He is essentially telling Nollywood not to represent reality.

Loved the write up till I started seeing religious this religious that
Just say u want us to return to the days where religion and "religious values" we're good enough excuse to molest, supress and oppress common sense
Reminds me of those times in human history where anyone who differed from the religious idealisms was tagged a witch and burned
How exciting

plusfield:
You forgot to add the over riding diabolic activities and ritualistic tendencies which seem to have gained dominion over common good as projected by most yoruba movies. The plots seem to be centred around 'juju', witchcrafts and occultic practices and even most of these movies,they are even made to triumph over christianity and common good thereby making it appear like a norm to a young mind.

I agree with diabolic activities but I see nothing wrong with traditional rituals. And why should Yoruba culture promote Christianity? Is Christianity our traditional culture?

who else has been getting 'bad gateway" since

I can't believe this post was in 2013. OP would have required a book to lament on the ills of today's Yoruba movie industry. It's just smash and grab.

Recycled storylines
Forced Attempts at comedy
No morals
Nothing educative
Promotion of nudity and sexualism
Quantity rather than quality
Wack attempts at stunts or CGI

Infact I'm not in the mood to have a mood swing tonight