Audience perception of portrayals of women in Nigerian home video films

Abstract

This study investigates how Nigerians, particularly women, interpret the meanings of the representations of women in Nigerian films. It aims at understanding how Nigerian audience interpret the meanings of the images of women in Nigerian films, with a focus on investigating whether or not there is a marked difference in the ways different individuals and groups interpret the representations. To achieve the objectives of this study, three sessions of focus group discussion involving a representative sample of viewers of Nigerian video films, from different socio-economic groups were undertaken. The participants ranged according to age, sex, ethnicity and educational level. The study finds that there is a marked difference in the ways women and men interpret the meanings embedded in the representations of women in Nigerian films. It also concludes that there is a marked difference in the ways women, with high education and those with little or no education, perceive the representations of women in Nigerian films. The difference is related to the way each group of women understands and identifies or dis-identifies with the meanings of the images of the films. On this basis, this study proposes a new model for understanding how women in Nigeria interpret popular culture. Key words: Media audiences, interpret reappropriation, oppositional reading, agitative reading, preferred/dominant reading, conformist reading, home video films.